The village of Duffus itself was once called New Duffus, and lies just to the west of old Duffus where only the old church remains.

It has a War Memorial situated in the grounds of the more modern Duffus Kirk.

It is a simple stone cross on a hexagonal pillar above a hexagonal plinth, Duffus Kirk behind:-

Dedications and names:-

Names:-

There is a Commonwealth War Grave in the kirkyard. Private D More, Seaforth Highlanders, 22/4/1918, aged 22:-

Plus a gravestone with a Second World War death dedication to James Grant, killed in Belgium, 1940, aged 19:-

The kirkyard also contains a military grave, that of chief Technician Dennis M Robertson, RAF, 3/8/1992, aged 53:-

In St Deiniol’s churchyard, Hawarden, I noticed a sign pointing to a Crimean War grave. Naturally I made my way to it.

Not only was Thomas Ryan, “a native of Kilkenny and late Troop Sergeant Major in HM XVIII Lancers,” present at the Battles of Alma, Inkerman and Sevastopol* he was at Balaklava* and was no less than a survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade!

Whom – as his gravestone has it – “God’s high grace saved from death in the memorable light cavalry charge at Balaklava.”

Strictly speaking this is not a war grave as Ryan came back from Crimea and, “took his final discharge on October 20^th 1908, aged 88 years.”

A wonderful thing to come on out of the blue, though.

*As the spellings were then.

Kemback is a village in the centre of Fife. It is near Cupar. The village is fairly off the beaten track so I hadn’t visited it before March last year.

The typically Scottish style Church is up quite a steep road off the one through the main part of the village and is a replacement for an older one. The War Memorial stands prominently beside it.

The Great War Memorial is a Celtic style cross with embedded sword and its plinth is inscribed, “In memory of the men of this parish who fell in the Great War 1914-1919.”

The Second World War Memorial is a plaque on the church wall. “1939-1945. In grateful memory of the menof Kemback parish who gave their lives in this war.”

There was one war grave in the cemetery, Private W Doig, Gordon Highlanders, 30/12/1919, one of the names on the Memorial. The poor soul lingered on for more than a year after the war ended.