Introduction

In the article which he contributed to the New Statistical Account in 1840, the Minister of Rathen reported that: “... the church is old and inadequate to the population ...” but the parish had to wait another 30 years for a new church to be built along the road at Rathen West. As was often the case, while the living congregation immediately transferred to the capacious new premises, the dead long continued to be buried at the old site, with burials at Rathen West only starting around 1900, on the level ground immediately surrounding the church. Jim Campbell has now transcribed the inscriptions in this section, numbering the stones in line with the lair records to (which is why there are gaps in the sequence - no stones have been missed!) All major stones (headstones, crosses, obelisks) are given a number and are shown on the plan. Minor stones (hearts, plaques etc.) are fully reported in the text, but to avoid visual congestion on the plan, are illustrated and given separate numbers only where they are the only stone on a lair. Burials now take place in a new lower section to the west of the original kirkyard, but these are not included in the present booklet. The inscriptions at the old parish kirkyard of Rathen were recorded some years ago, and published by ANESFHS under catalogue number AA177. A searchable index to the MIs of Rathen, Rathen West, and over 130 other burial grounds in Northeast Scotland is found at: https://anesfhs.org.uk/databanks/memorial-inscriptions/miindex Gavin Bell February 2022 MI Co-ordinator