Introduction

The kirkyard of Logie Buchan and the burial ground of Newburgh Holyrood (in the parish of Foveran) lie just a couple of miles apart on the west bank of the estuary of the River Ythan, downstream of Ellon. Logie Buchan is a normal parish kirkyard (although one of the smallest, with fewer than 100 marked graves); Holyrood was the site of a pre-Reformation chapel which continued in use as a place of burial, even though the “official” parish graveyard of Foveran parish is no great distance away. There were earlier unpublished draft versions of the MIs of both burial grounds, but at the time of the “Graveyard Outing” to Ellon in 2010, the opportunity was taken to re-map and re-record both. Andrew Jervise recorded (in “Epitaphs and Inscriptions”) a few memorials at Logie Buchan, but these are all still legible. Some stones at Holyrood which are now fallen, broken or worn were formerly recorded by John A. Henderson in “Aberdeenshire Epitaphs and Inscriptions” (1907) and his version is reported and an Appendix gives his readings of the memorials in the Udny Vault. Many stones do not record the place of death, but from those that do, it appears that the majority of burials at Holyrood are of people from Newburgh. Logie Buchan, on the other hand, seems to have had a rather wider catchment area, with burials recorded of folk from the parishes of Belhelvie, Cruden, Ellon, Foveran and Slains. Gavin Bell July 2014