Unstable Grave Monuments in Penicuik

Time has not been kind to Penicuik Graveyard and as you can tell I took my life into my hands when I ventured in. Fortunately the unstable graveyard memorials didn't get me! I shared the graveyard only with a rabbit but the signs of human disrespect were everywhere, in the form of discarded beer bottles, cans, crisp packages and more disturbing remnants. I had come in search of dereliction (for the DerelictThursday challenge on the Blipfoto site) and oh boy, did I find it!

It hasn't even been that long since I was last in this graveyard as I tend to go in every time I go to the dentist but today is the worst I have ever seen the place. Although it has to be said that there were still a few uplifting signs such as the snowdrops in flower.

Since my last visit chain fencing has been erected around some of the little mausoleum buildings and the photographs were taken sticking my lens through the fencing. As you can see there are some important grave monuments in this graveyard (this is probably part of the family vault of the Dalyell family although I'm not  100% about that!) but it won't be long now before they too fall down and are lost forever. Is it only me that thinks that the way we look after our past says a lot about who we are at present? I found it all deeply depressing whereas I used to find visiting this particular graveyard with it's fascinating stones quite uplifting.

For my blip today I will use one of these pictures translated into black and white which emphasizes the dereliction even more.

Dereliction in West Linton Graveyard

It's Thursday and that means the ThursdayDereliction challenge for the Blipfoto site. As we needed to to into West Linton I decided to pay a visit to my old haunts in the graveyard. It's been a very long time (more than a year) since I last updated my West Linton Graveyard blog although I have been in the graveyard since then. I usually pop in whenever I have a spare minute when I'm in the village. Most of the gravestones have now been documented but I must make sure I haven't missed any, one of these days.

Sadly dereliction is easy to find as the gravestones have deteriorated a lot since my first visit many years ago. Above the entrance to the Douglas mausoleum.

And I feel it won't be too much longer before this lovely monument will topple over. It was erected by William C. Oliver in memory of his daughter Isabella Oliver who died 12 July 1856 aged 40. You can read about it on the West Linton graveyard blog here.  This will become my blip today after I have converted it digitally into a black and white image.

 This gravestone has already bitten the dust in more ways than one. 

And sadly we will probably never know who lies buried here. Although the metal has survived, the inscription has not.

This cross too has fallen down although all the inscriptions on the stones still make it clear whose grave monument this was.

Blipmeet in Cumbria

As promised here are all the photos of my most enjoyable blip meet with Paula yesterday. Paula lives near Appleby in Cumbria along a little lane that is just as tiny as ours. She had provided me with excellent instructions so I found it easily. We had lunch at a fun place called Llama Karma along the A66 and for the first time ever I had lunch while watching llamas have theirs too. I was very taken with the button mosaic at the entrance too.

Afterwards we visited the little church of St. Ninians that Paula had discovered and blipped in the past. She knows how much I enjoy visiting old churches and graveyards and this is a very unique place the likes of which I have never come across before. You can see above how the church and graveyard sit in the middle of a field and are surrounded by a very substantial, circular stone enclosure. The only time I have come across such a surround is at Lamington Church and graveyard which by pure chance I had passed on my way down South that very morning. The walk to the church from the A66 took about 20 minutes or so and the weather gods were very kind to us. The walk was a pleasure with beautiful views over the river Eamont.

Paula found some information about the church online here, and this is just about everything I know about it so far. It was amazing to see this church is open to visitors and there is even a visitors book. It is looked after by the Churches Conservation Trust who seem to be doing a sterling job maintaining disused churches of historical and architectural interest. They are active in England and Wales, but not Scotland thus far.

Surprisingly the graveyard seems to have been used till fairly recently but there are also many old graves to be seen here. The church itself was built in 1658 although it is believed an older church stood here before that time. The church was built by Lady Anne Clifford after she fought a prolonged battle about her inheritance.

 According to the visitors' book people come to see this lovely building regularly and evidence of that is here with the little wooden cross tied to this gravestone that has some connection to the Borders Regiment according to the inscription.

The inside of the church is sober but lovely and to my surprise I discovered that there were (and are still present) locks on the pews. Were people locked in during the sermon? I suppose that's one way to keep their attention.

 There was one beautiful stained glass window from a much later date (1860) in memory of John Jameson who died aged 25. The window was donated by his parents and above is a detail.

The thing I found most fascinating and intriguing was a carved  oak wooden screen which according to the information in the church was supposed to come from a Jacobean vestment chest but although the dating seems to be about right I cannot imagine a vestment chest being decorated with what look to be very pagan images.  The detail I showed yesterday has no religious connotations that I could detect and seemed to be more like a goddess than anything else.

There are dragons depicted too (you can see part of one on the top left of the picture above) as well as an energetic drummer.

At the very top (and thus quite dark and hard to photograph) is this very determined looking personage and after reading about Lady Anne Clifford's fierce determination I can imagine she could well have looked like this. We will probably never know, sadly.

There are also some ancient grave monuments in the church itself, connected to the important local Brougham (pronounced Broom!) family of nearby Brougham Castle. I could definitely detect some wings on the one seen above, perhaps connected in some way to the winged souls seen so frequently in Scottish graveyards.

 An impressive array of church brasses was also on display, connected to the same family.Some paint was still present as you can see.

 I was very taken by this Agnus Dei (lamb of God) detail.

After we came out there was a magic moment of light over the surrounding field where a farmer was busy rounding up his sheep. One (seen at the left) was in danger of being left behind and my mind made a brief connection back to the Agnus Dei just seen. Paula captured this for her blip yesterday..

And then as if the day hadn't been special enough already there was a rainbow to be seen over the hills once we got back to where the car was parked.

It was a very special day all round and many thanks are due to Paula and Gordon for giving me such a wonderful time!

St. Ninian's Church near Brougham, Cumbria

 

Today was a really fabulous day filled to the brim with enjoyment. I'm going to write a long blog post about it tomorrow as tonight I'm taking a break since the day also involved quite a bit of driving. So for now two pictures only. Above St. Ninian's church itself and below a detail of some exquisite woodcarving we found inside the church.

I found her during a blipmeet with Paula in the little church of St.Ninian's near Brougham, Cumbria. According to the info in the church this carving dates from Jacobean times. Paula has just send me the following link with a bit more information. You can find it here We had a wonderful time together exploring this place and having lunch in the company of llamas. I also delivered the journal quilt Paula bought during the 52 Journals Exhibition.

There are loads of pictures as you would expect when two blippers meet and I will show some of them when I write about my outing tomorrow!

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Newhall, Carlops

Another day brought another garden visit. The open garden scheme reaches it's busiest time around July and August when the gardens up here in Scotland are looking their best. Newhall is very close to home, only about 10 minutes away. We have visited before but it has been quite some time since our last visit and specially the walled garden is looking much fuller and more delightful. I was very much taken by the plaque on the wall that reads: Soul, Life, Love, Soil, or in any other order if you prefer.

This is an sundial in the walled garden, a round early 18th century table dial placed on top of what is probably a late 17th Century pedestal of four figures representing the four seasons which has been attributed to James Gifford of West Linton.

There were many flowers that attracted my attention (as always!) and here are some of the favourites.

 The pond too made for a beautiful centrepiece in the walled area.

The highlight of the visit however was the walk we did through the Glen of the North Esk river. These walks were set out in the early 1800s and I imagined walking in the footsteps of past inhabitants of the Newhall estate. Fortunately I had suitable footwear today, wearing my sturdy walking boots instead of the crocs in which I somehow managed yesterday's climbs!

Newhall might be called new but the new hall was probably erected in the 13th Century and it has been assumed by tradition that a monastic house was there before that time. Allan Ramsay, the poet father of Allan the portrait painter used to visit during the 18th Century and  quotations from his work The Gentle Shepherd can be found on plaques in the estate such as the one above.

Although the afternoon started with drizzle the sun soon appeared and produced the most beautiful light effect especially around Peggy's Pool, which is the highlight of this romantic landscape, as seen above.

Then to make things even more perfect as far as I'm concerned there is also a cemetery set in amongst the trees in a very peaceful glade. However the tale is a tragic one as can be discovered from the text on the gravestone which reads:

This sacred stone marks

the Remains of

Thomas Dunmore Brown

an uncommonly fine child who was

born on 5th April 1807 and after an

illness of only eight hours

died in New Hall House

on 19th September 1808

R.B.

R.B. being Robert Brown who acquired the estate in 1783, it having been bought for him by his grandfather Thomas Dunmore. This must be the grave of Robert's son. 

 The carving is of a very high quality indeed.

 And on the back of the stone there is very sad poem that reads as follows:

ALAS young tenant of the Tomb

In vain to thee, shall Spring return

Though all her sweets around the bloom

They cannot cheer thy clay cold urn.

Where now's the blush that on thy cheek

Vied with the rose's vermeil dye?

The tongue how mute! that prattled sweet

How dark the brightly beaming eye!

Deep is thy slumber. Lovely shade!

No plaint of woe can reach they ear.

In earth's cold bosom lowly laid

Thou cans't not see soft pity's tear.

Carlops 1808 I.F.

On the side of the tomb Father Time is watching over the little inhabitant. At least I assume that's who this is.

Life and Death

Today was a day of sharp contrasts but where in hindsight I thought there was much in common too. The sun was shining first thing and I wandered around the garden taking more pictures. By 10am  the sun had disappeared behind the clouds and on an impulse I decided to drive to the Park and Ride and hop on the bus to Edinburgh to see an exhibition of stitched textiles in the Central Library by a group called Penelope's Sisters. It gave me the opportunity to visit the Fine Art Section of the Library hidden away on an upper floor which was a delight in itself. I looked at not just the stitching but also the students with their noses in books while making notes. They looked very familiar as looking back in time that is exactly what I used to do. The show is still on till 21st June if you are interested, and you can visit the library at any time. I ended up making a list of books that caught my eye ! Needless to say there was no photography inside the library.

I was very close to Greyfriars Kirk and Graveyard and it proved too tempting so I made my way there narrowly avoiding being sidetracked by Greyfriars Art Supply shop!

The graveyard is huge and quite a sinister place. I don't always feel quite right there on my own but today the peace of the graves was disturbed by the voices of Japanese tourists who were being given a tour of the place. Greyfriars is now a recognized Edinburgh attraction as other graveyards all over the world have become. And it's no wonder. This is a graveyard where even in death people tried to keep up with the Joneses in the splendour and magnificence of their grave monuments. They are all macabre and designed to literally  put the fear of God into the viewer.

It struck me then that flowers  live and die much better than humans. They simply come to be, put on their very best show and be as beautiful as possible and then gently sink into nothingness. We humans seem to need a wealth of pomp and circumstance at our ending even though we generally have produced far less beauty and given far less pleasure than those humble flowers.

It was an unsettling thought and I felt even more disorientated when I saw this angel and for one brief moment imagined she was holding a mobile phone, till common sense prevailed and I returned to reality.

I rejoice in the symbolism found on the graves. Calling them graves is a bit of an understatement as some of them are edifices and mausoleums.

What is it with us mortals that we need to put the images of a couple (CF and IB, standing for George Foulis, laird of Ravilstoun d. 1633, and his wife Jane Bannatyne) on a gravestone, holding hands under the watchful eye of death (accompanied by the motto Till Death Us Do Part) with the grim reaper also in attendance.

It demonstrates how fear was used by religion (all religions!) to gain the upper hand. I'm not sorry that such times are now well and truly on the wane nor do I regret they have left behind great beauty in their wake but I'm happy that most of humanity (sadly not all) has moved on. In that respect alone this graveyard is a salutary warning. Hopefully we will never again return to such days. It also struck me forcibly how the message of religions about salvation and goodness was mostly lost in among the warnings of the consequences if you didn't conform. .

I'm fairly sure that even in the past there were many human beings who strongly questioned religion. After all our human minds are much now as they were then with the only difference that we have more factual knowledge to draw on, so there must have been people who questioned the religious teachings.  But it was very dangerous in those days to voice any alternative ideas and it could be deadly. We have to thank the courage of those few who stood up to indoctrination and who eventually produced the society we now live in where our thoughts and beliefs are our own business. Sadly that is not the case all over the world yet, but it's my belief (a word I'm not keen on!) that eventually humans will always end up throwing off the shackles of repression.

Graveyards make me think more deeply about life which is one of the reasons I like to visit them. They are contemplative places while at the same time providing nourishment to the eye and thus to the soul. Greyfriars is one of the most unsettling graveyards and even the tours can't manage to chase away the lingering remains of those who lived before us.  Part of the graveyard was used as a prison for the Covenanters but that's a story for another day.

For my blip today I wanted to merge life and death and I did that by using Photoshop Elements to combine two of the photographs I took on this day.

One features a detail of one of the grave monuments, erected in memory of Thomas Bannantyne who died in 1625, and seen above. It has the Latin inscription Quis Evadet (Who will be spared?) on one side and Tempus edax rerum (time, the devourer of all things) on the other.  It seems to  show how the Word of God (why do I still use Capitals for this?) conquers Death  (in the thought processes of the time). The angel looks quite perky to me!  I combined it with a picture of the lupins in our garden.  To me the message of the latter is much more clear: live a beautiful life and depart with grace.