Random Graveyards

Okay, so welcome to the post of assorted graveyards. I can't remember which graveyards these are, so you'll have to wait until my mom comments with the answers, then I will post them.

Edit: Apparently they are in either St. Cuthberts or St. John's Church - both of which we visited although neither we went in. They were both close to the city centre, so easy to pop by and visit.

I do remember this little bird, though. He let me get super close to him to snap photos, and it was only after he dove towards my foot and dissapeared under a fallen gravestone that I realized that he was probably guarding babies. Very sweet, though.


So, yeah. Lovely graveyards.

That's it for Edinburgh! Hope you enjoyed my photos as much as I enjoyed taking them and do visit Edinburgh if you are ever in the area - it was well worth it!

St. Giles

St Giles' Cathedral - this Kirk is on the Royal Mile and there has been a church on this site since the 9th Century.

There is record of a parish church in Edinburgh by the year 854, served by a vicar from a monastic house, probably in England. It is possible that the first church, a modest affair, was in use for several centuries before it was formally dedicated by the bishop of St Andrews on 6 October 1243.

According to legend, Giles was accidentally wounded by a huntsman in pursuit of a hind and, after his death in the early 8th century, there were dedicated to him hospitals and safe houses for cripples, beggars and lepers were established throughout England and Scotland within easy reach of the impoverished and the infirm. St Giles is usually depicted protecting a hind from an arrow, which had pierced his own body, a fine relief of which rests in the tympanum over the west (main) doors of the Cathedral.




Properly known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh (Kirk meaning church), it has a 15th Century tower (1495), the top of which looks like the crown of Scotland. The beautiful stained glass is from the 1800 and 1900's & parts of the ribbed ceiling are from the 1400's. The oldest parts of the cathedral - the four massive central pillars supporting the tower, date from 1120.
This was the church where John Knox preached in support of the Reformation.

By 1800, St Giles' was in a poor state of repair. In 1829, architect William Burn supervised a restoration of the building which demolished some chapels and encased much of the exterior in a skin of smooth ashlar.

During the years 1872-83, William Chambers, publisher and Lord Provost of Edinburgh, planned and financed a further major restoration. The building was cleaned and old galleries and partition walls were removed, creating a single interior space. New stained glass was put into the windows.

It is best known for the Thistle Chapel, which was built in the early 1900's in the Victorian Gothic style. The Knights of the Thistle are Scotland's order of chivalry and they had no chapel of their own since 1688.
The Earl of Leven and Melville left funds for the chapel to be built, and only Scottish craftsmen and materials were used. Notice the elaborate carved wood canopies with the helms and crests of each of the knights rising above.




No two knight's stalls are alike - each one is unique.The chapel also has as a stone ribbed vaulted ceiling and a carved royal pew for the reigning monarch. Look for the angel playing bagpipes! (I didn't get a clear shot of her, unfortunately).

Edit: I forgot to mention that there was an amazingly helpful church lady who walked around the Thistle Chapel with us and told us all sorts of information and tidbits. She probably could've entertained us for hours with new information, but we didn't stay that long. She was very sweet, though.



A new restoration programme began in 1977. In addition to essential repairs to roof, stone and glass, the interior has been lightened, the focus of worship moved from the east end to a new sanctuary in the middle of the church ("the crossing") and a magnificent new organ installed. Space has been converted from old cellars and crypts for meeting and eating. Much remains to be done.



While you had a purchase a permit to take photos (only a couple of quid), it was well worth it because of the lovely stained glass and the great opportunities for photos. One of the best cathedrals I've had the chance to photograph inside.

Rosslyn Chapel

We walked here from the bus stop on a gorgeous day. Don't forget the village is called Rosslin - different spelling than the chapel and castle - should you want to come here as well. :)

Edit: We weren't allowed to take photos inside, so that's why there are none. Shame, it would've been awesome. There was a lot of scaffolding put up inside, so the ceiling wasn't visible, but well worth a visit none the less.

Interesting tidbit - the chapel is in private ownership, still in the hands of the descendents of the original family that built it.
Lots of restoration work going on, including the roof being entirely covered by another metal roof to protect it (since 1997).
The scaffolding on the outside may have negatively impacted the pictures of the chapel but it gave us the wonderful opportunity to climb up and see close at hand, some of the intricate carvings and details along the upper roof line. This was a lot of fun (though very windy).

Rosslyn Chapel, or the Collegiate Chapel of St Matthew as it was to have been called, was founded in 1446 by Sir William St Clair, 3rd and last St Clair Prince of Orkney. He died in 1484 and the original plans for a large collegiate church were never completed. Only the chapel had been started and the foundations of the church laid.

The St Clairs were of mixed heritage, Viking and Norman.
Sir William's grandfather was a famous seafarer who reputed voyaged to the New World before Christopher Columbus.
The Micmac Indians of East Coast have in their verbal history, tales of a red haired man and his companions that came to them from over the sea and taught them to fish with nets. Many of the carvings in the chapel are flora and fauna native to North America (one of them corn).
The amount of carvings within the chapel are varied - seafarers' traditions, freemasory, Norman aristocracy, viking clans, pagan beliefs, christian beliefs, green men and if it is to be believed - the Knights Templar.
Though this chapel was built 140 years after the Order of the Templar Knights had been suppressed. so who knows? The theories are overwhelming, but then so are the carvings.
I know I had a sore neck the next day from trying to see everything on the walls and ceiling. So much crammed into one small space and so worth the visit.
I liked this one since it looks like there is a hand coming out of the stone, holding the leaves.


Though it's hard to see, there is a huge face here - and someone has made a nest in his head!
Through the trees you can see the top of Rosslin Castle - we'll go there later.
We found a Canadian quarter on the ground under this fellow, and so we took it back up and threw it back into it's head - it ended up falling right back out his mouth!

Here is the road that leads up to Rosslin Castle. You might recognize the following pictures from the DaVinci Code, where parts of the movie was filmed.
Most of the following information is copy-pasted from Wikipedia, so if you want to read the original information go here.

Roslin Castle is a partially ruined castle near the village of Roslin in Midlothian, Scotland. It is located around 9 miles south of Edinburgh, on the north bank of the North Esk, only a few hundred metres from the famous Rosslyn Chapel.
The remains of the gatehouse and north range comprise only fragments of walls and one side of the entrance arch, with the remains of a bartizan above. Along the west side of the castle, the 15th-century curtain wall remains standing to a considerable height. This section of wall has six openings at the base, one of which served as a postern gate. On the outer face, the six bays are divided by rounded buttresses. Old sketches of Roslin show bartizans above each of these buttresses, with a wall-walk connecting them.

To the south of this wall is the remaining wall of the keep. The mound beneath is formed from the collapsed remnants of the other three walls. The ruin suggests that the keep was around 16m by 12m, with walls 2.9m thick rising to a machicolated parapet.

The castle stands precipitously above a loop of the River North Esk, which protects it on three sides. This rocky promontory was breached on the north side to form a ditch giving further protection. The castle is approached from Roslin across this ditch, via a precipitous bridge and through the ruined gatehouse.

There has been a castle on the site since the early 14th century, when the Sinclair family, Earls of Caithness and Barons of Roslin, fortified the site, although the present ruins are of slightly later date. Following destruction during the War of the Rough Wooing of 1544, the castle was rebuilt. This structure, built into the cliffs of Roslin Glen, has remained at least partially habitable ever since. The castle is accessed via a high bridge, which replaced an earlier drawbridge. Roslin was renovated in the 1980s and now serves as holiday accommodation.
And yes, I peeked into the windows of the house. Looks like they are a fancy people, and have a bust of some kind.
This is the house, looking back towards the road.
Yep, that's the bridge you've got to walk back over. It's quite high up.

This was walking back towards the highway where we caught our bus. It was a lovely sight, over the Scottish countryside.

Rosslyn Chapel and castle was also a well-worth stop from Edinburgh and again, a quick and easy visit from the city centre.