A grave matter

    Reading Roger Lancelyn Green's Tellers of Tales* a few months ago piqued a latent interest in Andrew Lang, and discovering that he was buried in the grounds of St. Andrews Cathedral set me on a hunt for his grave.

    I'd drawn a blank in previous wanderings round the cathedral precincts, but this afternoon I asked the gentleman in charge of the visitor centre if he could help. He had no knowledge of the grave, but with reference to a registry pertaining to the main cemetery we concluded that what I sought was in the Eastern cemetery, though beyond that there was no clue to its whereabouts.

    Suffice to say I searched systematically and eventually came upon it. While this may be of scant interest to Cornflower readers, I thought I'd publish my findings here by way of public service posting, so for anyone who shares my fascination for such things or who has, like me, fruitlessly scoured the internet for pictures and information, I can tell you that the grave is on the right hand side of the path which runs down by the wall on the sea side, and it's the fifth plot from the bottom of the hill.

    Click on the pictures to enlarge.

 

*There are short extracts here and here.

Comments

[Kathleen]

What a beautiful place for a cemetery. I can't manage to decipher the second line of the epitaph...

[Cornflower]

As far as I can make out it says, "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, there shall no torment touch them".

[Kathleen]

Thank you!

[Spade & Dagger]

I admire your search for & recording of the memorial to this poet. I remember as a teenager systematically searching the cemetery, where a relative happened to be recently buried, for the grave of Ruth Ellis (last woman in England to be hanged) which was rumoured to have been moved there from the jail. I did find it & was prompted to research into the notorious case.

This week we were in Yorkshire & visited many graveyards full of gravestones weathered beyond recognition. It's the natural way of things to decay, but there is a sadness that the simple details of all these people are wearing away & invisible to future browsers of churches & graveyards. We did however manage to visit the gravestone of Anne Bronte in Scarborough in time to read the remaining few fragments of the flaking inscription. Luckily the Bronte Society have placed a durable, if totally different looking, replacement stone nearby.

[Fran H-B]

Pleased your search was rewarded with the find. I enjoy ambling around cemeteries and wondering about the names and their lives.