Glenholm Graveyard

The day beckoned dry and sunny (also windy and cold!) so could not resist another graveyard visit. Today it was to Glenholm Graveyard which rather appropriately is situated at the end of a dead-end road. And once again I was struck by the beautiful position of this graveyard in the landscape. What a view to greet you if you believe in the resurrection!

This detail is part of the table gravestone of James Deans, tenant Chappellgill, who died 31st December 1764, aged 67 and his wife Helen Kellie (the daughter of the Reverend Simon Kellie, see underneath) who died 25th September 1779, aged 78, their son George, farmer Culter Park who died 26th October 1829, aged 89, his wife Margaret Paterson who died 28th March 1801, aged 46, their daugher Grizzel, died 4th June 1798 aged 18, and their daugher Janet, died Sept. 1801, aged 17. The way the Memento Mori text is used to frame the skull is very unusual and I had never come across it before.

This is a close-up of the skull and what a cheerful one it is. It looks positively delighted and grinning from ear to ear out at us.

The church (dedicated to St. Cuthbert) that was once present in the centre of this graveyard has long fallen into a total ruin and there is just a very small part of the wall left (covered in ivy) into which there sits an wall tablet dedicated to the Reverend Simon Kellie, who was in office at Glenholm Church for 45 years and 6 months (someone was definitely counting!). He died on the 28th October 1748. Also mentioned on the tablet are his first wife Rachel Brown and his second wife Mary Livingstone, and also his children William, James, Elizabeth, James, Margaret, Grizzel, and William (the repeat names no doubt due to the fact that the earlier ones died in infancy).

A delightful little book (The Kirk in the midst; the story of the parish church of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho, by Andrew Fox) mentioned that when the Reverend Kellie was on his way to his new parish in Glenholm on the 31st March 1703, he was violently detained by several women of his former parish. Sadly the booklet didn't know the reason why. The mind can only boggle!

Within the graveyard there is a fenced off area dedicated to the graves of the Tweedie family, large landowners and an eminent presence in the local area.