St Mary's kirkyard (Banff)

St Mary's Kirkyard, Banff, Scotland

Visited May 2015

In the seaside town of Banff, on the Moray coast of North-East Scotland, is this small, but wonderful kirkyard. There's very little left of the Medieval kirk (church) itself except one part (the Ogilvie Aisle, restored in 2003), but the gravestones alone are worth the visit. Here you'll find graves from the 17th century to the 19th century (the kirkyard closed to new burials in 1862), and the early ones are marvellously preserved. All kinds of symbolism is here - skulls, hourglasses, winged angels, coffins, skeletons, and much more. It may look small, but you'll find plenty here to fill an hour or two. It's surrounded on all sides by roads, and there's a Tesco across the way, but don't worry, once you're in it's a sea of tranquility. Look out for the gravestones commemorating those lost in shipwrecks, as well as the great and the good of late Medieval Banff.