The World Monument Fund has announced that it will continue to include five graveyards in Edinburgh on it’s ‘Watch list’ of endangered historic sites. The Canongate Kirkyard, Greyfriars Kirkyard, Old Calton Burial Ground, St Cuthbert’s Kirkyard and New Calton Burial Ground are all seen as having deteriorated significantly over the years due to a variety of factors including exposure to the elements, neglect and vandalism.

The burial grounds include some famous people including the economist Adam Smith, the historian and philosopher David Hume and the inventor Robert Stevenson.

The damage to the graveyards should be a concern for anyone researching their Scottish family history as burial records in Scotland before the introduction of statutory death records in 1855 can be patchy to say the least. The loss of any more information useful to genealogists would be a travesty and hopefully given that the sites are remaining on the World Monument Fund List then funds will be found from somewhere to repair some of the damage done over the years and to preserve the burial grounds so that they do not deteriorate any further.

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