Newlands Graveyard and Blip no. 300

Among all the excitement of the quilt show there was another cause for celebration as I posted my 300th blip on Sunday. Read all about this website here and you can see my page by clicking here. I have posted one picture every consecutive day since I started back in November 2010. And I hope to keep it up at least till I reach the one year mark (or 365 pictures(.

I had only Sunday morning to make it a special one because I was back at the quilt show in the afternoon. As I'm a firm believer that things will happen right if you let them I decided to revisit one of the graveyards nearby. I was last there when it was covered in snow last winter and hadn't quite realized in what a bad state of repair it was. We really should hang our heads in shame about how we treat these places which are of great historical importance.
But I was right in expecting it to come up with my blip. These 3 figures represent 100 blips each!! All writing has disappeared from this stone but according to the Peeblesshire Monumental Inscriptions book (compiled by Sheila A Scott In 1971), this stone belongs to James Borrowman, who died in February 1710, aged 19. I'm supposing one of the figures represents him (probably the one with the skull above in the centre) and maybe the other two his parents or siblings. They seem to be dressed in shrouds so perhaps they were deceased too. It really upsets me to see how the whole place is slowly falling into disrepair, many stones have already fallen over and even more have become unreadable. Hopefully I can try in a small way to keep the memory alive

This is a picture of what is left of Newlands Church which once stood on this spot in the centre of the graveyard. There is now a new church located a few hundred yards up the road from the graveyard. This ruin was probably build in the early part of the 16th Century. As you can see there is not much left of the building or the other enclosed small private burial buildings. The gravestones themselves are also in an advanced state of deterioration.

This cheeky Winged Angel (a symbol of immortality) made me smile. It's the funniest angel I have come across so far in my many graveyard visits and I love the wings especially. I feel a quilt coming on for this one.

Of course I could not help myself and had to search for skulls, crossbones and other symbolism on the stones, and this was one of the best skulls in this particular graveyard.

It's really sad to see that most of the gravestones are in a very bad condition, broken and fallen over or as in this case stacked against walls in order to keep them upright. It's a real tragedy that we are letting our heritage fall into such disrepair but I suppose in the current economic circumstances this is unlikely to change any time soon. I know there are local groups in Scotland taking responsibility for the upkeep and maintenance of their local graveyards and this one could certainly do with such help.

The railings around some of the private burial areas such as this one are amazing. I love how ever now and again there is an urn instead of the usual filial. And the sun also produced wonderful shadow effects.

Finally like most graveyards this one too is located in a beautiful position, nestled in the valley of the Lyne. It probably had to do with the expected resurrection and wanting that to take place in peaceful and serene surroundings and this graveyard which served only a very small community was given pride of place in the landscape. Here is the bridge and the river Lyne peacefully flowing by past the graveyard.