Old Minto Burial Ground, Scottish Borders

The long abandoned atmospheric burial ground is Norman in origin, but no trace of a Norman church any longer exists. What ruins remain of an arch are later than the Norman Romanesque style. When a new church was built in the village in the mid- 19^th century, headstones and burial slabs in the ancient enclosure were moved to a small walled space and include memorials from the 13^th-17^th centuries, a child’s sarcophagus is amongst the earliest. There is also a slab decorated only with a sword and some think such plain and modest slabs may be connected to the Knights Templar, as well as knights in general. An ancient yew stands nearby, and its storm damaged and layered form is a remarkable site to behold. Given the Norman connection to this sacred site it seems reasonable that the yew’s origins belong in the late 11^th or early 12^th century and its morphology would support this. Obviously, there is no possibility of any girth measurement being relevant to the age of the yew. Also inside the old churchyard are old yews of uncertain date, one overhanging the space of the stones. Not far from the burial ground are the abandoned gardens beside what was Minto House. Yew hedges bordering the gardens and abandoned for around 150 years have grown unencumbered into a remarkable area of vaulted canopies, something rarely allowed to happen.