stirling-1963-vol-1/05_192

Transcription

No. 146 -- ECCLESIASTICAL MONUMENTS -- No. 146
charged, for Bruce: A saltire, on a chief a mullet; the
initials, MB, refer to Mary, daughter of Robert
Bruce of Kinnaird, whom Michael Elphinstone
married in 1618, and the motto is DOE WEEL AND /
DOUBT NOT. The inscription reads MICHALE
ELPHINSTOUNE / YOUNGEST SON TO ALEXAN / DER
LORD ELPHINSTOUNE / WHO DIED IN DURAME
AND / WAS BURIED THAIR UPON / THE I OF
NOUEMBER 1640 / WHICH UAS THE FIRST OF /
THIS FAMILIE WHOS MOTHER / VAS DAM IANNE
LIUINGSTONE / LEADY ELPHINSTOUNE DAUG / HTER
TO THE EARLE OF / LINLITHGOW. / INTERRED
HIEER (sic) HIS YOU NGEST SONNE IOHN 4 OF /
SEPTEMBER 1680 WHO / GIFTED TO THIS KIRK
TVO COMMVNION CUPS. (iii) The easternmost
slab, which is badly wasted, bears four shields in
relief with incised initials, and later incised inscrip-
tions which are probably contemporary with the stone
of 1680, last described. The first shield divides the
initials S / RE and is charged: A chevron with
crescent for difference between three boars' heads
erased; the second divides the initials D / EC and is
charged: A chevron between three floral slips. These
are evidently the arms of the same pair as is com-
memorated on the stone set outside the enclosure (supra).
The third shield duplicates the first, and also that of
Michael Elphinstone as shown on the adjoining stone;
as the initials ME appear above it and as the fourth
shield, though practically illegible, seems to show traces
of a saltire and chief, it seems certain that these shields
commemorate Michael Elphinstone and his wife, the
parents of Sir Robert. Of the later inscriptions, the one
in the top dexter corner of the stone reads ME DIED
INTO / THE I OF NOUEMBER 1640 S / RE, and its
counterpart in the sinister corner reads MB DIED
INTO / (T) HE 23 OF -- / D / EC. The Elphinstone
motto [CA] USE C [AUSIT] appears under the first shield,
and though it is cut in letters of the same size as the
latter inscriptions it may be original.
Other stone monuments were noted as follows. (iv)
A slab bearing, within an inscribed ribbon, a shield
dividing the letters M R B and charged: A saltire, in
dexter chief a mullet. The date 1631 appears above the
M. The inscription on the ribbon reads CHRISTVS IN
VITA ET IN MORTE LVCRVM ("Christ is gain both in
life and death"). A modern headstone records that
the Reverend Robert Bruce of Kinnaird (1554-1631),
second son of Sir Alexander Bruce of Airth, is buried
here "at the foot of the pulpit of the first church in
Larbert, which he built, and from which he sought to
make known the truth as it is in Christ". (v) A slab set
in the N. wall of the graveyard near the NE. corner,
bearing the following verses:

HERE LYES THE INTRRED (sic) WITHIN HIS URNE
THE CORPS OF HONEST GOOD IOHN BURNE
WHO WAS THE EIGHT IOHN OF THAT NAME
THAT LIVD WITH LOVE AND DIED WT FAME
IN CHANGING TYMES SADDEST DISASTER
TREW TO HIS KING LORD AND MASTER
KYND TO HIS KENERED (sic) NEIGHBUR FREND
WHOS GOOD LYFE HADE ANE HAPPIE END
HIS SOUL TO GOD HE DID BEQUEATH
HIS DUST TO LYE THIS STONE BENEATH

These are followed by ANNO 1635 REPAIRED 1764,
and the style of the lettering suggests that the whole
inscription may have been recut at the latter date; if so,
the date 1635 may be a mistake for an original 1665,
which would accord better with the third couplet of
the epitaph. In this case the person commemorated
would have been John Burne, 2nd of Larbert, who died
in 1665, rather than his father, who did in 1635. ¹ A
stone set just below the slab is inscribed RESTORED
1912. (vi) A headstone which is noteworthy on account
of the relief carving on its W. face of a ship in full sail
(Pl. 48 A), and cf. Pl. 48 B, D). It commemorates
James Muir, son of Robert Muir, indweller in Quarole,
"WHO LOST HIS LIFE (WITH ANOTHER OF THE /
HANDS) AT HISPANIOLA IN MOUNTA-CHRISTA /
RIVER (GOING OVER THE BARR FOR FRESH WA / TER)
OUT OF THE LONG BOAT BELONGING TO / THE
PRINCE FERDINAND ANDREW ANDERSON CAPTAIN,
& WERE TAKEN UP & INTERR'D BY HIM ON THE 9
OF MAY MDCCLXI. / THE DECEAST JAMES MUIR
WAS BORN / THE 25TH OF JUNE MDCCXLII IN THE /
OLD TOWN OF STENHOUSE IN THIS PARISH".
(vii) A slab inscribed 1677 / IT IC / GH ET / HM ID /
WM MW / WM AK. The last three pairs of initials
are progressively later in their styles than the others.
(viii) A slab lying beside the last and duplicating it except
that the date is 1683, not 1677. (ix) A slab bearing at
its head a skull and cross-bones with MEMENTO MORI
curving above them. The earlier parts of the inscription
read 1680 / IR AM / TR IK / HR IR EB / 1789, and
these are followed by records of the 19th century.
(x) A small headstone at the foot of the last bearing a
crudely executed skull which divides the date 1638.
(xi) A slab inscribed 1680 / IC IS / IH IC / WH JJ.
In addition to the stone memorials there are several
constructed of iron, including three obelisks; these
date from the late 18th or early 19th century, and are
interesting as exemplifying the experimental use of a
new material. The best of them commemorates the
explorer James Bruce of Kinnaird, and his wife Mary
Dundas, who died respectively in 1794 and 1785, while
other family epitaphs have been incised at later dates.
The base of the monument (Pl. 51 D) is a rectangular
block; above this the obelisk rises from four lions, and
it finishes in an elaborate Classical lamp. On each face
of the obelisk there is a medallion containing a female
figure in relief; those on N. and S. are identified as
"Hope" by the Greek word ΕΑỻIΣ . The monument
has evidently been painted to resemble stone; in 1792 it
was recorded that this "elegant monument of cast metal
-- is much admired by strangers". ² Another iron
monument, constructed by the Shotts Iron Company,
comprises a hollow base of Classical design, 8 ft. 4 in.

1 Gibson, op. cit., 5.
2 Stat. Acct., iii (1792), 338.

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