The Edinburgh Graveyards Project: Find hidden treasures in five of Edinburgh’s World Heritage graveyards

Edinburgh's inner-city graveyards are doorways into a richly evocative world full of hidden treasures that tell us about the people who lived here and how the city developed. The kirkyards of St. Cuthbert’s, Canongate and Greyfriars and the burial grounds of Calton Old and Calton New are all found within the urban landscape of the Edinburgh World Heritage Site. Their layout and design, and the stones, monuments and other built features they contain, capture an unparalleled record of Edinburgh’s transition from a 15th century medieval burgh to a European Enlightenment city in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The contrast between the medieval Old Town and Georgian New Town is one of Edinburgh’s most distinctive features and the five graveyards are an important aspect of this cityscape.