Kilmuir Cemetery, Isle of Skye by brewgirlca
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
This is the lonliest and yet most beautiful graveyard I have ever photographed. This is Kilmuir Cemetery and it is within a few hundred meters of the edge of the Atlantic on the northern tip of the Isle of Skye.
It is famous for one particular person, for this is the final resting place of Flora MacDonald, the lady who saved Bonny Prince Charlie from capture by dressing him up as her maidservant and slipping him past the pursuing English forces. After being captured by the English she spent time in the Tower of London but was pardoned a year later. She married a Scottish army Captain, also in the Clan MacDonald, and they eventually immigrated to America (few Americans probably know that). They wound up on the loosing side in the Revolutionary war and eventually returned to Scotland and settled on his family estates on Skye.
Flora died on the Isle of Skye at a ripe old age of nearly 70. Of the six cemeteries on Skye, this is the only one with a view of the Hebrides, where Flora was born and is certainly the reason she was put to rest here.
Flora's grave is quite remarkable but the entire site is just stunning. The area is utterly isolated, with just a small village in the distance. It is just perfect. So while everyone else was focusing on her grave I had the chance to roam the rest of the place with no one else getting in the way. There are not too many shots on the web of just the cemetery itself, almost all are of her grave.
This had been on my "must go to" list for a very long time; it was even better than I had imagined.

Comments (23)
Spectacular capture! Well done!
When one hears the word 'breathtaking' a scene like this comes to mind - at least to my mind; however much is left.... I can almost feel the solitude and peace you must have felt while taking in this scene. How beautiful. This is a magnificent photo, Roxy - I am hearing Felix Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture as I look at this wonderful scene. A fascinating bit of history as well.
Wow - wonderful lighting and colors!!!
Fantastic scene!!!
Amazing photos Roxy
You must be on the gloomiest places tour... :) Thanks for bringing us along!
moving picture, Roxy. they do look like very old stonage.
Wonderful view I did a Google Maps and the satellite view is nice but not as cool as your shot
excellent
Stunning image
Fantastic!!!! The light emerges from the clouds far below the stormy sky lights the tombstones on the green carpet of living in a shadow memory of them ......
A place to rethink one's live? Great image!
Wonderful image, beautiful light and composition!
What for a beautiful cementary. Open, free, in the middle of the nature. (In Germany is everything behind walls.) A truly breathtaking landscape!! I wish you a wonderful time.
xlt lighting
Beautiful. What a treat it must have been to visit & photograph such a lonely desolate spot. I love the lush green grass, the shadows & the seemingly random spacing of the graves, tilted at various angles - almost as if they had sprouted from the ground like trees...
Beautiful capture. I like the lighting very much.
This is very beautiful, and your story is very interesting!
Great bit of history info. I was quite ignorant of Flora McDonald. That's really quite a view and I can imagine a stormy winter night out there would by quite a sight. You seemed to capture a sense of peace against what could seem quite the lonely and desolate place. Gorgeous shot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1CTxa-FuKc What an magnificent capture! It was an excellent desicion that you stay away from the crowd. that's the best way to get such beautiful pictures.
here time is standing still and the wind is whisperin about forgotten heros! ;o)
Tell nothing of other than to contemplate the most beautiful banks of the islanders...and to leave them free...
Another beautiful shot, wish I lived there!