Description
A church at Cardross was built in 1644 some three miles west of a medieval site. It was replaced by Cardross Old Parish Church in 1827. In 1941, the Church was destroyed by heavy bombing. After the war the tower was retained as a War Memorial, surrounded by the Old Churchyard.
The Cemetery was opened in 1950, when Dunbartonshire County Council reserved a 10-acre plot in the countryside northwest of Cardross.
The work in the Old Churchyard by J & S Mitchell, undertaken in about 1968, referred to all pre-1855 inscriptions located, some 160 gravestones in all. They used a shorthand interpretation of the actual inscriptions. A copy of the J&S Mitchell abbreviations are included as Appendix A, with a sketch plan of the Cardross Churchyard indicating position of some stones as Page 2 of this document.
The work by AFJ used a similar form of shorthand to J&S Mitchell’s work and an example of his work is included as Appendix B. AFJ was librarian in charge of the public libraries in Dumbarton and Alexandria and is the author of several books on local history. He has also transcribed, compiled, abbreviated and indexed the Monumental Inscriptions at several Dunbartonshire churchyards and cemeteries.
This document is a transcription of the AFJ document, undertaken for Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society (GWSFHS) by Rita Jeffrey and checked by Emma Christie. The purpose is to bring AFJ’s work to a wider audience and has been converted back to text reflecting the lives and deaths of the people buried in the Parish. It does not represent the actual Memorial Inscriptions recorded on the stones, only a reflection of the families and individuals recorded therein.
This booklet refers to “Monumental inscriptions (Pre-1855) in Dunbartonshire” by John Fowler & Sheila Mitchell, published by the Scottish Genealogy Society in 1969. A copy is available in our library.
Copyright Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society, 2024.
