Churchyard stories

Back at South Leith Parish Church to watch a performance of The Garden. Sadly the rain didn't stop but neither did the outdoor performance. Cast (an audience!) did a great job in difficult conditions, especially as the action in the play i supposed to take place on a scorching summer's day. This gravestone in the churchyard caught my eye before we went in to the 'secret garden' where the play was being put on. Reminded me of the Howff in Dundee where there are lots of graves with carved symbols of the "Nine Trades" of Dundee who used to meet in the graveyard (hence 'howff' or 'meeting place'). The Nine Trades of Dundee were Baker, Cordiner (Shoemaker), Glover, Tailor, Bonnetmaker, Flesher (Butcher), Hammerman, Weaver and Dyer. Edinburgh too had its trades (also known as guilds or trade incorporations) and there is further information on the website of the Hammermen of Edinburgh
The surviving Edinburgh Incorporations, with dates of their charter are

Cordiners (28 July 1449)
Skinners (12 January 1450)
Furriers (2 December 1474)
Masons and wrights (14 October 1475)
Weavers (31 January 1476)
Hammermen (2 May 1483)
Fleshers (11 April 1490)
Surgeons, originally Surgeons and Barbers (1 July 1505)
Tailors (26 August 1500)
Bakers (20 March 1522)
Bonnetmakers and Dyers (31 March 1530)
Goldsmiths (20 August 1586)

Alexander Hunter here was a Leith Hammerman. Poignantly he died aged 29 (with no explanation of why he was so young - was it a work accident?) while his wife died over half a century later in her 86th year. Long before Alexander's time the Leith Hammermen combined with the Canongate Hammermen in holding services in the Abbey, at the altar of St. Eloi, the patron saint of the Hammermen?s craft. There is more information about the Leith Hammermen and the other trade incorporations in this history of Leith.