#Canongate Kirkyard

[scotianostra]

At the last resting place of Edinburgh poet Robert Ferguson, who sadly passed away at the young age of 24, Robbie Burns was a fan and paid for the gravestone you see after discovering his grave was unmarked.

Here are a few lines from his poem The Daft Days , where he talks about Aqua Vitae, thats whisky tae you and aye. His warning is that when fou (full) we are sometimes capernoity (Crabbit) and have to be wary of Edinburgh's City Guard, the original Polis of Auld Reekie.

"And thou, great god of Aqua Vitæ!

Wha sways the empire of this city,

When fou we're sometimes capernoity,

Be thou prepar'd

To hedge us frae that black banditti,

The City-Guard."

[azvolrien]

I've had a moderately busy weekend of Doin' Stuff. I wanted to see the Game On exhibition at the museum on Saturday, but when I arrived the first timeslot they had available wasn't for a few hours yet, so I went off for a wander in the Old Town to kill time. Part of those few hours were spent looking around the old Canongate Kirkyard, which - like many urban cemeteries - makes for a quiet little oasis in the heart of the city. It has a couple of reasonably well-known inhabitants, most famously Adam Smith, the so-called 'Father of Economics', but is also the final resting place of another interesting but much more obscure figure from Edinburgh's history, a man who went by the name of John Sakeouse/Sakaeus/Sackhouse (spellings vary, but apparently he himself usually signed his name with the first version). His grave isn't marked, so I don't know the exact location, but presumably the church records have a note of it and I think it's somewhere in those last three photos. The Portrait Gallery has this nice painting of him by Alexander Nasmyth.

John (there appears to be no record of his name in his native language) was an Inuk from western Greenland, who decided that he wanted to see the world, stowed away on a whaling ship with his kayak and harpoon, and ended up in Leith of all places, where he became a local celebrity demonstrating his skill with said kayak and harpoon. He even accompanied Sir John Ross's 1818 expedition in search of the Northwest Passage as an artist and translator before returning to his new home in Leith, where sadly he passed away of a fever in early 1819.

[embraphotos]

Canongate Kirkyard, EH8

[wandering-cemeteries]

Canongate Kirkyard, Edinburgh

[halfarsedhermit]

Another set form my Graveyards of Edinburgh series for Halloween over at my insta @hermit.on.tour - this time it’s Canongate Kirkyard (the two Calton Burial grounds are up as well, just one more to go! Do follow if you’re interested in Scotland, Edinburgh, castles, lochs, whisky, prime goth bullshit and drop me a note if you ever need a tour guide as that’s pretty much what I do for a living :)

[danny-darkness]

Canongate Kirkyard

[the-busy-ghost]

I’m looking at Gordon’s seventeenth century map of Edinburgh now and there’s a particularly distinct difference between the old (formerly separate) burghs of Edinburgh and the Canongate that I never noticed before now. Yes the two are separated by a wall and they have some other differences but the most striking thing to me is that in Edinburgh they built on the backland. 

So along the part of what is now the Royal Mile that runs through the Canongate, there are long strips of garden behind each tenement. This is a pattern which was very common on the high street of a lot of Scottish burghs- one example which immediately springs to mind is Brechin, where you can still see gardens sloping down to the water if you walk along Skinner’s burn, which presumably conform to the ancient burgage plots. Alternatively, here’s Gordon’s map of the north-east burgh of Aberdeen, where you can see long thin gardens behind most of the houses:

(Detail from a map of Aberdeen, c.1661)

But once the Royal Mile enters Edinburgh IMMEDIATELY the situation changes. At the back of every five, six, even seven-storey tenement is yet more buildings and this is especially evident on the north side of the high street, where the ground slopes down to what was once the Nor’ Loch (and which is now occupied by Waverley Station and Princes Street Gardens). So not only did they have to build upwards in Edinburgh, they also had to build back on to the land included in the original toft. Compared to somewhere like London, seventeenth century Edinburgh was not that big but the population was extremely densely concentrated. The town is still famous for its tall closely packed buildings but even compared to other Scottish burghs it must have been distinctive, and I’d never realised the difference was so stark until I really looked closely and compared it side by side with the neighbouring burgh of Canongate. 

(Detail from a map of Edinburgh and Canongate c.1647 - I’ve drawn a red line at the point at the boundary between the two burghs, near a set of buildings that stick out into the street and which probably include the building now known as John Knox’s house)

I know I’m not saying anything particularly new it’s just such a distinct and stark difference that I hadn’t even thought about properly until I saw it so I had to babble. Personally I thought that, having been in Dunbar’s Close Garden and some of the other areas around the back of the Canongate, you can still *feel* the contrast with somewhere like Fleshmarket Close, even if you can’t necessarily see it. Of course that’s just my opinion, and certainly slum clearance up in the old town has opened up some of the areas behind the upper end of the Royal Mile while conversely modern buildings have covered a lot of the old backlands of the Canongate. But idk I just thought it was really cool. (I’m also enjoying looking at the Lawnmarket and trying to work out which of these really tall old buildings is Gladstone’s Land). 

Both images are reproduced with permission of the National Libraries of Scotland. Here is the source for the Aberdeen map and here is the Edinburgh map

[amymcools]

Enlightenment Scotland: Adam Smith's Grave at Canongate Kirkyard

Enlightenment Scotland: Adam Smith’s Grave at Canongate Kirkyard

Canongate Kirk on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland

Here in Edinburgh, where I’ve returned to University to earn my Master’s degree, I love to visit sites and monuments associated with the Enlightenment. As a lover of philosophy, the rich intellectual history of this city first brought me here: I followed (and still do) in the footsteps of David Hume for my first traveling philosophy/history of…

[calamitys-child]

say hi to the grave right down the back of canongate kirkyard that says "NOT ME" she haunts me to this day <3

Unfortunately most of the back of Canongate kirkyard is currently closed off and I couldn't find that inscription however I did get to see some incredibly fun inscriptions of skulls and a lot of very threatening bible quotes so all in all a fun and worthwhile wee adventure

[justsarahsvlogs]

11 Spooky Things to do in Edinburgh

New blog post is up! 11 Spooky Things to do in Edinburgh!

Did you know Edinburgh is supposedly one of the most haunted cities in the UK?! During the day Edinburgh is a beautiful city, full of amazing architecture and bagpipe playing buskers but when the sun sets the city turns into a haunted city full of tales of folklore, myths and plenty of ghosts.

We recently got back from our trip to Edinburgh and I realised that most things we did there were…

[bantarleton]

The 17th century was a great age of church building in Edinburgh. Within the boundaries of the World Heritage Site there are three splendid examples (Greyfriars 1601 - 1620, Christ’s Kirk at the Tron 1636-47, and Canongate 1688-91). This spate of building was partly due to the division of the old parish of Edinburgh into four new districts after the Reformation. The Canongate Kirk was built for the displaced congregation from Holyrood Abbey.

The new kirk for the south west district of the city was proposed for the site of the old friary of the Franciscans (the Greyfriars) in 1601. The land had passed into the possession of Mary Queen of Scots, who subsequently granted it to the town council, for use as a burying ground. The building was ordered to re-use ‘butrages and durris’ (buttresses and doors) from the convent at Sciennes, and was opened on Christmas Day 1620.

The kirk has witnessed many important moments in Scottish history including the signing of the National Covenant in 1638, and in 1679, the imprisonment of some 1,200 Covenanters in the kirkyard pending trial.

[scotianostra]

This sculpture in Canongate Kirkyard is of a Lion-Goat-Serpent mythical creature being wrestled by a naked boy, sited close to Canongate Mercat Cross. Someone has added a daisy chain on its head.

'The last Chimera'

The sculptress is Anglo-Brazilian artist Josephine de Vasconcellos,

[ramzoozi]

® Presents ⠀ UNLIMITED EDINBURGH ® 📸 @wojtek.mika 📍 #canongate #royalmile ADMIN | @ramseyselim & @nichbrand FOLLOW US l @unlimitededinburgh TAG US l #unlimitededinburgh #edinburgh ____________________________________________ Love Scotland? ♥️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Follow us @unlimitedscotland ! ♥️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ____________________________________________ AMBASSADORS 🎖 for some of the best traveller photos of Edinburgh @paulwilsonsphotography 🌟 @thisedinburghcitygirl 🌟 @mdshot7 🌟 @nichbrand 🌟 @mamtasofat 🌟 @ana.is.fun 🌟 @leeemurray 🌟 ____________________________________________ Become an ambassador @unlimitedambassadors 🎖 Link in bio ____________________________________________ FAMILY HUBS @unlimitedhubs 🌎 ___________________________________________ #unlimitedscotland #edinburgh_snapshots #visitedinburgh #thisisedinburgh #edimburgo #édimbourg #Эдинбург #爱丁堡 #エディンバラ #ادنبره #culturetrip #travel_drops #ig_europe #wonderful_destinations #ig_edinburgh #kings_villages #map_of_europe #living_europe #living_destinations #roughguides #roamtheplanet ‎#اسكتلندا #unlimited #ourdailyplanet #travel #travelguide 🏰 ☥ (at Canongate Kirkyard) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAr_VuHD-i1/?igshid=wrjfzeq377j4

[danny-darkness]

Canongate Kirkyard 

[minniemaose]

20/08

felt stunningly human today. in control. capable, even.

Went for two walks today. had lunch in PSG (embarrassed, ate until I was sick which really wasn’t much but then just felt anxious) and ticked some things off my to do list. walked around again later on in the evening, up regent road and then down a little pathway to the back of canongate kirkyard and studio 24 (may it RIP). made some meal prep chilli, who knows how it’ll be. did some dishes. i know that shouldn’t feel like a victory but here we are.

im getting better at handling and responding to high intensity emotional situations. questioning certain diagnoses ive been given, honestly. i think i was just out of touch or out of confidence. think overall though i need to get back into using pacifica to track my mood etc. i need more data to identify patterns even if i think ive already got them.

only five shifts left of fringe. im so close. i cant wait.

need classes to start. i feel really dumb. really really dumb.

[amymcools]

Sculpture in Canongate Kirkyard: ‘The figure of a young boy lying on the back of what looks like a lion is not a memorial as such but an artistic work gifted to the church by its sculptor, Josefina de Vasconcellos. She was born in 1904 and died in 2005. Her father was a Brazilian diplomat and her mother an English Quaker. Josefina’s artistic talents were apparent from an early age and she was winning major sculptural commissions when she was in her mid-20s. She had a strong faith and many of her works, including this one, incorporate religious symbolism. This sculpture, completed in 1950, is called The Last Chimera. In Greek mythology the chimera was a monster part lion, part goat and part serpent. Here it is threatening an eagle which represents the Christian church. But the chimera is being stabbed to death by the young boy who represents truth and purity. The Canongate Church called in the British Army to move the sculpture and its plinth into position. The small badge set into the plinth records the Army’s involvement. There are two, smaller, Josefina de Vasconcellos sculptures inside the Canongate church.’ - from Edinburgh World Heritage website #canongatekirkyard #chimera #mythology #scotland #edinburghstatuary (at Canongate Kirkyard)