10th March 1837: Superintendent-ship of the Burying Ground. Mr Scott appointed and in addition, to act as superintendent of Public Works, at a salary of £100.
27th October 1837: Last week, in taking down the family monument of Mr. A. Peddie, Senr, for the internment of the late Bailie Peddie, it was found that two large headstones, one of black, and the other of reddish marble, upon which the inscriptions were even yet in tolerable preservation, had been broken to pieces, and used as under-building for this monument at the time of erection. This is another instance of the taste of Hospitalmaster Bell, in using a number of the oldest headstones in the Howff in paving the bottom of the canal formerly in the Meadows, and for bridge-stones across it. 3rd August 1838: Obscure idlers, since the old burying ground was improved, many respectable females resort to it to visit the graves of their families and relatives, little expecting, no doubt, to be there assailed with the disgusting intrusions and idle blackguardism with which grounds are now frequented. &c. &c. 26th July 1839: Funeral stopped on Sunday last. A space was appropriated for the interment in the new ground : partiality prevails for the old ground. 9th August 1839: On Sunday last the funeral of two children took place. The first coffin was placed in the grave. The ceremony over, the second arrived. It was discovered that a mistake had been made as to the grave. The second claimed it : the coffin was dug up ; but by some carelessness or other a grave had not been prepared to receive it, and it had to lie on the grass till a grave was dug. 17th Jan 1840: The old Ground (Howff) is already overcrowded, and the fees for interring in the New Ground are so heavy. &c
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