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Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017272
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017272
The old kirk of St Mary's (also dedicated to St Ninian) once stood where now an exceptionally varied range of gravestones climbs the gentle slope. The kirkyard is dominated by the classical temple mausoleum of 1825 to Jean Christie, second wife of the fourth duke of Gordon, and their children, consisting of twelve unfluted Ionic columns enclosing two small sarcophagi. Halfway down the slope is a slab of 1663 which records that William Saunders, who lived to 107, served as the first post-Reformation minister of the parish for an astounding 77 years. There are many fine 18th century table tombs (several with elegant palmettes carved on the supports), a particularly good series of rich Victorian uprights in sandstone, and a late (1920s) walltomb with bronze and marble portrait medallions. All human life is here, in death, from Indian nabobs to the teenage sisters, Isabella and Christina Maclean (d 1818) who were:
'Fortunate both in
having lived their short day
Strangers to the vices of the world
And departed ere it had fallen
to their lot to seek to regain
lost Happiness through the
Bitterness of Repentance'.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
