Monument record MHG9704 - Strathy Bay

NC86NW 8 8390 6570.

'Sutherland Monumental Inscriptions', pre 1855
Monumental inscription survey completed by A.S.Cowper & I.Ross.
The survey may not include inscription information after 1855 and each inscription transcribed does not give the full details that appear on the stones, abbreviations used. Some ommissions and inacuracies. First published 1989, reprinted 1991, 1996 & 1999.
J Aitken : 20/12/02
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Article by R.G.Macdonald in Northern Ensign 14 April 1908.
In March 1858 the ship 'Thorvaldsen' reg. Trondheim was caught in a storm and driven towards the Melvich shore. The Melvich seamen lit a beacon but the Captain headed for Strathy Bay instead of Thurso Bay. Red John, a poor fisherman, acting as helmsman launched a coble with local man (Ian Graisich, Ian Suelan, Sandy Skerray, Sandy Larnach, Sandy Huestan, Hugh Cute, Shoras Frishal and Illiam Bulligan) and went out ro rescue the seamen from the sinking ship. Nine were saved. Thirteen Noresemen were buried in the SE corner of the cemetery. A rough headstone was erected "To the men of Trondhjem wrecked on the beach". The date inscribed was November 1860 but a later note in the Northern Ensign gave the date as March 1858. The rev. Kenneth Mackenzie (inscrip. No 107) showed great kindness to the survivors. No trace of the stone could be traced in 1983.
A S Cowper, 1989
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(NC 8390 6570) Grave Yard (NAT)
OS 6"map, (1963)

An ancient place of interment, still in use.
Name Book 1873.

A graveyard still in use. The earliest inscribed grave-slab is no earlier than the mid 19th century.
Visited by OS (N K B) 12 August 1981.