Ritchie, J. (1911). An Account of the Watch-houses, Mortsafes, and Public Vaults in Aberdeenshire Churchyards, formerly used for the Protection of the Dead from the Resurrectionists.. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 46. Vol 46, pp. 285-326.
 Title The title of the publication or report |
An Account of the Watch-houses, Mortsafes, and Public Vaults in Aberdeenshire Churchyards, formerly used for the Protection of the Dead from the Resurrectionists. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Issue The name of the volume or issue |
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 46 | ||||||||
Series The series the publication or report is included in |
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland | ||||||||
Volume Volume number and part |
46 | ||||||||
Number of Pages The number of pages in the publication or report |
503 | ||||||||
Page Start/End The start and end page numbers. |
285 - 326 | ||||||||
Downloads Any files associated with the publication or report that can be downloaded from the ADS |
|
||||||||
Licence Type ADS, CC-BY 4.0 or CC-BY 4.0 NC. |
ADS Terms of Use and Access
|
||||||||
Publication Type The type of publication - report, monograph, journal article or chapter from a book |
Journal | ||||||||
Abstract The abstract describing the content of the publication or report |
An account is given of the activities of the resurrectionists, the prevailing attitudes towards them and some of the measures taken to prevent the theft of corpses. A number of surviving or recently demolished watch-houses, mortsafes and public vaults and some of the legends attached to them are described. Watch-houses were shelters used overnight by those guarding newly dug graves. The simplest form of mortsafe was a heavy stone placed on top of a coffin. A more effective form of mortsafe was a coffin-shaped stone with iron lattice-work to a depth of about 18 inches all round it on the lower side, which effectually prevented interference with the coffin. In addition, strong vaults were built in some of the churchyards, where the coffins could be stored until it would be safe to lay them in their final resting-place in the churchyard. The regulations for the management of a vault at Udny are reproduced. The watch-houses, mortsafes and vaults gradually fell out of use after the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832. | ||||||||
Year of Publication The year the book, article or report was published |
1911 | ||||||||
Locations Any locations covered by the publication or report. This is not the place the book or report was published. |
|
||||||||
Source Where the record has come from or which dataset it was orginally included in. |
ADS Archive
(ADS Archive)
|
||||||||
Relations Other resources which are relevant to this publication or report |
|
||||||||
Created Date The date the record of the pubication was first entered |
14 Nov 2013 |
