Civil History
Stone Coffins
From the year 1809 down to 1835, many stone coffins have been at various times found on the lands of Gogar, particularly towards the western side of the field formerly called " The Flashes," on which the villa' of Hanley is now built.* As no accurate account can now be given of those discovered prior to 1834, we shall confine our description to those found at that period and in 1835.
In the autumn of 1834, when the House of Hanley was in the course of being built, an excavation was made on the highest part of the rising ground, about 100 yards to the north-east of the house, out of which sand was taken for the use of the building. This excavation when completed was 60 feet in length and 35 feet in breadth. In this space, there was laid open and removed about two dozen stone coffins, of a very simple construction. They all lay east and west, at a depth of only 13 inches from the surface, and were constructed of from five to eight water-worn flag stones, similar to those which form the bed of the river Almond, Newbridge. Their shape was as nearly that of a modern wooden coffin as the inflexible nature of the materials would admit. Both ends of the coffin were of single stones, and the sides were sometimes also of single stones, in which case, the one end of the coffin was broader than the other; but more frequently the sides were formed of four separate stones, and then the coffin bulged out in the middle. The bodies seem generally to have been laid on the bare gravel or on a thin plate of clay-slate, and the tops or covers were all of this substance, except one or two, where both the bottom and cover were formed of flag-stones.
From the nature of the soil, which is a loose gravel, and from the slightness of the covers, few of the coffins were in a perfect state when laid open. The gravel had found its way through the crevices, or the lid had been broken by the plough from its proximity to the surface, and the bones were mixed with gravel. In some, however, the entire skeletons remained in a state of good preservation. The length of the coffins was from 5 to 6 feet, and the breadth from 1 foot to 9 inches.
A little to the east of the first excavation, in digging pits to Plant evergreens, several additional coffins of the same construction were exposed, the distance between each being about 6 feet. Another space of about 120 feet by 60, was excavated in the park, about fifty yards to the north of the first excavation, and in it many similar remains were discovered. Some of the workmen said that here fourteen coffins were laid open in one day, and reckoned the whole number taken out of this space at about four dozen, but others stated it at about two dozen. All agreed that, besides the coffins in this space, there was found a great number of bones huddled together, as if buried in a pit without any coffin. One coffin was said to have contained two skeletons, or at least more than two thigh bones, and was of a much larger construction than the rest; while another was only 2 ½ feet in length. In some places the coffins were close together; indeed, a workman described three as so close; that the side stones of the middle one formed part of the two others. From this it would appear that three bodies at least were buried at the same time.
Towards the end of October 1835, another excavation was made at Hanley, behind the garden, about 100 yards to the west of the first excavation. The space here laid open was 50 feet in length, and in it six coffins were found, four lying together at one corner.
The whole space over which these coffins are found may extend to about 250 yards in length, and upwards of 50 yards in breadth. Single coffins are likewise found in other parts of the villa of Hanley, and a few are said to have been found on the adjoining villa of Gogarburn, No relics of any kind were found either within or near any of the coffins. Remains of an exactly similar description were discovered in 1822, in the neighbouring parish of Cramond, which are described in Vol. iii, p. 40 of the Transactions of the Society of Scottish Antiquaries.
At first sight the name of stone coffins would favour the supposition that these remains are of great antiquity, but as neither the aborigines, nor any of the other races who have inhabited or visited this part of the country in early times, used this manner of burying their dead, their origin must be looked for within the range of Scottish history. It has accordingly been supposed that this is merely the old parish burying ground; but the site of the village and kirk of Gogar, as existing at the Reformation, is at the distance of upwards of a quarter of a mile from this locality, the Gogarburn running between, and there is no reason to believe that the position of the kirk had been altered after the thirteenth century; it seems, therefore, not likely that this was a burying-ground attached to it. On the other hand, however, there are no events noticed in history, or handed down by tradition, sufficient to account for so many burials. The only battle we can trace to have taken place in this neighbourhood is the Gogar fight, on 27th August 1650, which has been already briefly described, but it only lasted from 3 to 6 o'clock p.m. of that day, and the deaths on both sides probably did not amount to 100 men. From the descriptions of this fight, contained in Hodgson's Memoirs, and in the Letters of Cromwell and his officers, printed in the same volume, this field, appears at that period to have been full of bogs, and in a very wild and uncultivated state; indeed, it was for this very reason that General Leslie is said to have chosen it for his encampment. After this engagement it is not unlikely that the dead would be interred where they fell, and no more natural mode of interment could have been adopted than to collect the flag stones from the bed of the river Almond, a distance of 1 ½ mile, and form them into coffins. This is rendered more probable when it is considered that no wood existed here at that period, and that when it was required, even in small quantities, it was always procured from Leith, as appears from several entries in the parish register about 1652. This hypothesis, perhaps, would not account for a cemetery so extensive,
but when once used as a burying-ground, it may have been continued in use as such during the years 1650 and 1651, while the English were in the parish; or its use may have commenced at the earlier period of the trouble or plague of 1645, which is referred to in the parish register as having been so severe a scourge that the church was closed, and all work at a stand while it lasted; and it may have been added to after the fight and during the invasion.
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