St Cyrus Old Church Watch House

3D Model

Site Name St Cyrus Old Church

St Cyrus Nether Churchyard; Ecclesgreig

Canmore ID 36352

NGR NO 7450 6390

From Dundee Howff conservation group: In the early 19th century, medical research into the human body was growing but there was a problem, not enough bodies to dissect. Along came the resurrectionists or more commonly know as body snatchers. They would wait for a fresh body to be buried and in the dark of night venture into the graveyard and dig up and steal the cadaver later to be sold to the medical institutions. This watch house was built to stop the body snatchers, local men (in pairs) would guard this graveyard each night. It has an open window facing onto the graveyard and a chimney so that a fire could be lit to keep the watchers warm during the colder months. This graveyard is located close to the North Sea and it was know for boats to come ashore with medical students from Edinburgh or Aberdeen onboard with the objective of stealing a fresh corpse.