St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen

St Machar’s Cathedral, Aberdeen

Visited August 2016

I’ve written about this churchyard before, and perhaps wasn’t all that complementary about the site. In fairness, that was a dull, cold, damp wintery day. This time it was an overcast but warm summer day, and I had a bit more of a look around.

St Machar’s became a cathedral in the 1130s, when the seat of the Bishop was moved from Mortlach, Dufftown, to Old Aberdeen. Nowadays it’s a Cathedral in name only, as the Church of Scotland has neither bishops nor cathedrals.

The churchyard is rather crowded with gravestones, of people from all walks of life. Of course being Aberdeen there are a large number of burials of seafarers. Among the rather staid and plain granite headstones there are a few more impressive ones, especially at the back of the cathedral where the remains of the old site still stand. In this area there are some late Medieval bishops’ tombs, including that of Bishop Gavin Dunbar (d.1532), which is likely the influence for the Tolquhon Tomb in Tarves Kirkyard (see earlier blog post). There are also some carved memorials on the interior walls of the cathedral, and three rather weathered Medieval effigies of bishops.

In short, it’s rather more worth a visit than I first gave it credit for. Try to get a warm day, and I imagine if the sun’s shining it’s even better! Take time to look around the nearby Seaton Park or Cruikshank Botanical Gardens, and you’ll easily fill a half day.

Salisbury Cathedral Cloisters, Wiltshire

Salisbury Cathedral Cloisters, Wiltshire

Visited February 2016

As with every Cathedral I've visited, the cloisters (and of course the inside) of Salisbury cathedral are lined with memorials to the great and the good of the area, including clergy, parishioners and war dead. For some reason, most of my photos didn't come out properly, but here are a few examples from the walls and floor of the cloister area, as well as a view of the cloisters themselves.

Perhaps most poignant to me is not the memorial to an infant but the original wooden cross from a Great War grave in Cairo - the rows of white Commonwealth War Graves are a common sight in any cemetery I've visited, but this crudely made and painted cross seems a lot more 'real' than those sanitised markers. Maybe that's just me though.

Anyway, Salisbury Cathedral is a wonderful place to visit - not just for the memorials, but of course they have a copy of the Magna Carta there, centuries of history, and a quite frankly splendid font which seems more like a mirror or work of art than a font. My picture of it didn't come out so you'll have to visit to see for yourself!