Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh

Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh, Scotland

Visited September 2016

This may well be one of my favourite graveyards so far! It attracts a lot of tourists, it's not huge, it's not overgrown or mysterious, it's not a secret, but it is wonderful!

The most famous thing about this kirkyard (churchyard) is of course Greyfriars Bobby, the little dog who guarded the grave of his owner for 14 years in the 19th century; a memorial to him stands just inside the gate of the churchyard, piled high with sticks, and there's a statue of him just outside.

The churchyard itself dates to the 16th century, and there are a lot of old memorials here. In particular, the ones around the wall are fabulous; these are the oldest and oh, the memento mori symbols! There are skulls, more skulls, dancing skeletons, cherubs, and more skulls! Some of them are even up against (or built into?) the walls of the surrounding houses!

It's well worth a visit here, just across the road from the National Museum of Scotland on one side, and the edge of the Haymarket on another. The Flodden Wall runs through it, with graves on both sides, adding even more history to the place. It's also the area where JK Rowling wrote some books about a boy wizard, and if you search the graves you might just find Tom Riddle's final place of rest (not that Tom Riddle, but perhaps his namesake).