Blin Mey

The lonely grave of Blin May - Mary Mowat who died in the cholera epidemic of 1849. The grave is on the Bbents (dunes) just outside the village of Cairnbulg. Cholera brought to the community by infected fishermen returning home, swept through the twin villages of Cairnbulg and Inverallochy killing 50 people from the small villages. Such was the fear of infection that bodies were buried as quickly as possible. When Blin Mey died there was an ongoing  dispute, which reached the Sheriff Court in Peterhead about burial in St Combs graveyard ( where Cairnbulg residents were buried then) unless the grave was dug by the the official gravedigger to a depth of 6ft. Fearful of catching cholera from the corpse whilst waiting for the Sheriff's verdict Blin Mey's family buried her on the bents.  The irony is that whilst cholera victims were usually buried in unmarked graves - sometimes in areas of kirkyards still known as ' the cholera ground' Blin Mey at least has a gravemarker and her story lives on. There are worse places than on the bents within sound of the sea to be buried.