Oldest Gravestone

This is probably the oldest gravestone in West Linton graveyard, at least I think so and I'm so at home there now that I'm pretty sure this is the case. There are only the initials to show who is buried here and as you can see they are GP and AH (husband and wife, no doubt). The date is 1667. Sheila A. Scott's book Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions-pre 1850 doesn't provide any further information. The few letters I can see beneath the initials read The End to me but that might be my fanciful imagination!!

She describes the gravestone as crudely carved but I think the date and initals are beautifully done. Perhaps she refers to the other side of the stone (seen below) that show a very rudimentary skull and crossbones.

John Stewart and family

Set against the graveyard wall this stone has the following inscriptions:

Erected

by John Stewart to

the memory of

Christine Stewart

his daughter, died 10th January

1871, aged 31 years

also

Robert Stewart

his grandson, aged 10 months

the above

John Stewart

died at Cowdenburn, 14th July

1886, aged 75 years

and

Sarah Stewart

his daughter died at Cowdenburn

30th August 1886 aged 52 years

They were lovely in their lives

and in death they were not divided.

Alexander Dunlop and family

I am endebted to Sheila A. Scott's book Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions-pre 1855 for being able to provide you with the information on this extremely weathered gravestone. Fortunately I could just about still read the surname of the first person buried here which enabled me to find the full text as it states in the book. This is what it reads according to the book and what I can still just about discern:

Sacred

to the memory

of

Alexander Dunlop

late herd Hareshaw who died

at Edinburgh 2nd April 1870 aged 71 years

also

Marion Thomson

his wife who died Loanhead 17th July 1879

aged 76

also

their children

Margaret Dunlop

died Broomhill Feb 1846 aged 16

John Dunlop

died Hareshaw 16th July 1846 aged 14 years.

I'm assuming that Marion Thomson was the daughter of John Thomson and Margaret Kay, mentioned on the previous post and on the adjacent gravestone.

John Thomson and Margaret Kay

I have been rather neglecting this blog as there is so much to upload to my artistic and personal blog and my dial-up connection means that it all takes rather a lot of time. But this morning I was back in the West Linton graveyard to fill in more of the information on the graves I haven't uploaded previously. I found the 2 graves (see picture below) close together, both featuring members of the Thomson family. Above is the oldest gravestone of the two but the text is much easier to read than the newer one which has weathered very badly.

Here is the text for the above stone:

Erected

by John Thomson Carlops

to the memory of

Margaret Kay his spouse

who died 23rd May 1832 aged

59 years

Also the said

John Thomson

born 26th August 1773 died 15th Feb 1856

aged 83 years.

James Duncan and family

The text is difficult to read in places but here is what I think it says:

In

loving memory of

Katie Jane daughter of

James Duncan colporteur (at least that's what it looks like to me! See underneath)

who died at West Linton

6(?) February 1914 aged 20 years

Also James

his younger son who died

16th April 1918, aged 33 years

Also the above

James Duncan

who died at West Linton

17th Feb 1923, aged 72 years

and his widow

Ellen Laidlaw

who died at Longniddry

26th Feb 1928 aged 83 years

There is also an inscription on the base of the pedastal but it is now unreadable.

Colporteur (an originally French word) means a peddlar of religious books

George Grainger and Elizabeth Hutson

As you see this stone is placed close to St. Andrews Church in the graveyard but despite being relatively recent the text is very difficult to read in places. Here is what is still visible:

In memory of

Elizabeth Hutson

wife of George Grainger

who died 17th March 1877 aged 33 years

Margaret their daughter

who died 28th January 1877 aged 5 months

the above

George Grainger

died ................July 1885

aged 55 years

Adam their son

died at ...........................China

April 1921 aged 55 years

Isabella Ritchie their daughter

died 3 (or 8?) July 1951

aged ..................

The Dunlop family

This is another of the more impressive memorial stones in the graveyard, and there are so many family members here that the stone has been divided in two colums to accommodate them all. I will start with the text on the left hand side. Here it is:

In memory of

Marion Dunlop

who died at Abington

8th Dec. 1860

aged 3 years and 4 months

also

John T. Dunlop

who died at Loanhead

11th June 1875 aged 8 years

also

Jessie A. Dunlop

who died at Loanhead

2nd December 1917

aged 56 years

also Jane Dunlop

who died at West Linton

27th January 1947

aged 91 years

also

A. Louden Dunlop

grandson of the said Alexander Dunlop

who died 6th may 1972

On the right hand side of the stone it reads:

Janet Brown

wife of Alexander Dunlop

who died at Loanhead

22nd April 1884

aged 51 years

the above

Alexander Dunlop

who died at Loanhead

25th June 1914(?)

aged 82 years

also

Walter R. Scott M.A.

his grandson who fell

in action near Yeres

12th June 1917

aged 24 years

also

Elizabeth W. W. Dunlop

who died at Glasgow

28th June 1962

aged 90 years

At the foot of the monument sits a black urn which says as best as I can tell:

also his wife (no idea whose wife!)

Polly Wai Seong

Dunlop

nee Tham

died 20 (?) October..............

I try as much as possible not to disturb anything in the graveyard even to read text better but I might give this urn another go in the summer to see if I can ascentain the exact dates on this urn.

.