Hi G Maybe the kirks are close to the sea as the ground there is or was unsuitable for agriculture or house building or quite simply they wanted to!!!!!!!! Janis ----- Original Message ----- From: "Grumpy" <grumpy_in_orkney@btinternet.com> To: <ORCADIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, December 10, 2003 7:40 PM Subject: [<orcadia>] The dead end! > Evening greetings, > > Can anyone throw any light on why so many (although not all) of Orkney's old > graveyards are very close to the sea shore. Is this some old Orkney/Scottish > tradition that the final resting place should be so close to the sea. > > I did toy with the idea that it may have connections with the Vikings when > they used to place the dead on boats and set them on fire. And because the > early Stromness settlers had nicked all the trees for their Ba games, that > due to the lack of wood, the dead were then buried close to the sea. Or is > this just one of Grumpy's flights of fantasy! > > Take care > > Grumpy > > > ==== ORCADIA Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from the Orcadia mailing list, send an e-mail with the word > 'unsubscribe' in the message body to orcadia-l-request@rootsweb.com > >

On 13 December 2003 12:45, Janis Counsell wrote: > Maybe the kirks are close to the sea as the ground there is > or was unsuitable for agriculture Most of the rural kirks I can think of are situated in very good land, and the graveyards are surrounded by cultivated fields. So I suspect the idea of using poor land doesn't apply. Mind you, that's not to say the land was always that good. Agricultural reform was a wonderful thing. -- Sigurd Towrie Blackhall - Kirbister - Stromness - Orkney Heritage of Orkney: www.orkneyjar.com Home: sigurd@orkneyjar.com Work: sigurd.towrie@orcadian.co.uk