St. Michael's Church
The church site predates the Reformation and originally belonged to the
Abbey of Dunfermline. From 1560 it came under the Presbytery of
Edinburgh but in 1591 transferred permanently to the control of the Presbytery of
Dalkeith. The village is dominated by St. Michael's church that stands at its west end on the summit of a hill overlooking
Musselburgh. Its graveyard/cemetery stretches westwards for almost 300m and is split into separate walled sections (marking its various stages of extension) which can be broadly bracketed as original (mainly 18th century), a late Victorian extension, an Edwardian/ early 20th century extension to the north, and a modern section to the far west. The current church is by Robert Nisbet and dates to 1805 and has a stone spire of
Wren-influence.
Noteworthy graves in St Michael's churchyard The graveyard has a number of notable graves: •
Edwin Alexander RSA RSW (1870–1926) artist, son of the artist
Robert Alexander •
William Lindsay Alexander FRSE (1808–1884) theologian •
John Brunton (manufacturer) (1837–1917) specialist wire-maker whose family financed the
Brunton Theatre • A white-painted, cast-iron sculpture of a coffin draped in military regalia, atop a full-sized cannon and cannon-balls, just south of the church marking the grave of Major William Norman Ramsay of Waterloo fame (see separate article
Order of battle of the Waterloo Campaign) • A monument to 7 fishermen from
Fisherrow of the fishing-boat "Alice" from
Boddam, Aberdeenshire, lost in the storm of 14 October 1881 (generally referred to as the
Eyemouth Disaster). • Very Rev
Alexander Carlyle (1722–1805) • Curious cubic gravestones to Admiral Archibald Cochran (d.1843) and his son Admiral Thomas Cochran (d.1888) • John Cran, shipbuilder (1849–1940) •
Sir Charles Dalrymple, 1st Baronet •
Mark Dalrymple, 3rd Baronet (1915–1971) •
Sir Charles Dalrymple Fergusson, 5th Baronet • The Buller-Elphinstone tomb:
William Elphinstone, 15th Lord Elphinstone,
Sidney Elphinstone, 16th Lord Elphinstone (a sarcophagus-style monument at the east end of the Victorian section) •
James Greenlees (1870–1951) rugby player and scholar, headmaster of
Loretto College 1926-41 (a stone on the west wall of the Victorian section) • A large monument to several of
Hope Baronets of Craighall (against the far east wall), including
Sir Archibald Hope, 9th Baronet • Major General Sir
Patrick Lindesay (1778–1839), military hero, Acting Governor of
New South Wales in 1831 (stone fully obscured by yew trees) •
John Grieve: John Grieve was awarded the
Victoria Cross for his bravery at the
Battle of Balaclava in the
Crimean War. •
Admiral Sir David Milne 1763–1845, his son
Admiral Sir Alexander Milne 1806-1896 and his geologist son
David Milne-Home 1805-1890 •
Willie Park Jr. 1864-1925, famed golfer and two-time
Open champion, as well as his father
Willie Park Sr. 1833-1903, himself a four-time and the
inaugural Open champion. Also buried in the cemetery is Park Jr.'s longtime caddie, John "Fiery" Carey •
David Rae, Lord Eskgrove (1724–1804) (on the outer south-west corner of the church) •
Sir William Rae, 3rd Baronet (1769–1842) son of the above, buried with his father • Pte Alexander Sinclair (1896–1915), a survivor of the
Quintinshill rail disaster near
Gretna Green, the worst rail disaster in British history, killed at
Gallipoli a few months later • Major Robert Vernor (d.1827) wounded whilst a Captain of the
Scots Greys at the
Battle of Waterloo •
Alexander Handyside Ritchie sculptor (1804–1870) • The Wedderburn tomb:
Sir David Wedderburn, 1st Baronet (1775–1858), Sir John Wedderburn, 2nd Baronet,
Sir David Wedderburn, 3rd Baronet (1835–1882) ==Other notable persons linked to Inveresk==