Wick Cemetery Question

[Julia]

Can anybody tell me why there is only the one gravestone sat all alone in this section of Wick cemetary?

[madmax]

Possibly the other plots are booked, I know my folks booked and paid for their final resting place years ago.

[botheed]

sad to say julia. this strip of ground is called the paupers ground where the poor are buried

[plumber]

Agree with you botheed, I have always been lead to believe that was where the paupers were buried

[highlander]

That is so sad to see that small gravestone sitting there on its own, but i would imagine there are more graves in that patch, only no-one to afford a gravestone. The other gravestones in the cemetery how on earth did they manage to pay for them? Doubt if there was such a thing as insurances for when you died, the wages back then were very poor but they must have had to save hard to give thier loved ones a decent burial.

[Julia]

That is so sad! I should look at the inscription on the one stone that is there next time.

[Chligh]

Pity u didn@t photo the inscription

[brew]

I will ask my father-in-law tonight as he works at the Thurso cemetary and may know.

[cathy]

Hi ,
Could you please ask your father in law if he knows if there is a grave at Thurso cemetery where Charles Mcphee and Rebeca Stewart are buried .
I am researching my family history and would be gratefull for the info.
Cathy

[Dusty]

Most Cemeteries have an area allocated for the burial of paupers and in Scotland, it is usually referred to as the Common Ground. I have ancestors burried in the Common Ground at Latheron Old Cemetery and Sleepyhillock Cemetery, Montrose.

In days gone by, a young couple on being married might recieve as a wedding gift a lair and headstone in the local graveyard. The stones might be marked with the lair number and to the effect that the lair belonged to so and so and his wife such and such or just with their initials, sometimes a date (usually the marriage date) was added. This was normally a welcome gift as it ensured that the recipents would never end up in a pauper's grave when such a thing was more common than now. The prospect of a pauper's grave was viewed with the same dread as the prospect of being admitted to the Poor House.
You can still see some stones like this as the recipients sometimes did not use the lairs having moved from the area or become affluent and chosen a spot and monument they felt was more befitting their status.

I have two instances of stones like this in my Family History and stones like these are pointed out to visitors to a local churchyard on a History Walk.

Hope this helps,


Dusty.

[Fran]

There is also one big grave for stillborn babies of years ago, and shortly a plaque will be placed there by the hospital with a ceremony.

[JohnC]

Isn't it good to know if you die with no possesions someone cares enough to bury you it would be good though if they said who we were

[NLP]

Agree with you botheed, I have always been lead to believe that was where the paupers were buried

yes it is the paupers ground, my mum was able to tell who was buried where, wish I paid more notice to what she was saying