Secrets revealed as burial plots are exhumed at Kirkcaldy graveyard

Painstaking work to exhume ancient burial plots at a Fife graveyard has revealed forgotten headstones.

Specialist Peter Mitchell is overseeing the removal of remains from lairs at the historic Abbotshall graveyard in Kirkcaldy.

Already the site has given up one secret old headstones have been found embedded in the wall, below known graves.

The intricate work is having to be carried out for the safety of the public as the towering perimeter wall around the church yard was in danger of collapsing on to the pavement.

That saw Fife Council call in Mr Mitchell, who has project managed the exhumation of more than 30,000 human remains in his 32-year career.

“The most important thing is dignity,” he said. “Everybody has been bereaved so we have to approach the task with a sense of ‘what if it was my relative who was here, and how would I like them to be treated?’”

“We are dealing with people who have been loved, who were buried by people who loved them. It must all be done with dignity.”

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