On Oct 19, 2006, at 4:19, Helen Campbell wrote: > many of the gravestones/monuments shown in the churchyard at > Bowmore are more than simple headstones. They are substantial monuments > which must have cost a bit. Who would they all be for? Former > businessmen? > Farmers? Would the cost have been a great burden on families? Was > there a > loss of face issue if a substantial monument was not erected? Were the > monuments made on Islay or brought from somewhere else? None appeared > to be > leaning over as happens in other old cemeteries. The round church at Bowmore is very much a working church. When I was there, a wedding was going on - (the men in their kilts). Many of the gravestones are recent - i.e. 1950's and upwards. Also markers for those who fell in the 1st and 2nd World Wars. The oldest I could find there were either late 1800's or early 1900's and they were from families who had later deaths recorded on the same stone. Of course the oldest stones I found were at Kildalton, but many were in such bad condition that I couldn't read them - although there were some new ones (1970's) there too. Strangely, the oldest cemetery I have ever been to was in an outport on Newfoundland's east coast where dates were from the 1600's. Also, there were many groups of stones there that told a story - i.e. ship wrecks, epidemics of small pox, etc. In our family plot in Ottawa (Beechwood Cemetery) my Great Grandfather Dugald is buried as is his son. His son James died in 1892 and Dugald died in 1926. He (Dugald) was the son of Donald McLarty and Mary Love who were married in the round church at Bowmore and emmigrated to Canada during the Clearances. Dugald was born in Canada shortly after they arrived. Nancy MacLarty (in BC)