wednesday's words and wanderings and wonderings

One of our days in Scotland was spent strolling around in Leith, the major port serving Edinburgh. It's an old, old town, dating back to the 12th century.

Before catching the tram to Leith, I did a little research to see what this port town had to offer. One of the items on my list was the Armada Stone, a sculpture that dates back to 1588. After walking along Leith Harbor for a bit, I put the Armada Stone in my GPS, and off we went down some streets, through alleys and ended at this delightful  community garden. I looked around and around for a sculpture, only to find out that the Armada Stone sits mounted into the gable of a building. There are times when you have to remember to look up in a search.

The origins of the Armada Stone are unknown. The attribution to the Spanish Armada is due to the upper part of the sculpture bearing the date 1588, the year of the attempted invasion of England. The stone depicts an armed merchantman flying the Saltire, the Scottish flag, at each masthead and the phrase “In the Neam of God 1588”.

So we're walking along the street and some bunches of flowers growing through the concrete and asphalt catch my eye. Of course I had to take a few photos. It was one of those "bloom where you are planted moments." As I snapped away in a low crouch, a voice with a heavy Scottish accent floated above me, "Oh, I see ye'er takin' some photos of ma weeds." I responded, "They're so pretty and so strong." And then the conversation began.

Sarah was behind a gate in another community garden that had been a cemetery. The graveyard has been in this spot since 1505 and has at least 485 ancestors of Newhaven/Leith buried there. Some of her ancestors' remains are there. Back in the long ago days, people who were unable to afford burial costs would sneak into the graveyard at night at bury their dead. This small green space is now tended by the Newhaven Heritage Community Gardens Group which looks after this patch of Newhaven’s history.

In 1972, not long after Newhaven’s redevelopment, when an archaeological dig was undertaken, a number of skeletons were discovered. Pottery, iron coffin handles and a Charles I coin were also found. Some graves had clearly been disturbed, and bodies (or parts of them) had to be re-interred. Even today, the Newhaven Heritage Gardens Group, tend not to dig down too often or too deep out of respect for the graveyard’s residents.

The plaque on the wall says, "Within this small area, where formally stood St. James Chapel was the Fisherman's Cemetery. There are 485 recorded burials which took place between 1505 and 1848." Yes, there are 485 recorded burials but as my lady friend emphasized, "There could be hundreds that are not." What a lovely experience to talk with Sarah, whose family has been in Leith for centuries, who is very proud of her family's heritage, and who loves to take care of a piece of the town's history. I so enjoyed hearing about her story.

Our day was done, we caught the tram to Edinburgh. As I flipped through Instagram, a post from dictionary.com came through my feed. The word is Saxicoline, meaning to live or grow among rocks. Don't you love when a story comes together? Taking pictures of weeds, talking to a knowledgeable townswoman, and now finding out that there is a word to attach to these weed photos. It was just one of those word nerdy moments for me.