The last word: Epitaphs from 1MILLION graves put online

VOLUNTEERS have spent hundreds of hours painstakingly transcribing the details found on more than a million headstones and memorials in Scotland.

The result is a collection of epitaphs and inscriptions, spanning 1,000 years of history and covering more than 800 burial grounds, which is now fully searchable online.

With records dating back to 1093, the archive covers burial sites in 688 parishes – 80 per cent of the country – across all 34 historical Scottish counties.

It includes inscriptions from famous sites such as the Greyfriars and Canongate kirkyards in Edinburgh and Dunfermline Abbey Churchyard, and covers everyone from monarchs and courtiers to Covenanters, Jacobites, musicians and tradespeople.

The resource is the result of a collaborative project between ancestry website Findmypast and volunteers at ten local and national family history societies.

Myko Clelland of Findmypast said: ‘Scotland is a nation of stories, but so many lie forgotten in cemeteries. Through the efforts of local expert volunteers, combined with new technology, these stories can be told.’

The database is at Findmypast.co.uk.