Back to Search

The Coffin Roads: Journeys to the West

AUTHOR Bradley, Ian
PUBLISHER Birlinn (09/07/2022)
PRODUCT TYPE Paperback (Mass Market Paperbound)

Description
Coffin roads' along which bodies were carried for burial are a marked feature of the landscape of the Scottish Highlands and islands - many are now popular walking and cycling routes. This book journeys along eight coffin roads to discover and explore the distinctive traditions, beliefs and practices around dying, death and mourning in the communities which created and used them.

The result is a fascinating snapshot into place and culture. After more than a century when death was very much a taboo subject, this book argues that aspects of the distinctive West Highland and Hebridean way of death and approach to dying and mourning may have something helpful and important to offer to us today.

Routes covered in this book are:

The Kilmartin Valley - the archetypal coffin road in this ritual landscape of the dead.

The Street of the Dead on Iona - perhaps the best known coffin road in Scotland.

Kilearnadil Graveyard, Jura - a perfect example of a Hebridean graveyard.

The coffin road through Morvern to Keil Church, Lochaline - among the best defined and most evocative coffin roads today.

The Green Isle, Loch Shiel, Ardnamurchan - the oldest continuously used burial place anywhere in Europe.

The coffin road on Eigg - with its distinctive 'piper's cairn' where the coffin of Donald MacQuarrie, the 'Great Piper of Eigg', was rested.

The coffin road from Traigh Losgaintir to Loch Stocinis on Harris - popular with walkers and taken as the title for a best-selling thriller by Peter May.

The coffin road on Barra - A detailed study of burial practices on Barra in the early 1950s provides a fascinating record of Hebridean attitudes to dying, death and mourning.
Show More
Product Format
Product Details
ISBN-13: 9781780277790
ISBN-10: 1780277792
Binding: Paperback or Softback (Mass Market (Rack) Paperback)
Content Language: English
More Product Details
Page Count: 192
Carton Quantity: 10
Product Dimensions: 5.10 x 0.80 x 7.70 inches
Weight: 0.40 pound(s)
Feature Codes: Bibliography, Index, Maps, Illustrated
Country of Origin: GB
Subject Information
BISAC Categories
Travel | Essays & Travelogues
Travel | Europe - Great Britain
Travel | Social History
Dewey Decimal: 393.109
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021387365
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
publisher marketing
Coffin roads' along which bodies were carried for burial are a marked feature of the landscape of the Scottish Highlands and islands - many are now popular walking and cycling routes. This book journeys along eight coffin roads to discover and explore the distinctive traditions, beliefs and practices around dying, death and mourning in the communities which created and used them.

The result is a fascinating snapshot into place and culture. After more than a century when death was very much a taboo subject, this book argues that aspects of the distinctive West Highland and Hebridean way of death and approach to dying and mourning may have something helpful and important to offer to us today.

Routes covered in this book are:

The Kilmartin Valley - the archetypal coffin road in this ritual landscape of the dead.

The Street of the Dead on Iona - perhaps the best known coffin road in Scotland.

Kilearnadil Graveyard, Jura - a perfect example of a Hebridean graveyard.

The coffin road through Morvern to Keil Church, Lochaline - among the best defined and most evocative coffin roads today.

The Green Isle, Loch Shiel, Ardnamurchan - the oldest continuously used burial place anywhere in Europe.

The coffin road on Eigg - with its distinctive 'piper's cairn' where the coffin of Donald MacQuarrie, the 'Great Piper of Eigg', was rested.

The coffin road from Traigh Losgaintir to Loch Stocinis on Harris - popular with walkers and taken as the title for a best-selling thriller by Peter May.

The coffin road on Barra - A detailed study of burial practices on Barra in the early 1950s provides a fascinating record of Hebridean attitudes to dying, death and mourning.
Show More
List Price $13.95
Your Price  $13.81
Paperback