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This is the fourth edition of a book that was first published by Betty Willsher (1915-2012) in 1985, with subsequent updates in 1995 and 2005. The original publication came about due to the growing concern in the 1970s and 1980s over the loss of historical graveyards and their monuments, and the lack of any major official recording of them. This book thus provided the first collated account of many of the historic graveyards found in the Scottish Lowlands.
This newest publication, the first in the wake of Betty’s death, keeps much of her original, expanding it with new data and adding regional summaries of the carved symbols on headstones. These additions are largely based on Betty’s field notes and photographs, which are now held by Historic Environment Scotland and are free to explore on http://www.trove.scot. The ultimate aim of the book is to inspire a new generation to carry on Betty’s work by going out and recording historic graveyards that have not yet made it on to the register, or by going back to sites that Betty visited and recording how the stones have survived in the intervening decades.
REVIEW BY KK
Understanding Scottish Graveyards
Betty Willsher, revised and expanded by Susan Buckham
Archaeopress, £24.99, or free eBook
ISBN 978-1805832379
