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Death & Mourning

Suicide stone (1)

Period:
18th Century
Description:

This stone has the initials "C C" and "A I" possibly representing a suicide pact, and date "1756". At this time people who died by suicide could not receive a Christian funeral or be buried in a churchyard.

 

On its summit the counties of Lanark and Dumfries meet, as also three lairds' lands, and here it was the custom up to fifty years ago, to bury suicides. Any more solitary and out-of-the-world place could hardly be conceived. The bodies were brought from great distances...

John Brown, The Enterkin, 1876

Materials/Media:
sedimentary rock, pink sandstone
Dimensions:
L 200mm, W 110mm, H 90mm
Source:
Dumfries Museum & Camera Obscura
Accession number:
DUMFM:1950.57
Digital Number:
DMST016n
Creation Date:
1756
Copyright:
Dumfries & Galloway Council