After Stobhill we passed this church on the way back from Crichton Castle (and Collegiate Kirk) and I noticed the Commonwealth War Graves sign.

Cockpen is south of Bonnyrigg on the B 974 between Bonnyrigg and Gorebridge.

Inside the churchyard I found no fewer than twelve war graves.

(I have no idea why some of these don’t show as pictures on the blog but only as links to my Flickr.

Edited to add; they seem to be loading okay, now.)

Guardsman G Davis, Scots Guards, 20/4/1919:-

Sergeant T Smith, Air Gunner, RAF, 3/10/1943, aged 25. An urn in front of the gravestone commemorates Alice Cummings:-

Able Seaman A Raeburn, RNVR, HMS Dinosaur, 15/6/1943:-

Sapper J Murphy, Royal Engineers, 1/11/1918:-

Private R Millar, Highland Light Infantry, 5/5/1917, aged 24:-

Private A Ramage, Royal Scots, 27/4/1919:-

Gunner W Cranston, Royal Artillery, 15/3/1919, aged 20:-

Driver W Ward, Royal Field Artillery, 23/2/1919:-

Flight Sergeant J E A Huschmann, RAF, 8/5/1943:-

Guardsman G K Pringle, Scots Guards, 19/10/1916:-

Private J Allan, London Regiment, 16/2/1919:-

Private P Bennet, Royal Scots, 23/10/1919@-

For some reason we stopped in Loanhead, Midlothian, on our way back from Crichton Castle and Crichton Collegiate Kirk (see earlier posts.)

There we found this memorial “To the memory of those men who died in accidents at Bilston Glen Colliery during its working life and to all others who lost their lives in mining accidents in the community of Loanhead.”

Three gravestones in Crichton Collegiate Kirk yard commemorate war dead.

Private C McDonald, Royal Army Service Corps, died 27/10/1915, aged (indeterminate):-

W Archibald Callander, Major, The Black Watch, killed in action in Italy, 1944, aged 24:-

Alexander Borthwick, died of wounds in France, 9/6/1940, aged 26:-

Crichton Collegiate Kirk (see an earlier post) has four lovely stained glass windows.

The fourth is Crichton’s Great War Memorial:-

The wording reads, “To the glory of god and in loving memory of the men of Crichton parish and congregation who gave their lives in the war 1914-1919.”

The Second World War Memorial is a wooden panel below the Great War stained glass Memorial:-

It is dedicated “In honoured memory of (those) who fell in the World War 1939-1945”:-

The kirk is by the narrow road leading to the path to Crichton Castle (see previous post.)

Kirk from the castle:-

Kirk from the path to the castle:-

Kirk from churchyard:-

Kirk from east:-