Showing posts with label Loch Leven Castle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loch Leven Castle. Show all posts

Tuesday 8 June 2021

Skulferatu #33 - Kirkgate Cemetery, by Loch Leven, Kinross

 

On a rather chilly and misty day I took a trip over to Loch Leven.  For once there was no rain and no wind, so I made the best of it and took my bike with me.  There is a path around the Loch for walking or cycling on, it is about 20 km in total so is perfect for a leisurely cycle.  So, for the first cycling trip of the year that suited me well.

 

After my cycle I dropped off at Kirkgate Cemetery, also known by the unglamorous name of Kinross East Burying Ground.  The cemetery sits by the banks of the loch and has a great view over to Loch Leven Castle.  This castle, which was built in the 1300s, was one of the many in which Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner.  It was here that she was forced to abdicate in favour of her son James.  After several botched attempts she escaped from the castle, raised an army, fought and lost a battle, and fled to England hoping for help from her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I.  I think we all know how that turned out for her…

 

Watch Tower at entrance to Kirkgate Cemetery, Kinross with Loch Leven in the background.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for The Skulferatu Project.
Watch Tower at entrance to Kirkgate Cemetery

 

Old and crumbling gravestones at Kirkgate Cemetery, Kinross.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for The Skulferatu Project.
Gravestones at Kirkgate Cemetery

 

Old gravestone in Kirkgate Cemetery, Kinross with the Bruce Mortuary Chapel behind it.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for The Skulferatu Project.
Old gravestone with the Bruce Mortuary Chapel behind it

 

View over graveyard to Castle Island on Loch Leven.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for The Skulferatu Project.
View over graveyard to Castle Island

 

Loch Leven Castle sitting on Castle Island in Loch Leven, Kinross.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for The Skulferatu Project.
Loch Leven Castle

 

The cemetery, apart from having some lovely views, is quite picturesque with its ancient graves, tombs and lots of crumbling gravestones with faded carved skulls on them.  The parish church of Kinross used to stand in these grounds, though there are now no remains of it.  It is thought that it probably stood in the site now occupied by the Bruce Mortuary Chapel.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on my cycle in a hole in the wall of the burial ground.

 

Skulferatu #33 at Kirkgate Cemetery - looking out over Loch Leven to Castle Island.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for The Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #33

 

Skulferatu #33 in hole in the wall at Kirkgate Cemetery, Kinross.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for The Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #33 in hole in the wall at Kirkgate Cemetery, Kinross

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #33 in Kirkgate Cemetery by Loch Leven, Kinross
Map showing location of Skulferatu #33

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 56.200980

Longitude -3.406014