Publication Info
Publication Details
Introduction
First Edition (1984): My thanks as usual to my ever faithful helpers, Margaret Brown and Jean Cowper. On some of our visits we were joined by a number of other members. Miss Anton and Miss Lowe, Miss Stuart and Mr & Mrs Penman all came to give us a hand with the initial reading and cleaning. This is a churchyard that is still very much in use as you will see from the very ancient to the very modern dates. On the final check we found a few new stones and one with the last two lines of the inscription traced out ready for the mason to carve. These have all been included. Along the back wall of the churchyard are some 29 stones which have been removed from their original place and stood upright against the wall. Some of these have proved beyond even our capabilities, but we have done what we could to get the fullest information, including consulting ‘Epitaphs & Inscriptions’ by J. Henderson. Sheila M.Spiers Revised Edition (2022): Rhynie is a small village with the hill of Tap o’ Noth to the west on the A97 Huntly to Alford road. The single track road to the Cemetery is at the end of South Road on a left hand corner but is signposted. The local claim to fame was the discovery of the Rhynie Man back in 1978, by a farmer who was ploughing. It was a carved stone of a man holding an axe or tool, dating back to the Picts between AD 700 and 850. There is a replica in the local school, but the man himself can be seen at the council offices at Woodhill House Aberdeen during office hours. On the single track road to the Cemetery you pass the old Nicoll Hospital on your left. Patrick John Smith Nicoll was the founder and is buried here in the graveyard, he died in 1926. Heather Mitchell
Comments
Rhynie Old Kirkyard, naming 933 individuals between 1668 and 1983 (Revised Edition) Note on numbering Since publication of the original 1984 version, just under 100 new stones had appeared at Rhynie. Heather Mitchell has carefully recorded these, and we have produced an updated Kirkyard Plan which includes them. To accommodate these without upsetting the original indexes, the new stones have been fitted into the sequence as “53a”, “111b” etc. Gavin Bell MI Co-ordinator March 2022
