The Tomnahurich Cemetery is a Victorian

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

, Scotland.

Etymology

''Tomnaurich'' is a

Scottish gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

term which can be translated as "hill of the

fairies A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, o ...

" or "hill of the

yew trees

Yew is a common name given ...

Features

The cemetery is located on a low but very prominent hill 1.5 km SW of the city centre, between the

Caledonian Canal The Caledonian Canal connects the Scottish east coast at Inverness with the west coast at Corpach near Fort William in Scotland. The canal was constructed in the early nineteenth century by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford. Route The canal r ...

and the

River Ness The River Ness (Scottish Gaelic: ''Abhainn Nis'') is a river in Highland, Scotland, UK. It flows from Loch Dochfour, at the northern end of Loch Ness, north-east to the mouth of the Beauly Firth at Inverness, a distance of about , with a fall ...

. The hilltop is at 70 m, and its

topographic prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

is 53 m. The cemetery consists in two areas: a formal graveyard on the upper plateau, which also hosts a war memorial, and the ''Lower Cemetery'', occupying the low ground around the hill. Some footpaths connect these two burial areas. The hillside is covered in woodland and provides a convenient habitat to several bird species. The hilltop offers a wide panorama on Inverness city, the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...

and on the Ness Valley. The Tomahurich itself, as seen from the surrounding plain, is an important landmark.

History

Before its use as a cemetery the hill, due to its prominent location, hosted various social events such as an annual horse race, which used to take place around the hill on the 24–25th May. In 1753 the hill, which ground was considered too poor in quality for agriculture, was planted with trees, mainly ''

Pinus sylvestris ''Pinus sylvestris'', the Scots pine (UK), Scotch pine (US) or Baltic pine, is a species of tree in the pine family Pinaceae that is native to Eurasia. It can readily be identified by its combination of fairly short, blue-green leaves and orang ...

''. The views offered from the hilltop were praised by artists and scientists. For instance

Thomas Pennant Thomas Pennant (14 June Old Style, OS 172616 December 1798) was a Welsh natural history, naturalist, traveller, writer and antiquarian. He was born and lived his whole life at his family estate, Downing Hall near Whitford, Flintshire, in Wales ...

climbed the Tomnahurich in the

XVIII Century The 18th century lasted from January 1, 1701 ( MDCCI) to December 31, 1800 ( MDCCC). During the 18th century, elements of Enlightenment thinking culminated in the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions. During the century, slave trading ...

, reporting its name as ''Tommin heurich''. In the second half of the

XIX century The 19th (nineteenth) century began on 1 January 1801 ( MDCCCI), and ended on 31 December 1900 ( MCM). The 19th century was the ninth century of the 2nd millennium. The 19th century was characterized by vast social upheaval. Slavery was abolish ...

the Inverness Cemetery Company, a

joint-stock company A joint-stock company is a business entity in which shares of the company's capital stock, stock can be bought and sold by shareholders. Each shareholder owns company stock in proportion, evidenced by their share (finance), shares (certificates ...

, developed the present-day cemetery and opened it in 1864. Although its design is attributed to

Charles Heath Wilson Charles Heath Wilson (1809–1882) was an Anglo-Scottish art teacher and author. Life The eldest son of Andrew Wilson, the landscape-painter, he was born in London in September 1809. He studied art under his father, and in 1826 accompanied him to ...

, a great deal of the work was done by George Grant Mackay, a Scottish civil engineer. The cemetery gradually expanded also around the hill, and in 1909 it was acquired by the Borough of Inverness. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

lots of metallic chains and iron parts were removed from the cemetery, in order to contribute in the national war effort.

Artworks

Many tombstones and structures of the cemetery are of historic and architectural interest. Among them can be remembered the memorial monument to Mary Anne Lyall, of Andrew Davidson's (1841–1925), or the mausoleum of Henry Christie, with an armed angel statue guarding its marble door. Close to the main entrance stands a lodge designed by Alexander Ross in 1877.

References

External links