Restalrig Cemetery is found in the churchyard of St Margaret's Church, at the centre of the tiny but picturesque Restalrig village, an area that has been entirely absorbed by the surrounding residential areas of Edinburgh including Restalrig and Lochend.
Also in the churchyard is St Triduana's Chapel,
an unusual
hexagonal chapel and wellhousedating to the 1400s and named for a Pictish saint St Triduana
said to have been blinded and martyred in the AD 500s. Holy water from a spring here was believed to cure eye ailments. You can read more about St Triduana and her connection to Restalrig here.
Of course, I was visiting this cemetery to carry out a wildlife survey, continuing my enjoyable job of surveying the wildlife of all the council owned cemeteries in Edinburgh. Restalrig Cemetery is a small cemetery, with only a few trees, so it isn't particularly rich in wildlife. It does have some nice tree stumps, which are great habitat for species such as this turkey tail fungus
and some nice mosses, including this wall screw moss (Tortula muralis) (I may be wrong on which species this is, so please feel free to correct me!)
Beautiful eerie lighting too!
ReplyDeleteWas this the church our mutual friend Ewan Aiken pastored when he first went into politics in Edinburgh? The church looks familiar and the name sounds familiar, but I am not sure about the chapel. But it's been a while since I was there.
ReplyDeleteI love cemeteries, if I don't have to be there.
ReplyDeleteHi Simon, yes the light is amazing isn't it?
ReplyDeleteHi Jeff, yes this was Ewan's parish!
Hi Jenn, I used to feel like that, but since lockdown began I've loved visiting cemeteries...