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Monumental Inscriptions, Cemeteries and Graveyards of Buteshire
Image Right Kingarth Cemetery, Bute
The aim of this project is to gather together information regarding cemeteries and graveyards in the county which either have available transcriptions or have been photographed and transcribed.
Please update the project by adding links to any available monumental inscriptions or pages where images of the graves/cemeteries can be seen - mostly Billion Graves or Find a Grave.
Links to pages that have no entries are marked ✘.
Those links with records have no ✘ (blank, or the number of entries in some instances).
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CWGC = Commonwealth War Graves Commission
See Monuments and Monumental Inscriptions in Scotland, Volume I (Charles Griffin and Co. for the Grampian Club, 1871) by the Reverend Charles Rogers, LL.D., FSA Scot. for entries for this county.
List of Places
The following list will probably need refining as not all places have cemeteries
There are 1915 places recorded in Buteshire - see Scotland Places Cemeteries and Graveyards will be added as records are found. Any assistance welcome!!
Parishes and Islands
Arran
There are nine graveyards/ cemeteries on Arran with monuments carrying legible inscriptions. In 1983 - 84 the monumental inscriptions were copied and may be seen at the Isle of Arran Heritage Museum, Rosaburn Brodick, which is open daily from 1st April to 23rd October ( 10.30 am - 4.30 pm ). Outwith this period it is only open on a Wednesday ( Tel 01770 302636 ). A further copy of the volume of inscriptions is available in Ardrossan Library, Dept. of Local History ( Tel 01394 469137).
- Kilbride Old Churchyard
CWGC 36 records
- Lamlash Kilbride graveyard and cemetery.
"This burial ground stands on a hillside to the northeast of Lamlash. It may be reached by a narrow winding road passing through Lamlash golf course. One enters this road from the main Brodick - Lamlash road at a point about 150 meters past the entrance to the golf course. It is easily missed.
The graveyard is surrounded by a brick wall, and contains the ruined and roofless remains of St Brides chapel that appears to date from the 14th Century, and is said to have served as Kilbride Parish Church until sometime in the 18th Century. The graveyard is closely packed with 458 monumental stones, a number of which stand within the chapel ruins. The earliest legible stone carries the date 1603.
On the north side of the graveyard there is a large modem cemetery divided into two sections and containing, in 1984, a total of 585 monumental stones. The eastern section appears to date from the late 19th century, while the western section contains graves from about 1940. As with all Arran burial grounds, everything is neat and well kept."
- Sannox Old Churchyard
"...through, and almost out of, the village of Sannox, ... a roadside notice is seen indicating a cart track leading to Glen Sannox. The entrance to the graveyard is about 250 metres along this minor road and on its left side. A stone wall surrounds the graveyard, in a roughly hexagonal arrangement. In one comer remnants of a St Michael chapel dating from the 14th Century are evident. There are 132 monumental stones, many tumbled and 32 more or less illegible. 1721 would appear to be the earliest legible date on a memorial. At the west end of the graveyard there is a gap in the stone wall giving access to a later extension containing a further 49 stones.
A small modem cemetery is located beyond the south side of the old graveyard. The stones in it appear to date from the early 1940s."The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
CWGC 4 records
- St. Bride's Cemetery - Isle of Arran
Find a Grave 74 entries
Bute
Cumbraes (Also see Islands)
...a group of islands in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland. The islands belong to the traditional county of Bute and the modern unitary authority of North Ayrshire.
Ayrshire Roots
This small island is privately owned and may be visited only after receiving the owner's permission. At its southwest side, on a cliff top near the beach, there is a small graveyard. Measuring about four metres square, it is surrounded by a low stone wall that gives it the appearance of a sheep pen.
It contains eight graves, three along the west wall and the rest along the east wall. The former comprise two graves of members of the Wodrow family who lived on the island during the eighteenth century, and that of Alex Urquhart, a game keeper, who was drowned in 1946 when, on returning to the island, his boat filled with water. The remaining five graves are of members of the Parker family who prior to the current owner had purchased the island in 1913. The burials date from 1956 to 1972.
The monumental inscriptions on gravestones on both islands may be viewed in the Millport library. This opens only on Tuesday afternoon and evening and on Friday morning and afternoon. As with other North Ayrshire inscriptions they are also available in the Local History Dept. of Ardrossan Library.
ScotlandsPlaces
- Cumbrae Parish Church
- Down Craig
- Great Cumbrae
"On this larger island there are four graveyards and a modern cemetery. Two of the graveyards are associated with the Cathedral of the Isles situated inland from the Millport seafront. The Cathedral and the associated College buildings, standing on high ground within an extensive walled garden on the east side of College Street, were opened in 1851 and the Cathedral consecrated in 1876
Close to the west side of the Cathedral building on levelled ground there is a small rectangular graveyard containing 38 engraved stones. These mark the graves of the Episcopal clergy and staff of the Cathedral. Also present is the grave of Hon. George Frederick Boyle, Sixth Earl of Glasgow, Founder and Principal Benefactor of the Cathedral and College.
About two hundred metres further up the east side of College street there is a wooden gate with a footpath beyond leading to a group of gravestones in a small field. This is the burial ground of members of the Cathedral's Episcopal congregation. In 1983 when the monumental inscriptions were recorded it contained 39 gravestones and 10 grave marker posts. Although it is still an active cemetery, it is now in a very poor state. Many of the gravestones lie tumbled and askew in long grass.
There are two burial registers held in the Cathedral for those graveyards, but they do not appear to state in which graveyard and at what point each grave is located. The earliest recorded burial is on 22 September 1851. An examination of the Registers may be arranged by contacting the Priest in Charge, Rev. Tony Burdon (Tel: 01475 530353). A donation towards the Cathedral funds would be appropriate for this service."
- Millport Cemetery
"...(Millport 'Old Cemetery') is on the left side of the road a few hundred metres beyond the junction with Bute Terrace. It lies somewhat incongruously between the buildings of Mid Kirkton Farm and a Caravan Park. Apparently there are records of a church being erected on this site in 1612. However, with an ever-increasing population, it was demolished and replaced by a larger building in 1802. This in turn was demolished and the present Parish Church erected a short distance away in Bute Terrace in 1837. No trace of the early church is evident in the Old Cemetery, but a row of small gravestones near its centre with inscriptions dating from early in the Eighteenth Century (the earliest is 1703) may show its approximate position. The vehicular access to this burial ground, now grass covered, is up a short steep slope, while pedestrian access is by a small flight of steps and through the remains of a turnstile.
The cemetery has a roughly rectangular shape and contains 371 stones. It is neatly kept and there are very few fallen stones. On either side of the entrance a number of the monuments have been built into the surrounding stone wall.
At the far end of the site beside a small mausoleum there is an opening in the wall leading to an extension known locally as the 'Middle Cemetery'. It has a triangular area and contains 207 stones. They are arranged in neat rows, and the earliest inscriptions refer to deaths in 1870. A small number of the stones have collapsed.
A short distance further up the right side of Golf Road lies the island's modern cemetery.
The site is level and the stones are arranged in neat parallel rows. It appears very well kept. The earliest stones carry dates in 1936. Each grave has a numbered marker that should make very simple the search for a particular one".
- Lady's Grave
- Little Cumbrae
- Millport Garrison
Holy Isle
"During the 18th Century burials took place in a graveyard on the west side of Holy Isle near the now roofless and ruined single-storey building about 150 metres south of the ferry landing stage. This continued until about 1780, when a boat carrying a funeral party across from the Lamlash shore was struck by a squall and some of the occupants drowned. According to John McArthur ( Antiquities of Arran, 1873 ) and the New Statistical Account, burials on the island ceased thereafter.
...In 1835 the monumental stones were removed, and the graveyard turned into a vegetable garden. Today there is no evidence to indicate the locations of the graves. Some large smooth rectangular stones, that are probably weathered gravestones, lie in the grass near the roofless building and at points on the path that leads south."
Inchmarnock
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monumewnts of Scotland
The Buteman New book tells story of Inchmarnock
Kilbride
- Brodick - Old Graveyard
"This graveyard, which was formerly associated with Glenshurig church, is located beside the String Road at the junction with the cart tracks to Glenrosa and Glenshurig. It is totally screened from the road by trees and bushes, and the entrance to it is only easily discoverable when on foot. The church was erected in 1839 and demolished about 1931 when the congregation joined the Church of Scotland in Brodick. Having the appearance of an isolated forest clearing, the graveyard contains 121 monumental stones, the earliest legible one dating from 1863. What appears to be the latest inscription records a death in 1978."
- Brodick Cemetery
"The modern Brodick Cemetery is located a short distance further up the String Road and on its south side. It slopes up from the road and is screened from it by a high neat hedge. There is no Notice Board to indicate the presence of the cemetery. At the time of writing it contained 60 monumental stones, the earliest inscription dating from 1985."
- Brodick Castle
"On the hillside above the Castle and within the estate there is a small private cemetery adjacent to the path that leads to Goat Fell. It contains three graves, viz. those of the 11th and 12th Dukes of Hamilton, and of the wife of the latter."
- Killbride Cemetery
Find a Grave 288 entries
- Kilbride Old Churchyard
Find a Grave 25 entries
- Lamlash
Kilmory
"The village of Kilmory lies about a half mile east of Lagg on the coast road running around the south end of the island. Kilmory church adjoins a minor road about 400 309 stones, of which 19 were already illegible in 1984. The earliest date on a stone appears to be 1700. About 1940, provision for graves was extended by forming a cemetery which lies beyond the west wall of the graveyard. It now contains almost 100 stones."
- Kilmory Churchyard
- Kilmory Castle Glassary
Find a Grave 1 entry
- Machrie
- Shishkine
- Whitefarland
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
Ayrshire Roots"...just above the shoreline, against a cliff carrying the coast road, and about 500 metres south of the group of houses known as Whitefarland. To reach it, one has to enter the field at the north side of the houses, go south through it and a second field, and cross a style to reach the shingle shore at the far end. Proceed along the shore and move up onto the grass verge when possible. Trees at the shoreline and a heap of boulders will be seen in the distance. These mark the cemetery. It is so well hidden by the vegetation on either side of it and on the cliff face, and by the heaped boulders on the shore, that it only becomes apparent when one pushes through a gap in the bushes. It occupies a rectangular area about 12 metres square, and contains 19 monumental stones only one of which is illegible. They are arranged in neat rows and carry dates ranging from 1844 to 1962. In spite of its isolation, the cemetery is well kept. A mop and an open metal container were seen at one corner. "
Kingarth
- Kingarth Cemetery
Find a Grave 86 entries
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
- Kingarth Old Parish Churchyard
- Mount Stewart
- St Blane's
Lochranza
- Lenimore (Thundergay)
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
Ayrshire Roots"This small rectangular burial ground is located close to the landward side of the coast road about two and a half miles south of Catacol. It is easily missed due to the small number of visible gravestones, the partly collapsed dry stone dyke that separates it from the road, and the surrounding vegetation. It was possibly the graveyard of a church that no longer exists. The graves appear to have been arranged in three approximately parallel rows, but there are only nine conventional monumental stones showing dates from 1794 to 1898. The remaining graves are marked only by flat pieces of native rock. In spite of its isolation, the grass within this cemetery is kept short."
- Lochranza Graveyard and Cemetery
"St Brides Church and its many surrounding gravestones, protected by a stone wall. The church appears to have been built in 1795 on the site of an earlier building. Many of the 373 stones predate the erection of the present church, the earliest commemorating a death in 1720. There are also a number of more modem commemorative plaques within the church.
On the south side of the graveyard an opening has been created in a fence giving access to an adjacent area of grass in which a small cemetery has been laid out. The stones in it date from 1986."
- St. Bride's Lochgilphead
Find a Grave 40 entries
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
Find a Grave 1 entry
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
North Bute
- Kilmichael Cemetery
- North Bute Cemetery Hamlet of Croc An
Find a Grave 48 entries
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
- St Colmac's
Find a Grave 34 entries
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
- St Michael's
Pladda
Rothesay
- Barone Cemetery
- Castle Chapel
- Rothesay Cemetery High Street Cemetery
Find a Grave 264 Entries
The Scottish Association of Family History Societies
- Rothesay Parish Churchyard
- St. Bride's Rothesay
Shiskin
- Clauchan graveyard and cemeteries.
"The village of Shiskin lies on the overland road (B880) between Brodick and Blackwaterfoot, about 2 miles inland from the latter. It has in its vicinity a graveyard, which is very difficult to discover without local inquiry. North of the village the road follows a long slow curve to the right followed by a sharp left hand turn over a bridge. Just beyond the bridge on the right side of the road there is a row of cottages (Bridgend) on a cart track. This leads to the Clauchan graveyard in a narrow glen with steep tree-covered sides. The Clauchan Water runs along one side of the graveyard. On the way to the graveyard one passes a ruined building which was evidently a preaching house built in 1805, and in continuous use until a church was built in Shiskin in 1889. The rectangular graveyard is contained within a low stone wall and is tightly packed with 279 monumental stones, of which about 40 were partly or totally illegible in 1984. There are a number of inscriptions dating from the 18th Century, the earliest would appear to be from 1741. There is a small cemetery extension containing 50 stones further up the glen beyond the graveyard. They seem to date from the early 1930s. A second more modern cemetery is located in a field beyond the north side of the glen. A rough path with timber-edged steps leads up to it from the glen, but it is more easily accessible from a cart track further along the main road."