On this Remembrance Sunday I took a walk around the Old Wardlaw Graveyard to look at our war Graves. These are under the care of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. They visit all 1300 recorded grave sites in Scotland and make sure the graves are being kept tidy and check if the lettering requires repainting. They visited Wardlaw in September this year and will be back in 4 years’ time.
Their website lists 2 soldiers from WWI buried in the Old Wardlaw Graveyard (recorded on their website as Kirkhill Old Churchyard). Private A. Michael, died 7th November 1918, and Private John Fraser Owens, died 3rd April 1919. Both would have died locally while in military service.
Both gravestones are recorded in ‘Memorial Inscriptions, Parish of Kirkhill’ published by the Kilmorack Heritage Association in 2003. This has an indexed list of all the inscriptions that could be read during the survey and a map of the Old and New Wardlaw Graveyards. It...