Memorial Cairn

Flowers aren’t for everyone. The ancient Celts marked graves with cairns, stacks of rocks and stones of varying size from near boulders to small pebbles. Many cairns seen in Scotland, Wales and Ireland are conical but some are tall precarious towers of stacked rocks that seem to defy the laws of gravity. Over the centuries the building of cairns has been a time-honored way to memorialize the dead.

During the Bronze Age, large cairns containing burial cists, stone coffins, were built throughout the United Kingdom. Usually built on a hill above the deceased’s village, cairns served as both memorial and reminder of the deceased. A freeform tombstone marking an individual’s passing, the pile of stones may have served to discourage grave robbers or keep dead souls from escaping. In Scottish tradition, rocks were carried from the bottom of the hill to the cairn at the top, the cairn growing in size as each visitor added another rock to the pile.

It is tradition for each person passing by a cairn to add a stone. Stones must be added to the top of the cairn and be smaller than the stone upon which it is placed. Not only does the habit counteract the effects of weathering; but when the cairn marks a grave, adding a stone is considered a sign of respect. In keeping with cairn tradition, The Gravesite Masters can arrange to mark a loved one’s grave with a memorial rock or boulder, a timeless tribute and the beginning of a cairn to commemorate your loved one.