Stop 11 – The East Church

The East Church is a fascinating place to visit, so let’s take a quick walk around its graveyard. If the building is open, pop inside and if it’s not then take a peek through one of the windows at the rear.

Some of the gravestones were made by Hugh Miller when he worked as a stonemason and there are a number of important people buried here. It was a church long before the reformation and, typical of churches at that time, was brightly painted. That style, however, did not suit the new protestant tradition and the paintings and murals on the walls, ceiling and even the pews were covered up. In the East Church, however many were simply covered over with hemp or other material and remained hidden from view for hundreds of years. Recently these have been exposed and you can get a rare glimpse of what a small parish church may have looked like in the 1500s.

The graveyard is also well worth a closer inspection. There are some fascinating burials including that of John Thomson. In 1825, when only 19 years old, he was a junior officer on the Kent, an East India Company ship. It had over 600 people on board when it caught fire in a force 10 gale. The seasoned sailors on board knew there was little chance of rescue and resigned themselves to their fate. But Thomson instructed a sailor to climb the main mast and miraculously spotted a ship that was signalled to change course to attempt a rescue.

Over the next 9 hours Thomson manned a cutter which made seven journeys between the stricken Kent and their rescuer. 547 of those on board were saved. Minutes after the last trip on the cutter the magazine on the Kent exploded and it sank almost instantly.

Thomson went on to have a successful career and his part in saving the passengers and crew of the Kent was recognised as one of the most courageous actions of the age. 

The other striking thing as you look at the gravestones is the age at which many of those buried died. Life was very cruel for infants in the days before modern medicine and the NHS.

When you leave the East Church walk along Church Street until you come to the thatched cottage on your left, marked Hugh Miller’s Cottage, where you should press stop 12