John Brown, faithful servant and friend to HM Queen Victoria. Born in Crathie, near Balmoral, in 1826, died at Windsor Castle in 1883.
'That Friend on whose fidelity you count, that friend given you by circumstances over which you have no control, is god's own gift.' She wrote.
I stopped in by the old kirk yard at Crathie yesterday to take a picture of John Brown's grave. Next to his own gravestone, erected by Queen Victoria, is the gravestone erected by John Brown in memory of his mother, father and siblings.
As I was taking pictures of the graves, I gradually began to hear the dulcet tones of the bagpipes playing 'Highland Cathedral' coming through the howling wind. It was quite surreal. I looked up towards the kirk on the hill to see a funeral cortege leaving the front door - hearse in front, mourners walking behind. Fortunately, I managed to high-tail it out of the graveyard and leave by a small footpath down by the river to avoid meeting the mourners. I would have felt like an intruder and very out of place!
Ironically, I must have picked the only day of the year that there was a funeral here - it's a tiny church and a very small community at Crathie.
I love your processing, bringing out the textures and capturing the sense of age. Intriguing to be able to see his grave, having read about him and seen a movie.
I believe one of my forbears was born in Craithie. Mary Abercrombie was her name.