In medieval Edinburgh the dead were buried in the city's churchyards, with internment in the church reserved for the wealthy, but in the post-Reformation years both rich and poor were buried in the grounds of the churches. By the 19th century the city centre churchyards were overcrowded and new outer town cemeteries created, no longer controlled by the town but by independent cemetery companies.
In this book local historian Charlotte Golledge takes readers on a tour through the history of Edinburgh's burial grounds. She covers the individual history of the graveyards of St Giles, St Cuthbert's, Holyrood, Greyfriars, Canongate, Old Calton, New Calton, Buccleuch, St John's and Morningside and the later Dean, Dalry, The Grange, Morningside, Rosebank, Newington, Warriston and the Jewish cemeteries. The story includes the notable events, burials and grave markers at each burial ground as well as the changes in how the people of Edinburgh buried their dead and mourned their loved ones over the years as the new profession of the undertakers took over the role of the church for the new cemeteries. She also unearths evidence of the lost burial grounds of Edinburgh that have been moved, built over or rediscovered.
This fascinating portrait of life and death in Edinburgh over the centuries will appeal to both residents and visitors to the Scottish capital.