Tag: Previous Events

The Summer surge is now in full swing, with the Kirkyard looking like crowds attending a football match at times today. This volume of visitors brings a tsunami of litter with it. So it was a particularly good start to the day today with a mammoth load of litter, rubbish and assorted nasties leaving the Kirkyard after a big clean up effort over the last 24 hours. Paul Cunningham was definitely the star for the shear volume and weight of rubbish he lifted today.

In slightly less positive news the downpour of rain midweek washed a lot of mud & gravel down the Yard, which has once again clogged the gutter above the bottom steps and coated the Grassmarket steps in mud, particularly foul smelling mud at the bottom where the drain is still blocked. Tom was once again the star man for cleaning up the bottom section and the steps, but non of us could face clearing the gutter again. One bit of progress has been the complete clearance of buddleia and ivy from the George Heriot tomb, aided by a resident of Candlemaker Row who has leant out of their window to cut back the ivy that we couldn’t reach.

We had another good turnout today, but in all of the work I forgot to take a group photo. Our next First Sunday is on the 6th September.

Great to see some new youthful faces at today’s First Sunday (despite the damp weather). We had a good go at removing the Buddleia from the monuments along the East Wall and picked up all of the fallen branches from the recent high winds. Plus a thorough litterpick. We then had a Geek session looking at Marriage related stories around the Kirkyard, in preparation for a wedding party tour soon. A very productive and enjoyable afternoon, many thanks to everyone who came along and grafted today.

A chilly day saw the big coats back on, but we kept warm with some vigorous weeding. Our first task was to tidy up the Hutton burial lair so it looks its best for his upcoming anniversary. We then weeded a few other lairs, including Mary Erskine, Little & Hunter Blair.

Our Graveyard Geek session today looked at early 18th century memorials. These are a real mixed bag in terms of location, size & style compared to most 17th century examples.

Many thanks to everyone on our hard working team today.

The next First Sunday is on 7th June, we hope to see you there.

Today’s First Sunday saw us facing a strong & bitterly cold wind, with frequent rain showers. Never the less we did what we had to do in the Kirkyard, before making a beeline for the relative warmth & shelter of the museum. But most of the tourists in town today had the same idea, so the place was heaving. We escaped the crowds by ascending to the rooftop terrace where we got a rather good view back over the Kirkyard.

The next First Sunday is on 3rd May, when it will surely no longer be wintery weather. Hope to see you there.

So today was a busy day of activity & progress in the Kirkyard. Lesley & I started by delivering a full 2 hour tour for the Govan Stones Project. 18 of them travelled over from Glasgow to learn about the Kirkyard. They were all lovely, enthusiastic and knowledgeable people who seemed delighted with their tour.

We then grabbed a quick coffee before meeting Maddie from Edinburgh University who is doing a study of the Mackenzie Mausoleum. She loved getting up close to the mausoleum and we loved learning from Maddie about her project.

We then met Andy & Kevin from Edinburgh Bereavement Services who we assisted fit a new lamppost in the Kirkyard.

We then helped Andy & Kevin off load and install three new seats in the Kirkyard. Two of these seats have been funded by donations from an American Member of the Friends (who is an ancestor of Lord Warriston) and the the third is funded from the sale of our books. The seats are positioned by the Covenanters Prison, by the Grassmarket steps and in the west yard. They look great and should give people an opportunity to sit, rest and enjoy the Kirkyard for many years to come.

So a busy but very satisfying day.

So we were very busy litter picking, bin emptying, fence mending and path clearing today in the Kirkyard. After the clean up we went looking for gravestones which speak about people who went to work in India and the West Indies.

The mission for today was a thorough litterpick and a concentrated buddleia bash. A large buddleia bush has self seeded along the north wall. This produces many 1,000’s of seeds that blow on to the monuments from which germinates many invasive buddleia plants, whose roots force the stonework apart, damaging the structures. This buddleia bush had to go, to remove this seed source. Winter is the best time to do this as frosts should hopefully deter the root from regrowing. A determined effort took the bush down to ground level, then a couple of dozen copper nails were bashed in to further inhibit new growth. Thanks to all of the team who helped out today. And thanks to Edinburgh Bereavement Services who have agreed to collect the carefully bagged flower heads and cuttings tomorrow for safe disposal at Mortonhall.

Our next First Sunday is the 1st March 2026. All welcome to join us at 1pm meeting at the main gate.