The topics in this charming book range from the standing stones and cairns of the Neolithic and Bronze ages and the early Christian graves to European traditions marking death. Until the late 16th century, people of high rank were buried and commemorated inside the church. Few pre-Reformation outdoor monuments survive. The practice of church burials, church records and customs (such as building houses for the hearse horses) are relatively recent. Graveyards were not always places of repose. In this engaging account of burial grounds over the centuries we learn that in the Scotland of the 1700s a funeral could be a two-month long celebration for the entire neighborhood. As it travels through time, this history of cemeteries and monuments introduces graveyard art in beautifully rendered line drawings. The book encourages people to take an interest in local graveyards as it reports on efforts towards their conservation and gives valid reason for caring about preserving them.

It is a record of value to archaeologists and demographers, historians and art historians and the general public. It includes a table on life expectancy over two centuries, glossary and well documented appendix.