Introduction: The cemetery at Botriphnie is located immediately in front of the kirk as shown in the photograph below.

It is an old cemetery with the earliest headstones dating from the 1600s. The Keith Office of Moray Council maintain burial records dating back to 1899 and we are currently trying to locate earlier records in the National Archive in Edinburgh. The Council records each burial twice; once by date (that is, each new burial is added to a chronological list) and once by Lair. In most cases the purchaser of the Lair is recorded so if a Lair was bought and used before 1899 there will be a Lair ownership entry but no burial records for the Lair. That doesn't mean the Lair is empty, simply that the records of burials in the Lair have been transferred to Edinburgh or have been lost.

So, there is usually three separate records of a burial; the chronological record, the Lair record and the headstone inscriptions. This web records all three. The chronological list is given in Burials by Year, the Lairs list is given by Burials by Lair and the headstone inscriptions list is given by Grave Stones. Considerable care has been taken to ensure accuracy but the written records are sometimes difficult to read or are contradictory and the headstone inscriptions are often very difficult to read or have completely disappeared.

When trying to locate a record, it is suggested that you first go to Burials by Lair and do a search (using Edit on your browser) for the name or date. Be aware, however, that spellings vary considerably, particularly in the older records. If there is a headstone associated with the Lair you will be able to click on the headstone number in the rightmost column to display the headstone inscription. Note that the date in the written records is the date of burial, whilst the date on the headstone is the date of death.

Finally, if you want anything checked or photographed, just send an email to dave.mcwilliam@towienet.co.uk and I'll see what I can do.