Detail of Tomb, Old Calton Burial Ground, Edinburgh

Category

Library Item

Item no

14569

Title

Detail of tomb, Old Calton Burial Ground, Edinburgh

Description

Detail of stone carvings of a skull and crossed bones on a tombstone in the Old Calton burial ground, Edinburgh. One of the small stone blocks sitting beside the gravestone has been carved with the initials "J. D.".

Artist / maker

Ansell, Andrew J L

Date

2008

Type

Digital image

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

The main part of the Old Calton Burial Ground stands immediately to south of Waterloo Place. The cemetery was bisected by the construction of that road in 1820, and the bodies disturbed by the work were moved to a new site a little way to the east. The Old Calton Burial Ground has several notable structures within it. The Emancipation Monument stands in memory of those Scottish-American soldiers fought for the Union during the American Civil War. There is also a monument to the celebrated philosopher David Hume. A large obelisk stands as a monument to those radical reformers, including Thomas Muir, who were tried, convicted and deported for sedition in 1793. In the wake of the French and American Revolutions Muir and his associates had been active in a widespread movement for political and social reform in Britain. The movement attracted alarm and extreme sanction from both the political establishment and conservative elements in society.

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