Starting
at the top of the steps, paved paths take the visitor all around
St Michael's and throughout the graveyard.
From the gates, paths go left around the near side of the church
and ahead, past the main door and around the far side of the
church. The
Rev. John Paton in his "Book of St Michael's Church"
published in 1904, tells us that these paths were developed in the
mid 19th century. The high graveyard retaining walls are of an earlier
vintage, probably 18th century. |
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| Two
hundred and fifty years of time and weather have reduced this
monument to what you see today. |
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| Glimpses
of the street below show through gaps in the monuments lining the
outer walls. |
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The
Minutes of the Presbytery, detailed in the above source book,
record how the church was completely rebuilt in
the 1744 to 46
period. Up to that time the floor plan had remained in its
pre-reformation cruciform shape. |
The
church foundations were moved to make the square shape we see
today. This extension encroached on the
old burial ground. Paton
tells us how in the mid 1880s, while replacing a floor, it was
discovered that the whole
church floor area had been used for early burials,
gravestones and human remains were found. These remains
were all removed and reburied before a heavy layer of concrete was
laid over the whole area to support the new floor. |
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Northern
end of the old graveyard where human remains from below the church
floor were reburied.
Very little is know about most of these early burials.
Recently one very old
Dumfries family, the MacBRAIRs, were identified as having been
buried within or near to the old church. They are now
commemorated by a bronze plaque. |
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Rev
John Paton, in the source referred to above, describes this monument as, the
" .. most remarkable monument in the churchyard, from an
architectural point of view.."
Here again we see what time and weather can do to man's vanity. |
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| above:
- as seen by Paton in 1900 |
| right:
- as see today in 2008 |
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| The
inscription on this monument, as seen today, is virtually
unreadable. |
Here
is interred the body of Sussana MUIR, Spouse to John SHARP of Hoddam
who died in the 57th year of her age, 26th day of the month of
October, in the year of our Lord 1710 |
The
photograph below shows the back of the monument as seen from the
street.
This newer, very ornate, monument would have been constructed in the the post-1746
period.
The earlier inscription most likely belonged to a much simpler
gravestone which was replaced by the newer one |
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| Here
we see three fragments of an earlier memorial built into structure
supporting the newer monument. |
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