Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a number of notable Edinburgh residents are interred at Greyfriars. The Kirkyard is operated by the City of Edinburgh Council in liaison with a charitable trust, which is linked to but separate from the church. The Kirkyard and its monuments are protected as a category A listed building.
History Greyfriars takes its name from the Franciscan friary on the site (the friars of which wear grey habits), which was dissolved in 1560. The kirkyard was founded in August 1562 after royal sanctions were granted to replace the kirkyard at St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh. The latter burial ground was not used after around 1600.
The burgh council of Edinburgh resolved to make the changes on 23 April 1561:
The Kirkyard was involved in the history of the Covenanters. The Covenanting movement began with the signing of the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirk on 28 February 1638. Following the defeat of the militant Covenanters at Bothwell Brig in 1679, some 1200 Covenanters were imprisoned in a field to the south of the churchyard. When, in the 18th century, part of this field was amalgamated into the churchyard as vaulted tombs, the area became known as the "Covenanters' Prison".
During the early days of photography in the 1840s the kirkyard was used by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson as a setting for several portraits and tableaux such as The Artist and The Gravedigger.
Covenanters
The National Covenant was signed in the graveyard (as it was a place of free legal public assembly) in 1638. Whilst some depictions of the event show them leaning on table stones, these stones did not exist at that time and the signing was done during the period of the ban on central gravestones.Greyfriars Parish Burial Records:1560–1900
Following the Battle of Bothwell Bridge (22 June 1679), some 1200 prisoners were brought to Edinburgh. There being too numerous for containment in the prison or castle, a makeshift "prison" was formed in a field south of Greyfriars Kirkyard, to hold around 400 not containable elsewhere. This area was conveniently enclosed on two sides by the Flodden Wall and on a third side (the west) by the high enclosing wall of George Heriot's School. The fourth side faced the churchyard and was separated by an easily patrolled and guarded picket fence.
The name Covenanters Prison stuck. The bulk of the area was built on by the city Bedlam (around 1690). A remaining strip of land, sandwiched between the Bedlam and George Heriot's School, was used for additional burial ground from around 1700. The style at the time was to build in enclosed vaults, and this is the dominant form in this section. As the vaults did not exist at the time of the area's prison use, despite their potential to be used as prison cells, this was never the case.
The area was open to public view until around 1990, but was thereafter locked by the City of Edinburgh Council to stem persistent vandalism and use by drug users. The area is accessible during the day by special arrangement with the guides at Greyfriard Kirk during their opening hours and at night by going on a City of the Dead Tour where the Black Mausoleum can be visited.
Greyfriars Bobby The graveyard is associated with Greyfriars Bobby, the loyal dog who guarded his master's grave. Bobby's headstone at the entrance to the Kirkyard, erected by the Dog Aid Society in 1981, marks his reputed burial place, however, as there are no parts of the kirkyard that is not consecrated it is also believed he was buried under a tree outside the gates to the right of the current main entrance. The dog's statue is opposite the graveyard's gate, at the junction of George IV Bridge and Candlemaker Row. The grave of a Pentland Hills Shepherd, "Auld Jock" (John Gray), where the dog famously slept for 14 years, lies on the eastern path, some 30m north of the entrance. The stone is modern, the grave originally being unmarked.
Monuments
Enclosed burial lairs are found mainly on the south edge of the graveyard and in the "Covenanters' Prison". These either have solid stone walls or iron railings and were created as a deterrent to grave robbing, which had become a problem in the eighteenth century. Greyfriars also has two low ironwork cages called mortsafes. These were leased and protected bodies for long enough to deter the attention of the early nineteenth-century resurrection men who supplied Edinburgh Medical College with corpses for dissection.
The kirkyard displays some of Scotland's finest mural monuments from the early 17th century, rich in symbolism of both mortality and immortality, such as the Death Head, Angel of the Resurrection, and the King of Terrors. These are mostly found along the east and west walls of the old burial yard to the north of the kirkyard.C.Golledge (2018) Greyfriards Graveyard, Amberley Publishing
Notable monuments include the Martyr's Monument, which commemorates executed Covenanters. The Italianate monument to Sir George Mackenzie was designed by the architect James Smith, and modelled on the Tempietto di San Pietro, designed by Donato Bramante.Gifford, John (1989) William Adam 1689–1748, Mainstream Publishing / RIAS. pp.62–67 Duncan Ban MacIntyre's memorial was renovated in 2005, at a cost of about £3,000, raised by a fundraising campaign for over a year. The monument of John Byres of Coates, 1629, was one of the last works of the royal master mason William Wallace.
Bloody MacKenzie's Tomb In 2003, the distinctive domed tomb of Sir George MacKenzie was entered by two teenage boys, aged 17 and 15, via a ventilation slot in the rear (now sealed). They reached the lower vault (containing the coffins), broke the coffins open and stole a skull. The pair narrowly escaped imprisonment on the little-used but still extant charge of violating sepulchres.
Notable burials
(note-CP denotes graves within the sealed south-west section known as the Covenanters Prison)
A William Adam (architect) (1689–1748), with his son John Adam (architect) (1721–1792) William Adam of Blair Adam (1751–1839), judge Alexander Adie FRSE (1775–1859), optical instrument maker David Aikinhead (1566–1637), twice Lord Provost of Edinburgh, 1620–22 and 1625–30 William Annand (1633–1681), minister and Dean of St Giles Cathedral
B Sir Robert Baird of Saughtonhall (1630–1697), Cashier of the Scottish Carolina Company Leslie Balfour-Melville (1854–1937), golfer John Bayne of Pitcairlie (1620–1681), Writer to the Signet John Beugo (1759–1841), engraver Joseph Black (1728–1799), physician (CP) Rev Hugh Blair (1718–1800) Sir James Hunter Blair, 1st Baronet (1741–1787) Robert Blair, Lord Avontoun (1741–1811), judge (CP) Very Rev Andrew Brown (1763–1834), minister and historian of Nova Scotia George Buchanan (died 1582), historian and reformer James Buchanan of Drumpellier (1726–1786), twice Lord Provost of Glasgow after whom Buchanan Street is named James Burnett, Lord Monboddo (1714–1799), judge (CP – unmarked) Sir John Byres of Coates (Coittes) (1569–1629)
C Robert Cadell (1788–1849), publisher Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl of Argyll (1629–1685), nobleman General Duncan Campbell of Lochnell (1763–1837) Very Rev Dr John Campbell (1758–1828), Moderator of the Church of Scotland in 1818 Sir Hugh Campbell of Cesnock, covenanter and MP for Ayrshire (1615–1688) Aglionby Ross Carson FRSE (1780–1850), rector of the High School 1820–1845, author William Carstares (1649–1715), churchman and statesman Colonel Francis Charteris (1675–1732), notorious rake and member of the Hellfire club Robert Chieslie (c. 1650 – c. 1705), Lord Provost who lost a fortune in the Darien scheme and died in Darien House (the asylum). Prof Alexander Christison FRSE (1753–1820) William Colvill (d. 1675), principal of University of Edinburgh, location unknown William Coulter, Lord Provost of Edinburgh (1808–1810) Bishop William Cowper (1568–1619) James Craig (1739–1795), architect and designer of Edinburgh's New Town William Creech (1745–1815), bookseller and Lord Provost of Edinburgh Andrew Crosbie (1736–1785), lawyer and founding Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (unmarked) Sir Hugh Cunningham of Bonnington (1643–1710), Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1702–04 (CP)
D John Dalrymple (1734–1779), Lord Provost 1770 and 1777 (CP) Prof Andrew Dalzell, FRSE Professor of Greek at the University of Edinburgh (1742–1806) Charles Kemp Davidson, Lord Davidson (1929–2009), Senator of the College of Justice Robert Denniston, Conservator of the Staple (died 1625).An Inventory of Monuments in Edinburgh (Edinburgh: RCAHMS 1951), pp. 49–50: The Dennistoun Memorial: FOGK Forrest Dewar (1748–1817), surgeon, President of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh 1786/88 Alexander Donaldson (1727–1794), bookseller and publisher Admiral Sir Charles Douglas, 1st Baronet (1727–1789) James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (c. 1516–1581), Regent of Scotland Adam Drummond of Binend (1679–1758), Professor of Anatomy at the University of Edinburgh Adam Drummond (1713–1786) Very Rev John Drysdale FRSE DD (1718–1788), twice Moderator of the Church of Scotland in both 1773 and 1784, son-in-law to William Adam and buried in the Adam mausoleum Prof George Dunbar (classical scholar) (1777–1851) William Dunlop (ecclesiastical historian) (1692–1720)
E John Erskine (theologian) (1721–1803) Mary Erskine (1629–1708), founder of The Mary Erskine School (CP)
F Sir David Falconer (1640–1685), judge Sir James Falconer of Phesdo (1648–1706), judge and Senator of the College of Justice Sir Adam Ferguson (1770–1854), soldier son of Adam Ferguson (CP) James Ferguson, Lord Pitfour (1700–1777) Admiral John Macpherson Ferguson (1784–1855), younger son of Adam Ferguson (CP) Duncan Forbes, Lord Culloden (1685–1747), politician and judge Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet of Monymusk and Pitsligo FRSE (1739–1806) and his son Sir William Forbes, 7th Baronet (1773–1828), banker Sir James Forrest, 1st Baronet (1780–1860), Lord Provost of Edinburgh 1837–43 Alexander Forrester (1611–1686)
G Francis Garden, Lord Gardenstone (1721–1793), judge (unmarked grave) William Ged (1699–1749), inventor of stereotyping (unmarked grave) Walter Geikie (1795–1837), artist Arthur Giles (1834–1921), Princes Street bookseller and printer Adam Gillies, Lord Gillies (1760–1842), judge (CP) Dr John Gordon (1786–1818), anatomist and anti-phrenologist Lewis Duncan Brodie Gordon (1815–1876), civil engineer Very Rev Prof John Gowdie (1682–1762), Moderator in 1733, Principal of University of Edinburgh Admiral Alexander Graeme (1741–1818), naval officer James Graham (1745–1794), quack doctor who pioneered sex therapy and invented earth-bathing James Gillespie Graham (1777–1855), architect (CP) Lord Patrick Grant (1691–1754), judge (CP) John Gray (died 1858), owner of Greyfriars Bobby
H John Hall of Dunglass (1650–1695), Lord Provost and his great grandson Sir James Hall (1761–1832) geologist Robert Hamilton (advocate) FRSE (1763–1831), friend of Sir Walter Scott Matthew Hardie (1755–1826), violin maker nicknamed the 'Scottish Stradivari' Franz Hedrich (1823–1895), German poet Alexander Henderson (died 1646), churchman and statesman Thomas Henderson FRSE (1798–1844), unmarked within the grave of his father-in-law Alexander Adie George Heriot (1540–1610), goldsmith, father to George Heriot Rev Prof John Hill FRSE (1747–1805), classicist Vice Admiral Sir George Home (1740–1803) Sir James Home (1790–1836) Vice Admiral Sir John Home of Blackadder (died 1803) John Hope (botanist) (1725–1786), his physician son, Thomas Charles Hope (1766–1844), his grandson, John Hope (lawyer) (1807–1893), and five other members of his family Sir Thomas Hope, 1st Baronet (1573–1646)