I was surprised to see a team of around 6 men with hi-vis vests within Kirkton Graveyard one Saturday last November whilst out with my dog. Seeing they were in cars, rather than council vans, I wondered what was going on but at the time couldn’t make out the logo on their vests.
I noticed them gathered around the Kirkton Cemetery wall with cameras and clipboards. By the time I’d walked my dog and headed back past the area, they had gone, so i went to the spot where they had been congregated around and was shocked to see a huge split in the wall to the right hand side of the gates, (the gate post has come away from the wall) something I’d previously never noticed before.
The walls are listed, so it may have been staff from Historic Scotland acting upon Community complaints about the state of the wall, or hopefully making preparations for repairs. I took this photo showing the wall and arch now starting to lean, which I’m sure is a result of the roots from the nearby trees, which to be fair must be huge by now. The stresses imposed on the wall and arch must be great, but I do sincerely hope the walls are repaired, rather than solving the problem by removing the trees. The problem with the cemetery walls is small by comparison to the other end of the cemetery which has entire sections now fallen over and sadly some of the beautiful inscriptions inlaid in stones into the wall, now laying on the ground, something that has happened through age, rather than vandalism.
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