Irvine Graveyard Tour - 15/02/16

Irvine Seagate Rotary had an insight into Old Irvine on Monday, courtesy of a graveyard tour conducted by Billy Kerr.  In the summer, particularly around Marymass, Billy does actual tours of the burial ground surrounding the Old Parish Church, but this was a virtual tour of some of the more interesting older headstones.

 Although the current church was completed in 1774, there are stones around it that can be identified as far back as 1688.  Billy explained the symbolism of the older stones, with their reminders of death and mortality, and also the traditional representations of the various trades and occupations.  There are shipmasters and sailors, ministers and maltsters, weavers, coopers, shoemakers and other trades to be seen, all exhibiting the stylised tools of their trade and demonstrating their wealth by the magnificence of the carving of their memorials. 

The monumental inscriptions of all of the legible stones have been recorded for posterity, as sadly the graveyard suffers from vandalism and damage.  However, similar problems have been faced before, and at one stage armed guards were posted to discourage body snatchers.  It was observed that currently armed guards are not an option.  Billy answered questions, and a Vote of Thanks was proposed by Jim Fairgrieve.