January 2020 Round-up.

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by friendsofwarristoncemetery in Headstones and monuments, Humour, Views, Work In Progress

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Various days in January 2020. Not very much going on this month but there will be more activity as the year grows.

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News from the cemetery Garden; bulbs are showing.

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The Snowdrops begin.

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A bout of breeziness brought down a huge tree branch across this path. It fell from a tree to the right of the picture, and that sawn edge is from previous work to recreate the path. A couple of hours of sawing through lots of little off-branches and the path is navigable again

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Everything is coming out early again. Here are some snowdrops, daffodil buds and heather. We have crocus shoots and bluebells coming out too, but they’re not ready for their close-ups yet.

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The modern equivalent of “Ten Green Bottles”! Another three were in hands or pockets.

We were asked, via our Facebook page, if we would take photos of a couple of family gravestones. Below are some of the photos we were able to send the inquirer…

Restoring a ‘lost’ stone to its rightful position.

17 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by Graham Jones in Headstones and monuments, Information, Revelations

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June 29th to July 2nd, 2019. Recovering a memorial stone that hadn’t seen the light of day in decades.

It was covered in a mass of roots and earth, built up over the years. It’s the base of a cross, dedicated to Elizabeth Grace, the infant daughter of Lieutenant F.A. Stewart of the West India Regiment.

It’s the base for a cross, but we haven’t yet located that piece. The base was buried beneath soil and roots that had built up over the intervening years. It was excavated very carefully and given a brief wash using plain water and a gentle brush.

It was discovered on the Saturday. On the Monday, thanks to Mortonhall, we found out where it SHOULD be. It was back in its rightful position the very next day.

Here are some photos of the discovery, excavation and replacement…
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Little Elizabeth Grace had been born at 14 Hope Street at 7.20am on 4 November 1872, the second child of Lieutenant Francis Archibald Stewart of the 1st West India Regiment and his wife Grace Jane Malloch, who’d married on 10 November 1870 in Canada. The family wasn’t long in Edinburgh, being unrecorded here in 1871 and 1875. Towards the end of the century, they were in Jersey. Hence this infant is the sole occupant of the grave. Elizabeth Grace died at 7am on 3 February 1873 at the same address of 14 Hope Street, aged 5 months. She’d suffered from Tubercular Meningitis for 5 days and Convulsions for 3 days.

She was attended by a nearby physician, Dr Angus Macdonald, across the street at no. 29 Charlotte Square. When he died in 1886 after being unwell for a few years (then buried in Grange), his death was certified by his neighbour, Dr Claud Muirhead of 30 Charlotte Square. One of Dr Macdonald’s positions was Lecturer in Midwifery and Diseases of Women, so may well have known (or at least known the teachings of) our most famous resident, Sir James Young Simpson. Dr Muirhead died in 1910 and is interred in Warriston’s Section K, quite close to Sir James Young Simpson.

Elizabeth Grace’s older brother, Archibald Francis Stewart, born 12 September 1871 in Jamaica, followed his father into the Army, firstly with the Durham Light Infantry. He spent most of his career in India, finally becoming Lieutenant-Colonel. He retired in September 1922.

N.B. Please note that we lack the equipment and training to re-site larger stones.

January 18th, 2019.

18 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by Graham Jones in Headstones and monuments, Nature

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Robin, Great Spotted Woodpecker and monuments.

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June 4th 2018.

04 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by Graham Jones in Headstones and monuments, Nature

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1; Gargoyle at the Adam Black memorial.
2; Part of the catacombs structure.
3 & 4; Blue tit exiting nest entrance.
5 & 6; Bumblebee. Possibly a tree bumblebee. It is joined by a fly.

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April 2018 Round-up.

26 Saturday May 2018

Posted by Graham Jones in Headstones and monuments, Nature, Revelations, Video

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Various days in April 2018.

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April 1st…

April 2nd…

April 6th…

April 7th…

April 8th…

Two new volunteers joined us today, so here’s a before-and-after of some of their work. The third stone had a lot of moss on it, but now it’s legible…

April 9th…

April 14th…

April 15th…

April 19th…

Treecreeper gathering nest material…

April 20th…

April 21st…

April 22nd…

April 24th…

April 27th…

April 30th…

January 2018 round-up.

16 Friday Feb 2018

Posted by Graham Jones in Headstones and monuments, Information, Nature, Views

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Various days in January 2018.

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January 1st…

This caught our eye in passing. Had to clear it a bit! Aside from a slur on Scotia’s Darling Seat, it’s an unusual choice of Biblical quotation – not to mention those serpents emerging from the bosses. It’s Hebrews Ch.13 V.14 (and I rather like V.16 also). Didn’t find the cross’s base, so we don’t know who was commemorated. Yet…

Started as a lovely day! Rained later, though.

Today there was formed a sub-group entitled “The Rebellious Bored”. And off we went grave-hunting. Here’s the evidence. Yes, there really is an upright stone in there! And now some will understand why we call this area “The Jungle”..

January 3rd…

This blue tit is house-hunting already. It checked out this gap in the stonework, disappearing inside twice as I watched.

The visiting bird-ringer wrote…

I thought, as we’re in the new year now, I’d give everyone a round up of the bird Ringing activities in the cemetery for 2017.
So since July I’ve ringed almost 80 birds at Warriston, the majority of which have been long-tailed tits with massive flocks passing through the area. The highlight being a couple of redwing, a winter visitor, which have been identified as the Scandinavian race or subspecies rather than the Icelandic/Greenland.
Hopefully these birds start turning up in far away lands and give us some valuable information on migration and distributions.
I also do some moth sampling and came across a phyllonorycter messaniella (a leaf mining moth) larvae on the resident holm oak (Pictured below). Which was an interesting find for me.
It’s been great to speak to those who’ve shown an interest and thank you for co-operating and being helpful by avoiding the mist nets when they’ve been set up as I do try to keep away from all the main paths and stick to quiet periods of the day.

Bold robin.

January 5th…

For those interested, three more recently identified brick maker marks to add to the five previously posted. The bricks were used for various outbuildings and walls in the head gardener’s cottage area. *Winchburgh* – Winchburgh Brick Works, Winchburgh, West Lothian. *NCB P-Grange* –
Prestongrange Brick, Tile and Fireclay Works, Prestonpans, East Lothian. *Vogrie* – Vogrie Brick and Tile Works, Newlandrif, Gorebridge, Midlothian.

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January 6th…

After a couple of days of rain, we had a light sunny day. What this photograph can’t show, though, is the raw and chilly easterly breeze! Still, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the conditions on the North American continent.

Some bulbs, impatient for Spring. Aren’t we all!

January 8th…

January 11th…

A good day for birding. Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker.

January 13th…

Here they come…

January 16th…

16/01/2018. Between light snowfalls.

January 17th…

January 18th…

January 19th…

January 29th…

December 2017 round-up.

03 Wednesday Jan 2018

Posted by Graham Jones in Headstones and monuments, Information, Nature, Revelations, Views

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We’ve undertaken a joint project with the Council’s Trees & Woodland Officer. Up in the north-east corner there’s a bank which had a load of diseased ash trees (plus too many sycamores and the usual ivy, brambles, nettles, and some convolvulus). Nearby residents had expressed concern. We’ve removed a lot of the undesirable growth – more to go still! Some elm saplings, plus a birch and a hazel have been left in place, plus this mass of mature ivy up a tree trunk.We received 120 shrubs and hedge plants from The Woodland Trust and we’ve been planting them beside the fence. About 80 in, so about 40 to go yet. The second photograph shows some of the clear tubes protecting the new plants. The residents are now receiving more light and warmth into the south-facing rooms and into their drying green. They’re happy! (See the two photos below.)