Pricing Change
New pricing for orders of material from this site will come into place shortly. Charges for supply of digital images, digitisation on demand, prints and licensing will be altered.
Edinburgh, Regent Road, New Calton burial ground watchtower. View from South East
SC 560064
Description Edinburgh, Regent Road, New Calton burial ground watchtower. View from South East
Catalogue Number SC 560064
Category On-line Digital Images
Copy of ED 5058
Scope and Content Watchtower, New Calton burial ground, Edinburgh With the growth of medical teaching in the 18th century, universities required ever greater numbers of cadavers for study, often purchased illegally from resurrectionists. Mortsafes and watch-houses were employed by parishes to protect graves. Towers such as this one at New Calton churchyard gave shelter for watchmen at night whilst ensuring new graves were not robbed. Contemporary reports note that such watchmen were often easily bribed or were drunk on duty and therefore not terribly alert. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1832 which provided for the supply of bodies required for medical experimentation and teaching, rendering the bodysnatchers redundant. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/560064
File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap
Attribution: © RCAHMS
You may: copy, display, store and make derivative works [eg documents] solely for licensed personal use at home or solely for licensed educational institution use by staff and students on a secure intranet.
Under these conditions: Display Attribution, No Commercial Use or Sale, No Public Distribution [eg by hand, email, web]
