Gravestones broken at historic Chapel Yard Cemetery in Inverness
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FEARS have been voiced that vandals may have struck at an Inverness city centre graveyard.
Jim Fraser was strolling through Chapel Yard Cemetery off Chapel Street to visit an old family grave when he discovered two broken headstones side-by-side.
He said: “It is difficult to imagine any mechanism by which these would be so damaged other than malicious action. Maybe somebody out there still cares about these graves.”
Police said they were not aware of any vandalism being reported at the cemetery.
The now unused cemetery, sometimes known as St Mary’s, was probably established by the Dominican order of monks, known as the Black Friars because of their robes.
The earliest written evidence for the site comes from the period 1164-1171 when William the Lion gave land “to God and the church of St Mary’s of Inverness”.
There were also reports that, in 1745, Jacobite supporters of Bonnie Prince Charlie damaged some of the graves in Chapel Yard belonging to families who had failed to support their cause.
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