The Alexander family

Located very close to the wall of the church is this impressive grave monument that serves to commemorate many members of the Alexander family. The text is divided into two colums.

At the top it says:

In memory of

And then on the left hand side the text reads:

Agnes Mitchell

wife of

Robert Alexander

died 25th April 1878

aged 60 (?) years

the above

Robert Alexander

butcher West Linton

died 27th Nov. 1882

aged 66 years

Eliza

their daughter

died 17th January 1916

aged 72 years

Robert

thier son

died 7th May 1917

aged 69 years

On the right-hand side the text says:

Christine Lawson

wife of

John Alexander

died 9th Sept 1866

aged 22 years

interred in Dalry Cemetary

Edinburgh

the above

John Alexander

joiner West Linton

died 4th May 1893

aged 65 years

Mary Ritchie

their daughter

died 10th April 1920

aged 50 years

Agnes Mitchell

their daughter

died 30th January 1937

John and William Melrose and their daughters

They must have been a close family as two brothers and their respective daughters are commemorated on this stone. Strangely there is no mention of the spouses of either of the brothers.

Here is the full text:

Here lyes the

body of John Mel

rose who died 20 of Jan

uary 1800, aged 66 years.

Also his brother William

Melrose who died Hallmyre

December the 20th 1816 aged

79 years. Also

Janet Melrose, daughter

to John Melrose who died

31 March 1831 aged 39 years

Also Lillias Alexander

or Melrose daughter to

William Melrose

died 19th April 1856 aged 81 years

John Stewart and family

I spend some time this morning in West Linton Graveyard and for once I was not the only person there. In fact you could say it was busy as an entire school class was running around looking at the gravestones and exclaiming about the various sculpted stones. It's good to see that they are hopefully being taught about how interesting these stones are and that they are to be appreciated.  I'm doing my bit by documenting them in picture and text.

Detail of frond leaves at the top

This stone is set into the sidewall of the graveyard  and has a tragic tale to tell although the details are now hidden in the mist of time. The full text reads:

Erected

in memory of John Stewart

who died at Carlops the 17th of

Sept 1853 aged 71 years

Also

Margaret Hislop his wife who died on

the 16th August 1842 aged 48 years

Also Robert Stewart their son, killed

accidentally 25th May 1855

aged 41

erected by a friend

This really made me wonder if the "friend" had anything to do with the accident but sadly we will never know what happened.

William J. Richards

Another gravestone that I didn't photograph today but a few weeks ago. And this one was published using the new Blogger interface so do excuse me if it doesn't look quite as organized as my usual posts. No doubt I'll get used to it eventually but at the moment I'm finding it very trying indeed!

The text reads as follows:

In memory of

William J. Richards

who died at Carlops

27th September 1883

aged 23 years

his mother

Elizabeth Kennedy

wife of William Richards

who died at Carlops

23rd December 1891

aged 76 years

William Richards

who died at Carlops

22 (?) February 1900

aged 84 years

Adam Veith and family

Another very impressive obelisk is dedicated to members of the Veitch family. The text reads:

Erected

by

Adam Veitch

in memory of

Robert Veith

his father who died

at Deepsykehead 23rd

June 1881 aged 65 years

also

Helen Lawson

his mother who died

at West Linton 1851

aged 42 years

and

in loving remembrance

of

Helen Laidlaw

his daugher who died

at West Linton 17th Sept

1900 in her 16th year

also

Elizabeth Fairbairn (or burn)

his wife

who died 24th Nov'r 1908

aged 57 years

The above

Adam Veith

builder West Linton

died 25th June 1924

aged 81 years

Agnes Smith

his wife died 18th July 1926

aged 70 years

And finally a detail from the top of the obelisk, beautifully carved.

On the pedastal of this obelisk is the following text:

Safely safely gathered in

No more sorrow, no more sin

God has saved from weary strive

in its dawn, this young fresh life

Which awaits us now above

resting in the Saviours love.

I'm guessing that this text refers to the death of the daughter, Helen Laidlaw. And I can only guess that her different last name means that she was married by the age of 16 when she died.

And in case you're wondering, no this picture wasn't taken today as blue skies were conspicuous by their absence! I took these about a week ago but haven't had time to upload them till now

Robert Renton and family

Time to show the largest obelisk to be found in West Linton Graveyard and a very impressive one it is too. As is the urn on top.

The bottom of the message is now lost to time and deteriaration but there is still enough left to read and it says:

Sacred

to

the memory of

Robert Renton Esq. of Bridgehouse

who died 21st August 1799 aged 51 years

And also here interred

John Renton his father who died 2nd Dec

1783, aged 84 and

Margaret Willison

his mother who died 14th Jan 1809 (or 7) aged 86
With brothers Thomas who died in 1780, James 1784 and

John in 1795.

Also his niece

Margaret Hotson

who died 11 (or4)th Jan 1805

aged 17 years

After that the inscription becomes unreadable.

This engraved messsage is about half way up the obelisk and hence not easy to capture. It says:

"Virtue triumphs over the Tomb". Now there is a message to take away with you! I don't know about you but it makes me want to do something particularly unvirtuous!

Agnes and Susan Ritchie

This is the obelisk that is located only a few inches away from the tablestone grave of the Reverend Mair shown in the previous post. It looks lovely in the sunshine but has a very sad message.

This is the text:

To

the memory of

Agnes Ritchie

who died 1st December 1842

aged 2

Susan Ritchie

who died 2nd December 1842

aged 2.

They were loved

in their lives and

in death not

divided

I came to the conclusion that Agnes and Susan must have been twins and died from some contagious disease both had caught. Their parents (no mention of who they were) erected this most impressive obelisk to commemorate them.

The Reverend Mair and family

I have been a bit negligent re posting here but it's not because I haven't paid regular visits to the graveyard. It's partly because in the winter and with little light it's much harder to decipher the old inscriptions on the graves than in the lovely sunny weater we were blessed with yesterday and today and also because I have been rather busy on my other blog as well as on my Blipfoto page. It all takes a lot of time on my dial-up connection but hopefully I'll be showing you some beautiful gravestones here in the coming days. I've also changed the banner to reflect the season!

This is a very impressive tablestone grave and has the following engraved text:

Here is interred the Rev. James

Mair late Min. of the Associate Con

gregation in this place, who died

the 8th Jan. 1774 in the 34th year of his

ministry in said congragation and 74

of his age.

He was an active, faithful and

successful min. zealous for the ......(unreadable)

impartial in the exercise of dis

cipline and steady in his adherence

to the principles of the Church of Scotland.

In private life a man of candour

and simplicity without ostentation

pious and devout geven to hospita

lity, a warm friend , an affectionate

husband, an indulgent parent.

Psalm (?)6 and 9

My flesh shall rest in hope

Also two of his sons are here

interred, James who died 28(or 9) October 1747

aged 10 months

and Patk(or r) who died 10th Oct. 1756(or 0), aged 8 years

Erected to their memories

by

his son Thomas 16th July 1774

According to Sheila A Scott's book Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions-pre 1850 this Thomas died on the 16th July 1817 aged 74. However there is no mention of this on the tablegrave itself as far as I can see but parts of the stone are hidden from view due to other graves placed very close to it.

On one side of this splendid tablestone grave is a smiling Winged Spirit, beautifully carved with wonderful detail in the hair and wings. She had to be photographed on the diagonal as another grave is quite close. Once it's warm enough to lay on the grass I'll try laying on the grass and see if I can't get a better photograph. She really deserves to be shown in all her glory.

On the other side is a skull and probably crossbones but as you can see There is absolutely no chance of getting inbetween this tablestone grave and the obelisk standing right next to it to take a picture of the skull. This is just about the best view of it I could get. It seems very strange to have another grave monument this close, specially as the people commemorated on the obelisk seem to bear no family relationship to the Reverend.

The two Robb brothers and their father

Situated near the wall separating the graveyard from the Lower Green this stone reads:

In

loving memory of

my brothers

Alexander Robb

who died 18(?) Jan 1911 aged 22

and

Charles Robb

died 30th Jan 1929 aged 36

also their father

William Robb

There is no indication at all of who actually erected this monument and the mention of "their" father rather than ours as you would expect is mystifying too. This stone's condition is deteriorating fast.