Moray Burial Ground Research Group publishes Elgin Public Cemetery record
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A DECADE of work by a group of Moray volunteers has led to the publication of an invaluable historical record.
In 2010, members of the Moray Burial Ground Research Group (MBGRG) set out to record, photograph and publish details of all the memorial inscriptions in Elgin Public Cemetery.
Now they have announced the publication of the fourth and final book in the Elgin Public Cemetery series which covers a total of 20,775 memorials.
That includes the east, west, south and north sections as well as the New Elgin War Memorial. Some 29 volunteers, helped by guest recorders, took on the monumental task.
Information was collated and prepared for publication by the group’s editorial team before being placed online by webmaster Lindsay Robertson.
MBGRG chairman Keith Mitchell said: "There is a sense of achievement to have finished and it has been a privilege to do it.
"For each stone we are talking about the lives of the people of Elgin."
The need for a new cemetery in Elgin due to overcrowding in the cathedral churchyard was first mooted in March 1848.
After discussion, land acquisition and the construction of an access road, the first interment came in October, 1858. Extensions to Elgin Public Cemetery followed in 1878, 1907 and 1967.
The work not only records the lives of Elgin's people for ancestral research, but gives an insight into changes in inscriptions over the last 160 years, from grammatical nuance to design and style.
Assistance in completing the task came from Moray Council’s lands and parks department and staff from the Moray Heritage Centre.
The group is now focused on completing the goal of recording every monumental inscription in Moray. Research is completed and there are just eight volumes left to collate and publish.
Already, the group holds memorials records of some 92,500 gravestones and monuments, including over 80,000 photographs.
Access to the complete range is available through the group’s website where publications are also available in PDF format.
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