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The
Headstone at Biggar
With grateful thanks to Jane
Kelly, January 2001
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Memorial
Inscription on the Borthwick /Lillie headstone
St Mary's Churchyard, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland
In memory of
John Borthwick
Late farmer of Longlees
Who died on the 19th April 1835
Aged 85 years
Elizabeth Dinwoodie his wife
Who died 26 June 1840
Age 87 years
Also George Lillie their son in law
Who died 19 April 1871 aged 65 years
Elizabeth their daughter
Wife of the said George Lillie
Who died 8th August 1872 aged 85
years
Borthwick family members Dugald
and Susan Mitchell recorded this inscription (which is summarised in
the Lanarkshire Monumental Inscriptions produced by the Scottish Society
of Genealogists) and also provided the following "map" to
the grave, after visiting it in August 1999.
Gravestone position: On
entering the church yard through the front gate (Museum opposite), a
path leads to the door of the Church. To the left of this path the church
yard boundary is defined by a retaining wall to the road below. The
Gravestone is the third closest to the boundary from the front gate.
There is a considerable drop of perhaps 10 feet to the footpath below
behind the grave. The gravestone is deteriorating and needs attention.
The Museum opposite has a complete
list of all inscriptions in the churchyard
The Church of St Mary (1546) is
one of the last pre-Reformation churches in Scotland and stands on the
site of the earlier church of St Nicholas; the graveyard includes the
ancestors of the politician William Gladstone.
 
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