Alexander Smith

This stone too like the previous one is set against the wall bordering the Main Street in West Linton.

The text reads as follows:

In Memory of

Alexander Smith

weaver and precentor

Linton

who died in 1861

and of

John and Mary Smith

his

brother and sister..

This is as far as I could read it, but according to my book Peeblesshire monumental inscriptions pre 1855, compiled by Sheila A. Scott ( first edition published 1971, 2nd ed. 1993) there was once more further down on the stone, and it used to also say that John Boraman weaver Linton was buried there, he died on the 3rd April 1729 aged 42, also his wife Isobel Buie.

I don't know how reliable this is, but I pass it on for your information. There definitely used to be more text on the lower pedestal and some of it can just about be distinquished and it seems to confirm the above. I have no idea because Sheila Scott doesn't mention it, what the relationship was between the Boramans and the Smiths apart from their occupation. Having one gravestone between them suggests that there must have been some family connection. Or maybe the new gravestone was simply put on top of the old one.

And in case you're wondering what a precentor is (I had no idea either!) it is apparently a person who helps facilitate worship