1 James Harlay, 1617 One of the earliest monuments, erected in 1619. Harlay was a lawyer, Writer to the Signet, and Keeper of His Majesty's Privy Seal.
2 Sir Robert Dennistoun of Mountjoy, 1626 King's Ambassador and Conservator of the Scottish Privileges in Holland
3 Alexander Bethune, 1672 A lawyer whose monument was built in 1675 and attributed to Robert Milne (see 50). There is a later memorial to Dr Spens incorporated in the stonework.
4 John Nasmyth of Posso, 1613 Chief surgeon to the King of France's Scots Bodyguard.
5 Richard Dobie, 1612 Treasurer and Dean of Guild to the City of Edinburgh; later used for the family of Duncan MacFarlane, an Edinburgh Merchant.
6 John Laing of Redhouse, 1614 Keeper of the Signet
7 John and Isaac Morrison, dated 1615 Later used for Robert Kerr of the Royal College of Surgeons. 1813
8. George Heriot Senior, 1610 Father of "Jinglin' Geordie" who became goldsmith to Anne of Denmark, wife of James VI and I, and who bequeathed money to found a hospItal for orphans in the city. Heriot's Hospital is now George Heriot's School and is located to the west of the kirkyard
9 John Gray, 1858 A modern granite stone marks the grave of the master of Greyfriars Bobby. The table stones beside it are said to have afforded Bobby shelter from harsh weather during the faithful dog's 14 year vigil. The stone was erected by American lovers of Bobby and is symbolic of the affection that the story of this small dog inspires all over the world (see 51 and 52)
10 John Watson, 1762 Founder of John Watson's school. In 1975 the school was amalgamated with the Schools of the Edinburgh Merchant Company but the Georgian building survives as the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art.
11 Henry Mackenzie, 1831 Crown attorney, but best known for his very popular sentimental novel, The Man of Feeling. He did much to establish the reputation of Robert Burns in the capital.
12 The Martyrs Monument The present stone dates from 1771; an earlier one, erected in 1706, is now in the Huntly House Museum. The monument commemorates the Covenanters who suffered death after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660. From May 27, 1661, that the noble Marquis of Argyle suffered, to the 17th February 1688, that James Renwick suffered, were execut at Edinburgh about an hundred of noblemen, gentlemen, ministers and others noble martyrs for Jesus Christ. The most part of them ly here. The Covenant, signed in the first place in Greyfriars Kirk on 28th February 1638, and subsequently in many other parts of Scotland, was a protest against the attempts made in the 1630's by Charles 1 to impose episcopacy and the Anglian-style liturgy on the Scottish Church, and against his quite unfounded claim to have the right to do this as head of the Church, in the same way that he was indeed head of the Church of England. The warfare and persecution that ensued came to an end only in 1690 with the so-called Revolution Settlement, when the Church of Scotland in its Presbyterian form was finally recognised as the National Church.
13 John Bayne of Pitcarlie, 1681 Mausoleum built in 1684. Pitcarlie left money to provide bursaries for students at the University, known at that time as the College of Edinburgh.
14 Duncan Ban MacIntyre, 1812 The Celtic Bard who fought against the Jacobites in 1745, never learned to read, and had to sell illicit whisky in the Lawnmarket to make a living; but he is recognised as one of the most important Gaelic poets of his time. The elegy is from his Poems in Gaelic.
15 James Craig, 1795 At the age of 23, Criag won the competition for the design of Edinburgh's New Town, though how far he was responsible for the final outcome is still the subject of controversy. The lines on his tombstone are from his uncle, James Thomson's Prospect of Great Britain: August, around, what PUBLIC WORKS I see! Lo! STATELY STREETS. Lo! SQUARES that court the breeze, Even fram'd with elegance the plain retreat, The private dwelling….
16 Archibald Pitcairn, 1713 "Probably the most celebrated physician of his time", one of the three first professors of medicine in the Tounis College, later the University of Edinburgh. (One of the other two, Robert Sibbald, though not buried here, is commemorated by a plaque in the South wall). A supporter of the Jacobite cause, he lived life to the full and was impatient with the puritanical ways of the Presbyterian Scots. He ordered a quantity of wine to be buried in his grave, to be consumed only when the Stuart dynasty was restored. His tomb was renovated in 1800 (and the wine apparently drunk!) and again, by the Royal College of Physicians of Scotland, in 1952
17 John Trotter of Mortonhall, 1641 Vault built in 1709 by John Trotter to protect the monument to his ancestors, John Trotter and Janet McMath. The work was begun by Robert Milne and completed by William Milne. (see 51)
