Larbert Old Parish Churchyard, Falkirk

Churchyard of Larbert Old Parish Church, near Falkirk, Scotland

Visited September 2015

A short walk away from the train station in the village of Larbert (now a suburb of Falkirk), is this lovely old churchyard. The earliest gravestones date from the 17th century, earlier than the current (19th century) church. An area of the churchyard is set aside for burials of the great and the good of the Carron Company, an iron making company established in Falkirk in the 18th century. This area contains a Doric Greek style mausoleum, among other

Notably, although there is no shortage of 18th and early 19th century gravestones, there are very few memento mori on the tombstones.

One thing to look out for, which fascinated me, is the large number of gravestones with a single date, and the names of a man and a woman. Why no dates of death? Because it was traditional than on their wedding, the couple would be gifted a burial plot and headstone! And if you notice that they have different surnames, that's because in Scotland in the 19th century it was still usual for a woman to retain her own surname after marriage.