Reference has been made to a cordiner's knife, which brings up the subject of carvings. Many stones had carvings, mostly of shape and design. Several had wood log design, two with doves. Heraldic shields, mainly blank, were common. However, while interesting, they were not intriguing. But several are.

On the reverse side of one stone there is carved in relief a long legged boot and a shoe, also a semi-circular form with a handle ( which represents a cordiner's knife ) surmounted by a crown. This is probably the symbol of the Shoemakers Guild. Note: Cordiner - cordwainer, from 'cordwain', a type of leather produced in Cordova, Spain.

Another stone has a skull and crossbone emblem carved in relief with an hour- glass. This one relates to a John Marquis who was a weaver, and not a pirate as many would like to believe. The skull and crossbones is just a symbol of death.

One stone has two skeletons holding between them the Saltire ( the St. Andrews flag of Scotland ) and below that of a mermaid with a lantern. Another had robed figures and the name Archibald Niven with alongside it a stone relating to the Niven children who had died at the Ferry, Rosneath.

Obviously the most interesting are those with the Celtic designs and patterns. All very intricate with the relief pattern with countless hours spent carving them out. All very different and seemingly with some meaning. It is a bit of an anti-climax to find that they have no meaning.

The Celtic design is accepted as being Pictish which would infer early Scots. This is not quite true. The designs are certainly of that era - but not Scottish. They are from the far East, the middle East and the South. They are Chinese ( Ming Dynasty ), Byzantine (Turkish), Egyptian and African. How they got to Scotland would only be conjecture on the part of the writers. Safe to say that a book on Celtic design made no attempt to answer the question, or indeed ask it.

The reader will appreciate that it would be possible to wrie, if not a book, then certainly a pamphlet on the graveyard with it's local history. However that is not the purpose now. This is simply an introduction to the book which follows.

John E Read and Harold Smallbone

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