Introduction

The original church of the parish of Nigg was the now-ruined kirk of St Fittick, down near the shore. However, by the early 19th century, this had become too small to accommodate a growing population, and was replaced in 1829 by the new Nigg Kirk, near the summit of Tullos Hill. This was built on the site of an earlier medieval church. But while the congregation of the living might have migrated up the hill, the dead continued to be buried at St Fittick for a good many years more. A lady named Ann Lundie, wife of James Ferguson, medical practitioner in Cove, was the first person to be interred in the new churchyard in April 1878, and this is inscribed on her gravestone (B51). The graveyard is full of graves of the old fishing and sea-faring families of Nigg, Cove and Torry – Wood, Main, Guyan, Masson, Leiper, and more. In the extension to the original graveyard, there is a war memorial in the form of an obelisk made from Kemnay granite with the local war dead from both World wars. There are also 22 Commonwealth War Graves from both World Wars. In spring 2018, a small group of volunteers called the Guardians of Aberdeen Graveyards (GOAG) got together with the aim of “helping to preserve and record the history of our graveyards and cemeteries”. We started small with an outstanding section of Trinity cemetery, where we went every Tuesday morning armed with our notebooks, pencils and cameras. Ally, one of our original volunteers, supplied us with tea and butteries! It was a very steep learning curve for us, all being complete albeit enthusiastic novices. But we were having fun and that spurred us on. Nigg was our first complete graveyard. The inscriptions at St Fittick’s were recorded some years ago, and published by ANESFHS under catalogue number AA156. A searchable index to the MIs of St Fittick’s, Nigg Kirk, and over 130 other burial grounds in Northeast Scotland at will be found at: https://anesfhs.org.uk/databanks/memorial-inscriptions/miindex Jane Morrice