The Coffin Roads: Journeys to the West - Ian Bradley

Descriere The Coffin Roads: Journeys to the West - Ian Bradley

\nCoffin 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. \n \nThe 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. \n \nRoutes covered in this book are: \n \nThe Kilmartin Valley - the archetypal coffin road in this ritual landscape of the dead. \n \nThe Street of the Dead on Iona - perhaps the best known coffin road in Scotland. \n \nKilearnadil Graveyard, Jura - a perfect example of a Hebridean graveyard. \n \nThe coffin road through Morvern to Keil Church, Lochaline - among the best defined and most evocative coffin roads today. \n \nThe Green Isle, Loch Shiel, Ardnamurchan - the oldest continuously used burial place anywhere in Europe. \n \nThe coffin road on Eigg - with its distinctive 'piper's cairn' where the coffin of Donald MacQuarrie, the 'Great Piper of Eigg', was rested. \n \nThe 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. \n \nThe 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.

Detalii

Brand

BIRLINN

Categorie

ENSTK

EAN / GTIN

9781780277790

Magazine

1

Disponibilitate

in stock