I recently visited the churchyard of Dunblane Cathedral. Although a Sunday afternoon, I wasn’t compelled to explore inside and concentrated on walking around the outside of the building and thought I’d share a few photos of my all-too-brief visit.
The church dates back to the twelveth century and is overseen by Historic Scotland. It is the parish church of Dunblane and is of the Church of Scotland faith. It is one of the few surviving medieval churches in Scotland.
I’ve touched on briefly in other posts here and here that I love a walk around a cemetery. The out-of-date names can captivate me – I came across a nineteenth century Zelinda in Derbyshire. Epitaphs can spark a flurry of research – one lady I failed to uncover more information about was noted as being ‘a noble woman, a staunch friend and a lover of justice to animals’, but how did she earn that extraordinary epitaph? Sadly, I don’t know.
I photographed two Henderson graves, I can only speculate if they belong to relatives of each other.
Source:
https://www.dunblanecathedral.org.uk
Images author’s own.
HistorianRuby: An Historian's Miscellany 
I want to learn more about the lady who was just to animals. In my research, I’ve come across pigs, rats and dogs that were foubd guilty of different crimes in 17th/18th century France. Really fascinating stuff!
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I didn’t visit Dunblane for many years after the massacre, I just didn’t feel I could. However, we’ve been a couple of times now. The cathedral is beautiful, theLeighton Library is interesting and there’s a nice wee museum too. I think the latter two are only open in the summer though. There’s a moving memorial to the children and teacher who died inside the cathedral.
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That’s lovely. Thank you for sharing that with me, I didn’t know it was there. We went to Dunblane on a spur of the moment, my husband had suggested visiting to photograph the Andy Murray postbox a few days prior – and then we found ourselves with some free time. I was determined to be respectful to those who were murdered and not seek out the primary school although I did mention it to my husband walking around, how could you not?
I took photos of the Library and of the many plaques dotted around. I had planned to write about it but August has proved a very busy month.
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I know, it’s hard to know what to do to pay respects without being a “grief tourist”. (I don’t think the same school is there anyway, though not 100% sure.)
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The architecture of the past always amazes me. Thanks for sharing.
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Nice post. Have been meaning to go to Dunblane and the Leighton Library for a long time but it hasn’t happened yet for all sorts of reasons. The memorial that Anabel shared is beautiful.
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I enjoy cemetery walks, too!
But I don’t understand how you could not go into the church. Seeing the inside is always what I do first. I get the “feel”, the atmosphere, and THEN I go out, and walk around. Great photos.
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It was just circumstance. We’d seen the clergy leaving and the doors were closed so I didn’t try them. We’d headed there for a different reason. On another occasion, we probably would have explored inside. By the way, in Aberdeen we drank in a bar that was an old church, it was fab! It had the stained glass windows, high pulpit and carvings, but had a bar area and tables instead of pews.
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Almost profane.
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I really like church architecture and am trying to learn a bit more about it. Thanks for introducing me to a lovely new cathedral!
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You’re welcome 🙂
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