Tarves Kirkyard, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Tarves Kirkyard, Aberdeenshire

Visited August 2016

Tarves is a small village a few miles north of Aberdeen, with a most impressive tomb in its churchyard. Most of the graves date from the Victorian period onwards, and the church itself dates from 1798, but the site has been in use much longer than that. A Medieval church stood just to the south of the current one, and all that remains of it is the Tolquhon Tomb, a scheduled ancient monument and the tomb of William Forbes (died 1596), lord of nearby Tolquhon Castle (the ruins of which are also well worth a visit), and his wife Elizabeth Gordon.

The tomb itself is under a protective canopy, and you can't get right up to it, but it's worth seeking out, especially to see the carvings on it - although you can't quite see the small portrait statuettes of th couple. The design of the tomb is probably inspired by the 1532 tomb of Bishop Dunbar in St Machar's Cathedral in Old Aberdeen.

Leaning against the church wall, directly behind you from the Tolquhon Tomb, are 4 old grave slabs dating from the 1580s to 1630s, with wonderfully naive skulls on them, and inscriptions which remain legible to this day.

Gravestones of Sandwich, Kent

Various churchyards around the town of Sandwich, Kent

Visited August 2016

When I was wandering around the pretty little town of Sandwich the other weekend, I stumbled across some lovely tombstones. Sadly I didn't have as much time to poke around as I'd have liked, as Richborogh Roman Fort was my intended destination, but I spotted these few. Maybe I'll go back one day and have a proper look!

St Mary's Church
This Church is right on the street, but it seems to have a pretty churchyard behind it, with some fairly old stones including this one.

St Peter's Church
Most of this churchyard seems to have been cleared and landscaped, with the stones placed around the edge is so often the case. Just opposite the door, however, I spotted this little gem!

Parish Church of St Clement, Sandwich
This is a lovely churchyard - like a proper English country churchyard should be, and it helped that there was someone practising violin nearby, giving a very pastoral soundtrack! Graves seem to date from the 18th century onwards, and although I had only 15 minutes to look around I spotted some lovely ones and must go back sometime!