St Cuthbert's Kirk (Church) Yard

Visitors to the large and extensive churchyard can ask a church representative to locate someone - perhaps a distant ancestor - whose grave they would like to visit. The grave number is in the index books and referred to on the churchyard map.  

The land lying immediately around the Church has been a place of Christian burial for a thousand years.Only one stone, however, that of Rev Robert Pont, who died in 1606, remains from earlier days. Except in unusual circumstances, interments ceased at the end of the 19th century.  

There is a record of over 1000 graves and this was the work of John Smith:  

"Monumental Inscriptions in St Cuthbert’s Churchyard, Edinburgh, compiled by John Smith, edited by Sir James Balfour Paul, CVO, LLD 1915".  

The work came too late to record many of the inscriptions but enough remain visible to reward the scrutiny of the interested visitor.  

Dates of interest:  

1595 - First intimation of a burying ground in Kirk Session minutes - a small hill known as the ‘Knowe’ south of the Church, was used.  

It was a lonely spot where the Kirk lay, especially at night. Except for one farm steading "there was neither hoose nor ha’ nor fire nor candlelicht" between it and the villages which stood on the banks of the Water of Leith.  

Over a century later, this quiet location was to give scoundrels an opportunity to dig up and steal the bodies of the dead, for which surgeons and anatomists paid very handsomely.  

1597 - Stone wall built to keep grazing horses and sheep out.  

1701 - Ground added to the west.  

1738 - Grave-robbing had become a frequent occurrence. Walls raised to 8 feet (2.5 metres).  

1740 - Kirk Session appointed an officer to keep records of the dead. Recorder used a lodge on the site of the present watchtower.  

1742 - Several bodies illegally removed. A Beadle was suspected of complicity and a furious mob burned his house. Both Beadles were removed from office.  

1789 - North marsh drained to provide further land. Land to the south-west was raised and walled in.  

1803 - Regular watch appointed to guard the cemeteries at night to deter grave-robbers.  

1827 - Watchtower to south west built.This was done a little late, however, because the long-running practice of body-snatching ceased within the next ten years when the law changed to allow the donation of bodies to medical science.  

1831 - Manse to south of Church demolished and garden incorporated into a new burial area.  

1834 - Churchyard extended by adding oddly shaped piece of wasteground known as the Glebe.  

1841 - In this year and again in 1910, tunnel cut or extended beneath the Churchyard to accommodate the railway line. This involved the loss of stones erected between 1834 and 1841. No graves exist now over the tunnel.  

1875 - Burials ceased at St Cuthbert’s, except in exceptional circumstances.Upkeep of the Churchyard became the responsibility of City of Edinburgh District Council.  

Notable churchyard monuments include those to: 

George Meikle Kemp
b. 1795 - d. 1844
Master joiner and self-taught architect, son of a Border shepherd. He designed the Scott Monument on Princes Street - an elaborate buttressed Gothic steeple - which commemorates the novelist, Sir Walter Scott.  

John Napier
b. 1550 - d. 1617
Mathematician, astronomer, poet and prodigious inventor, born at Merchiston Castle. Best known for his table of logarithms. There is a memorial to him in the Church Vestibule.  

More information about John Napier is available from Napier University, Edinburgh  

Alexander Nasmyth
b. 1758 - d. 1840
Artist, architect, bridge designer and inventor.  

Rev Robert Pont
b. 1525 - d. 1606
Second Minister of St Cuthbert’s Parish after the Reformation and one of the most eminent. His stone was moved to Rev. Williamson’s tomb when the church was rebuilt in the 18th century but was moved back into the Church at the start of the 20th century.  

More information about Rev Pont is included on our History page for the 16th century 

Thomas De Quincey
b. 15th Aug 1785 - d. 9th Dec 1859
Author and essayist, born near Manchester, who moved to Edinburgh in 1829. Best known work: "Confessions of an English Opium Eater"  

More information about Thomas De Quincey is available from the University of Manchester 

Rev David Williamson
b. 1636 - d. 1706
The "Daintie Davie" of Scots songs.Presented to the Church in 1661 by King Charles II.Ousted as a Covenanter in 1665.Captain at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge, 1679.Restored to St Cuthbert’s 1689.Moderator of the General Assembly, 1702.  

More information about Rev Williamson is included on our History page for the 17th century  

If you are researching your family history, or are interested in finding out more about the history of St Cuthbert's Church or Parish, you can find information on available resources HERE