John Muir's Dunbar [jmd] | Dunbar Parish Kirkyard

The origins of Dunbar kirkyard [13] go far back in time, but the present Church [14] was only built a few years before Daniel Muir came to Dunbar. David Gilrye was an Elder here when the old church was demolished. He purchased a family plot in the kirkyard.

Entering the Kirkyard, go round the west (right hand) end of the building, near the tower, and then south-east down a gravel path parallel to the wall; stop between a large stone with an urn and the obelisk (both on your left). Look two ranks in to see the pair of Gilrye stones.

The Gilryes had ten children and the premature deaths of seven are recorded on their family headstone. Only three daughters lived to marry, and one of these died in childbirth at Whitekirk, a nearby parish. The family recorded that the children died of 'white plague' (possibly diphtheria), but a single cause is unlikely given the spread of dates. Bear in mind that David Gilrye was a flesher, or butcher, to trade; not the most hygienic occupation in the early nineteenth century. It is common for gravestones of this time to mention overseas deaths to ensure some memorial for the widely travelling Dunbar folk - John's uncle, Captain James Rae, is buried in Cronstadt, Russia.

To the south east of the stones lies an old watch-hut, which John might have remembered. In the 1840s the activities of the resurrection men, Burke and Hare and their ilk, caused unrest in small towns and many subscribed for watches to be kept over the recently dead.


Dunbar Parish Church


Gilrye graves


Churchyard Watch-hut

'...Dandy Doctors, clad in long dark cloaks and supplied with a store of sticking-plaster of wonderful adhesiveness, prowled at night... watching for children to choke and sell...'

To the north, close to the church, are three Mather headstones, recording the end of John Muir's blood connection in Dunbar.

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Scottish Charity No. SC 022857

Putting Dunbar on the Map

Dunbar Parish Kirkyard - Gilrye Family Graves