Lorraine

Halloween in Berkshire seemed to come with a curiously cute twist, once the talented stitchers in the village had got their teeth into it! Such creative post-box pumpkin work, and I love the bats, trying hard to look menacing 🦇. @thros.bsky.social @carolineirwin3.bsky.social

Photo of the entrance to a grave in St Cuthbert's, #Edinburgh Photo credit: Lorraine Murray, 2024

For the 1st day of all hallows tide & last day of #31DaysOfGraves here is my final October grave
Beautifully symbolic graveyard sculpture in St Cuthbert's Kirkyard, Edinburgh with #MementoMori & 'vive memor leti' on either side of doorway, reminding us that life is finite
#Halloween
#skystorians

I know! Isn't it beautiful?

The stone tablet reads: In loving memory of Alexander Mackenzie, merchant, Glasgow, died 31st January 1875, aged 62 years Alice Melrose his wife, died 4th January 1900, aged 82 years Four other (presumably) family members are interred and listed, James, Agnes Nelson, Alexander Whitson, and James. Photo credit: Lorraine Murray, 2025

#31DaysOfGraves Day 30 is #Colour
It has to be this fabulous cast iron monument by the Sun Foundry to commemorate the Mackenzie family in the Upsilon compartment of the #Glasgow #Necropolis
It has been restored recently, and I think it looks great!
#Gothic
#DarkTourist
#Cemetery
#Taphophile

Screenshot of Eventbrite with info on talk "Walking in the footsteps of the Glasgow Witches" 1 Nov 2025 @1pm Mitchell Library, Moir Dyer room, Glasgow. Booking recommended but not required

Happy #Halloween week 🎃
If you are looking for something different to do, come along to my free talk this coming Saturday. "Walking in the footsteps of the #Glasgow #Witches"
Sat 1 Nov • 1pm • Mitchell Library
More info via Eventbrite:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walking-in...

That's what I was asking. At that time in Scotland, women did not take the husband's surname after marriage, but kept their own name (from their father) throughout their life. I understood this custom (although an English one)as an elite practice. But perhaps not if these women are described as poor

The Witches of Essex documentary promo from Sky History https://www.history.co.uk/shows/witches-of-essex

A quick ? @profaliceroberts.bsky.social I just started watching ep1 & noticed the accused sisters Elizabeth Frauncis & Agnes Waterhouse have different surnames & Agnes' daughter Joan is also Waterhouse.Is this an English custom? In Scotland children take the fathers name & dont change after marriage

Grave of Peter Macadam, a Glasgow Merchant by profession. Located in the Ramshorn Kirkyard, formerly known as St David's Kirkyard, in the merchant city area of Glasgow. Image shows a family grave, lair 6 which is covered by a full height iron mortcage / mortsafe as a deterrent and to protect those interred below from the resurrection men, also known as body snatchers. Photo credit: Lorraine Murray, 2024

Day 29 #31DaysOfGraves #occupation
Grave of Peter Macadam, Merchant, interred in the Ramshorn Kirkyard #Glasgow
Lair no.6 has a full height iron #mortcage to protect the dead from the #resurrectionists looking for a fresh #cadaver to sell to medical students
#DarkTourist
#skystorians
#Taphophile

Historian Lorraine Murray at the tomb of Author, Anne Rice, Metairie Cemetery, New Orleans, 2023 Photo credit: S Murray

Day 28 of #31DaysOfGraves is #Column
A lovely classical style example from Metairie #Cemetery in #Nola is the #tomb of Author Anne Rice of #InterviewWithTheVampire fame
#iwtv
#Lestat
#Loustat
#DarkTourist
#NewOrleans
#Taphophile
#DeathHistorian

The symbolism of the tree stump is similar to that of the broken #column - someone cut down in their prime, or gone too soon. Is this the grave of a younger person?
#31DaysOfGraves

@womenshistnet.bsky.social
@womenslibrary.bsky.social
@womenshistscot.bsky.social

Screenshot of the event "Walking in the footsteps of the Glasgow Witches" Sat 1 Nov 2025 • 1pm • Mitchell Library, Glasgow

Last few free tickets left for my talk this coming Saturday "Walking in the footsteps of the Glasgow Witches"
Sat 1 Nov • 1pm • Mitchell Library
Book via Eventbrite:
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/walking-in...
#Glasgow850

Cross shaped tree trunk grave at Cathcart Cemetery, Glasgow. Photo credit: Lorraine Murray, 2024

Day 27: #31DaysOfGraves is #Tree
The grave of the Milne family in Cathcart #Cemetery has a cross motif but carved to resemble a tree trunk. The tree often symbolises the tree of life / knowledge.
#Graveyards
#Taphophile

Agreed! It is a beautiful piece of work.

Ein schwarzer, aufrecht stehender Grabstein. Oben eine gravierte Trauerweide. Die Inschrift lautet "Leo Weichherz gest am 22. April 1914 im 60. Lebensjahre tief betrauert von seinen Söhnen" sowie hebräische Zeichen. Im Hintergrund sind weitere Grabsteine, Bäume und Gras zu sehen.

Tag 27: Baum/ Trees
Salix Babylonica - Weeping willow - Trauerweide literally meadow of sorrows
The name Leo Weichherz might be translated to 'lion with a tender heart'
#Zentralfriedhof #Wien #31DaysOfGraves

#31DaysOfGraves Day 27 #Tree

There's a huge Hawthorn full of red berries for the #Wildlife of St John's Graveyard.

It reaches out to the grave of Hannah Demain who died at 59 Regent Street, #Nelson, as if to offer her its fruit, or to shoo away the ivy that encroaches her resting place.

I thought about posting her too!

#31daysofgraves #figure Inverkip Street graveyard, Greenock

Two ka statues guarding the entrance to the grave of Tutankhamun. Photo by Harry Burton, Feb 1923 Ref: p0292  © Griffith Institute, University of Oxford

Day 26 of #31DaysOfGraves is #figure
This wonderful photo taken over 100 years ago is from the tomb of #Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings.
More info in the alt text
#Egyptian
#egyptology
#skystorians
#Egyptophile

newspaper clipping about the election, reading: Women Vote for First Time. YESTERDAY'S POLLING IN MALTA ELECTIONS. GREY skies and strong winds yesterday greeted the first day of polling on the reinstitution of responsible government in Malta, Nevertheless, early risers were waiting at the polling stations when these opened at 8 a.m. Women who are voting for the first time in Maltese history. rose to the occasion and, in some stations, even outnumbered men, though in general men were more numerous.

#OnThisDay, 25 Oct 1947, women in Malta vote for the first time. Almost 35,000 women go to the polls.

#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #VotesForWomen #MalteseHistory 🗃️

A young girl standing by a huge mangle, with mounds of laundry behind her. Other workers are in the background.

15 women and girls working in a laundry room.

#OnThisDay, 25 Oct 1996, the last “Magdalene laundry” in Ireland closes.

In 2013, the Irish government issued a formal state apology to the women forced to work in the homes.

#IrishHistory #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory 🗃️
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Memorial to William George Douglas who died in 2021 in Alexandra Park, Dennistoun in Glasgow. Photo credit: Lorraine Murray, 2025

Day 25 #31DaysOfGraves
This modern memorial in Alexandra Park, #Glasgow is one of many similar, where the ashes of loved ones are often scattered & a #tree is used as the marker to remember the deceased. Almost all have a #GravesideOrnament and some have a QR code to an online #epitaph or #obituary

Sculpture of Nero the Lion from Highgate Cemetery. Inscription on the monument reads: "To the memory of George Wombwell (Menagerist) Born 24 Dec 1777 Died 16th Nov 1850." Photo credit: Lorraine Murray 2025

Day 24 of #31DaysOfGraves is #Unique #Animal
The #grave of George Wombwell in Highgate #Cemetery in London has a sculpture of a lion called Nero, the tame star attraction of his #menagerie
He was gifted a coffin by Prince Albert for helping his sick dogs & was eventually buried in it
#darktourism

Act of ratification of the Treaty of Corbeil by Robert the Bruce, 12 July 1326 in Stirling (National Archives AE/III/10).

730 years ago, on the 23rd of October 1295, the kingdoms of France and Scotland formed the Auld Alliance against England. If either country were attacked by England, the other would invade English territory in turn. It was renewed in 1326 by Robert the Bruce but never formally revoked. #otd 🗃️

Grave of John (Jack) Shanks, the son of Baillie John Shanks, Justice of the Peace for Renfrewshire and his wife Maggie Jane (Brown) Shanks. Jack was the brother of Muriel Jessie Shanks, Ronald Shanks and Kenneth Shanks of Dalmeny Park in Barrhead. Jack served in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders 1st 6th Battalion. FP of Glasgow Academy and Loretto. Jack was the grandson of John Shanks, a plumber who established the famous sanitary works at Lowndes St in Barrhead which later went on to become world famous, supplying the Titanic amongst other places. Photo credit: Lorraine Murray

Day 23 #31DaysOfGraves is #cross
Cpt John Arthur Gordon Shanks MC of Dalmeny Park Barrhead was KIA at #Ypres 3/10/1917
FP of #Glasgow Academy and Loretto & grandson of John Shanks Sanitary Engineer of Barrhead who supplied the #Titanic
Family grave in Neilston Cemetery
#darktourism
More info in alt

#31DaysOfGraves Day 22: Landscape. Views of Vale of Leven Cemetery.

#31daysofgraves #landscape A scene in Inverkip Street Graveyard, Greenock

🤣

Day 22 of #31DaysOfGraves is #landscape
Here is a lovely, peaceful, view of Highgate #Cemetery from July this year (shot by me!) showing the built and natural landscape of this amazing place.
#DarkTourism
#Graveyard
#Taphophile
#London

Drawing of two women in the mid-19th Century, one in a dress with voluminous skirts, the other in tight-fitting trousers and top. Text below: "TRYING THEM ON If a woman fancies that she looks better or feels better in men's clothes, there is no reason why she may not indulge in so harmless a fancy. We do not see that any moral or proper legal question is involved in this; or, if the dress is neat and becoming, convenient to the wearer, and pleasant to others, that it is a breach of good manners. It t is a simple question of good and evil. If the amount of happiness, immediate or ultimate, is increased by any costume, it is right to wear it."

From "The Illustrated Book of Manners: A Manual of Good Behaviour and Polite Accomplishments" (1866)