Udny Green Cemetery and Mort House, Aberdeenshire
Visited August 2021
This village cemetery in northeast Scotland is notable particularly for the feature just inside the main gate, a circular mort house. Built in the early 19th century in response to threats of bodysnatching, the mort house was used for the storage of bodies before they were buried, to ensure they were suitably decomposed before they went in the ground, and thus less appealing to grave robbers or 'resurrection men'.
This circular mort house had a rather unique revolving platform inside, so bodies should do a full revolution before coming out ready for burial - they could remain inside for up to 3 months. Probably best not to think about that too much!
The building was only in use for a few years, as it was built in 1832 but had fallen out of use by 1836 - the passing of the Anatomy Act 1832 meant that it was obsolete just as it was being built. It's now Grade B listed, and occasionally open to visitors.
The rest of the cemetery is a mix of Victorian to modern graves, a few with some eroded memento mori on them, and aside from one dog walker it was a quiet place on the edge of the village.
