2011

HU5242 : Gravestones of St Mary's, Cullingsburgh

taken 13 years ago, near to Setter, Bressay, Shetland Islands, Scotland

Gravestones of St Mary's, Cullingsburgh
Gravestones of St Mary's, Cullingsburgh
Gravestones not only surround but are also within the walls of the ruined church of St Mary at Cullingsburgh. I'm sure this church has been a ruin far longer than the dates on many of the gravestones, suggesting that it continued as a graveyard for many decades after the ruination of the church and probably the abandonment of the village.
Cullingsburgh

Cullingsburgh (the local pronunciation of the village is "Culliesbroch") was obviously quite a reasonable sized settlement, and had its own church of St Mary's, but the entire village including the church are now ruinous. The dates on some of the gravestones when compared to the devastated appearance of the buildings would suggest that burials continued here after the village had been abandoned, and quite possibly after the church itself had fallen into wrack and ruin.
The wonderful Bressay Stone, now in the Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh was discovered here by chance in 1852 by a labourer digging a waste piece of ground near to St Mary's Church here. The church was said to be ruinous even then.
Adjoining the church to the north is the remains of a Pictish broch, but these are only scant remains.

Bressay :: HU5040

The Isle of Bressay lies just off the eastern coast of Mainland, Shetland opposite the capital of Lerwick and effectively protecting that town and its harbour from the excesses of the weather. The sea between the two is the Sound of Bressay, and a regular ferry service plies the short trip between them.
Bressay is quite a large island being about 10.8 miles² (2805 ha) making it the 5th largest of the constituent islands of Shetland after Mainland, Yell, Unst and Fetlar. It has about 400 inhabitants, and some industry mostly the fish processing plant in the northwest of the island.
The highest point on the island is Ward of Bressay which achieves 741' (226m)


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Rob Farrow and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Ruined Church of St Mary [6] · Walls [6] · Gravestones [3] · Ruination of the Church [2] ·
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HU5242, 26 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Rob Farrow   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Wednesday, 31 August, 2011   (more nearby)
Submitted
Friday, 25 November, 2011
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! HU 5211 4229 [10m precision]
WGS84: 60:9.7055N 1:3.7789W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! HU 5212 4228
View Direction
Northwest (about 315 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Supplemental image
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