History and traditions of the land of the Lindsays in Angus and Mearns

EDZELL — OLD KIKKYAIID. 5
We do not infer, however, although the " toll of the
dead bell" is still oceasionally heard in Edzell and many neigh-
bouring parishes, that the inhabitants place any faith in the
old belief; but, simply, retain the custom from respect to the
worthy people who have gone before them ; indeed, the prac-
tice is now so rare, that, when attempted to be used, the
sexton frequently rings " a merry peal," instead of the deep,
solemn, and imposing knell, which is so well calculated to strike-
fear and alarm to the hearts of most listeners. The old kirkyard
of Edzell — whither it was customary for the sexton at no dis-
tant date to precede almost all funeral processions, tolling the
vuiharmonious badge of his sad unenviable office — has now a
far more solitary situation than it had in days of yore. It
occupies the same site, it is true, by the side of the West
Water, but the church is removed, the huge castle is roofless
and untenanted, and the busy thriving village fully a mile
distant. The abrupt and varied heights of Dunlappie, and the
isolated hill of Drummore, raise their protecting and shadowy
crests on the north-east and south-west ; but solitude reigns
around, and barring the thoughtful tread of the curious pilgrim,
or the hasty step of the busy merchantman — the ancient lords of
the district, and "the rude forefathers of the hamlet" — enjoy
an undisturbed and unvaried repose, well befitting the solemnity
and awfulness of death. It was different in old times : the
clack of the busy mill, and the undisguised laugh of innocent
childhood, reverberated within a few paces, and the sweet-
scented honeysuckle twined around the door of the miller's
cottage, and the healthy vegetable was fostered w T ith all the
skill and care then known near the south-west corner of Stop-
bridge, where the foundations of long-since inhabited tenements,
and pieces of mill gear, are frequently found.
Drummore Hill, of late crowned with luxuriant crops of
whins and broom, now bearing its hundreds of bolls of yellow
corn, could also boast of many tenanted cottages and smiling
gardens in old times ; and on the southern extremity, on a small
isolated hillock, which had been evidently surrounded by a
moat, the original castle of Edzell is presumed to have stood.
The spot is still called " the castle hillock," and old parishioners
have been told bv their fathers, that they remembered of two