Crimond Kirkyard

Crimond Kirkyard is situated a little under a mile to the north of the village  - close to the Loch of Strathbeg, partly sheltered and surrounded by trees, but with farmland, 'weel vrocht grun' and open countryside sweeping over towards Mormond Hill
.

The imposing ivy clad gateposts

The Hay arms are set into the left hand gate post, this and the coat of arms in the right hand post (below) are possibly to acknowledge the two leading heritors of the parish. In 1471 Gilbert Hay, brother to the Earl of Erroll, who had already received a charter to the lands of Urie, married Beatrice Drummond, daughter of Sir John Drummond of Crimond, and so eventually inherited Crimonmogate.  W Hay of Wry is William Hay the last laird of Urie and IH of CRI MO GAT is John Hay of Crimonmogate

The armorial panel in the right hand gate post 

The gate posts are both topped by two stone balusters and a triangular panel which support a spike finial thought to be from an earlier belfry. 

The original Parish Church of Crimond is thought to have been built in 1576, all that now remains of it are this fragment of the south wall, situated in the centre of the kirkyard and a portion of the cornice which is built in to the kirkyard wall.The cornice is inscribed with 'For in Thy Courts on day excels a thousand other here' Psalm 84 verse 10.

This square window has finely carved rope moulding and heraldic panels on the splays.

This gravestone, probably actually  a flat grave slab, has been repositioned vertically close to the kirkyard dyke so that the death's head symbol  and lettering are upside down.

This granite obelisk is a smaller version of a monument at Crimonmogate commemorating Sir Charles Bannerman and his family. Sir Charles died in 1851, having inherited  the estate from his relative Patrick Milne, who was for a time MP for the Elgin burghs.

Snowdrops, Victorian symbols of purity, in the kirkyard

The present Parish Church in the village was built in 1812, the psalm tune Crimond was composed by Jessie Seymour Irvine 1836 - 1886, daughter of a Crimond minister. 

The clock was presented to the church by  James Laing of Haddo who had amassed vast wealth through tea and tobacco plantations. The clock was taken from nearby Haddo Farm - not to be confused with Haddo House. It is locally famous for having an extra minute between X1 and X11, attempts to have this rectified when the clock was restored caused such an outcry that the additional minute was reinstated.