Dead People – Church and Cemetery
There was a halt in transmission due to intermittent and persistent technical problems in addition to failure to fight off a cold which left me somewhat less than energetic. Both issues seem under control and since last writing I have walked, while not exactly all over Inverkeithing but certainly further than I had hoped was possible, visited a quaint old village which gave an ancestor an honour, delved into Scottish archives, walked a good deal of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, travelled to Derby, delved into more archives, almost left the train at the wrong station, walked up a monstrous hill thinking I was on the way to the station but wasn’t, walked up and down a much more monstrous hill bereft of path, with a friend in the Derbyshire Dales and have lived to tell the story. Not sure how much will make it into the blog but there have been some interesting sights and experiences along with photos.
This entry is about the church and cemetery in Inverkeithing.
St Peter’s Church was first dedicated in 1244 and a stained glass window was erected in 1994 to commemorate the 750th anniversary. It has been altered over the years including the provision of ramps etc for the disabled. I was walking past on a morning when it was open for a fund raising morning tea and managed to have myself invited in to chat, observe and photograph. The interior was very plain apart from several stained glass windows. It contained a 14th century baptismal font reported to have been given by royalty for the baptism of their son and which had been hidden during a period of religious difficulty and lost for around 200 years.
St Peter’s Church, Inverkeithing
Church facade from one side of church yard
Inside church looking towards entrance
14th Century baptismal font
Commemorative stained glass window representing Inverkeithing’s past and present
One of the more traditional windows yet quite different from the much older ones in York Minster
Churchyard looking towards street
I walked around the graveyard on a different day. It is on a bit of a slope and most tombstones were well buried in the soil and many stones are so weathered or damaged as to be unreadable. Despite the antiquity of the churchyard I saw few tombstones older than 1700 and none I can claim as family despite a few familiar surnames. Given the length of time family lived in the town there would have to be some family burials there. It was closed around 1864 and thereafter burials were done at the Hope St Cemetery.
Street is behind and the back of the Tollbooth is on the right
Broken tombstones
Churchyard, other side
Hope St Cemetery is quite large and on a significant slope so that many of the remaining tombstones have a real forwards lean and some have fallen on their faces making them unreadable. Back sections of the cemetery are under a thicket of vegetation to the extent that in some places it is hard to know if there are graves beneath whereas in others they were clearly seen hiding among the foliage. I was also told that vandals had attacked the graveyard some years previously doing considerable damage. Despite walking the entire cemetery and reading every visible tombstone the only family graves I found were those of a 2 times great uncle with his wife and another for their son. I knew they were there as someone had photographed and put them onto an online photographic grave site. The grandparents of the youngest burial, and my direct ancestors, were buried there and I have no doubt would have had some kind of tombstone/monument but it was not evident.
Cemetery from about half or two thirds down looking toward left hand side of the harbour
Cemetery looking towards right hand side of harbour with scrap metal recycler clearly visible