Guns of Strathorone - 28th December

Thornton was one of those places I seemed to have somehow missed passing through on all my Fife travels thus far. I kept seeing its name one one of the many roundabouts hereabouts and of course I'd seen it umpteen times taking up two gridsquares on the Ordnance Survey map, but I'd never actually visited it.

That was about to change, so I went about devising a route extending west from the village, seeing as I'd visited most of the gridsquares immediately to its east. I have to say, looking at the map, my expectations were not too high. There were few contour lines, so no height and it seemed to be quite an industrial area. What's more there was not a single item in Old English font marked on the map. Still, I would bag a trigpoint and some extra gridsquares, so I set off on what turned out to be a rather bright winter's day with my usual accouterments and a curious mind.

I quickly found a parking space on the main street and headed westwards along Strathore Road, stopping to take my first photo of the library.

Thornton Library - NT2897

One small consolation of walking along this long, straight and boring road was that there were several benchmarks to look out for. At least there was a pavement to walk along, and I could stride out quickly. That's right, Becky, focus on the positives. I tend to walk quickly when I can on these investigative walks to make up for the inevitable time spent photographing, looking for benchmarks, birds etc.

My first benchmark was an obvious one, although I photographed it surreptitiously, it being on a private home.

Strathore Road cottages. The benchmark is on the cottage furthest away. NT2897

Benchmark on Strathore Road cottage. NT2897

For the length of this road I was assailed by barking dogs and, judging from the size and speed of their movements, I was glad to see them well fenced in. Although the cowardly part of me envisaged sufficient power in their hind legs to be able to easily scale the fence. after the first lot of barking dogs, I anticipated my next gridsquare and benchmark at West Strathore. I could see the benchmark and was just about to photograph it when I noticed a figure standing int he shadows staring at me. I quickly changed my plan and walked past the farm before taking a photograph.

West Strathore. NT2797

To the south I could see the disused railway line and wished I was walking along it. I wondered whether it would be possible. After my recent experience with disused railway lines, I was not keen to try another one. Once bitten, twice shy. Still, it would be more pleasant than walking along this road with its plethora of Keep Out signs and barking dogs.

I persevered along concrete, glad to find and quickly photograph the next benchmark.

Benchmark on Strathore Cottages. NT2797

Benchmark location, Strathore Cottages. NT2797

Another gridsquare and another benchmark. How exciting! This was the last before I was due to turn off and I looked eagerly for my turn off point. Would it be somewhere obvious and not marked private?

Another Strathore Road benchmark. NT2697

Stone post - location of benchmark. NT2697

If it hadn't been for my desire to visit the trigpoint, I would have jointed the disused railway line at this point. I continued along the Strathore Road for a few yards more than necessary in order to find yet another benchmark. This one was on a railway bridge, from where I could see that it would be possible to walk along the railway line. Another time (if there is one) I will do that instead.

Benchmark on Strathore Road railway bridge. NT2697

Strathore Road railway bridge. NT2697

There was a private sign on the turn off to Strathore House, but I ignored itI always assume such signs are meant for vehicles and not pedestrians. I was not accosted at any rate. The trigpoint is unmissable, quite a boring one really.

Strathore trigpoint. NT2697

Although I nipped briefly into NT2698, I could see I would be revisiting that gridsquare later on for much longer and potentially when not overlooked, so I continued into the next gridsquare. As you can see from the photos, it was very slippy underfoot and I lamented the fact I had not donned my slip on ice spikes, which make a great deal of difference when walking on ice.

Once past Strathore House, I paused to take a photograph of the gridsquare, although I would be in this one later on as well.

Track west from Strathore House. NT2598

At a T-junction I turned left and then right. I could see the railway line and again wished I could join it, but I couldn't see a way past the private house. I would just have to wait.

House near Skeddoway. NT2597

At the B922 I went down onto the railway tunnel and walked underneath the B road and continued along the railway track, looking for somewhere to eat my lunch.

Railway bridge over disused railway line. NT2497

Disused railway line near Kinglassie. NT2497

Disused railway line near Kinglassie. NT2498

I wanted to find somewhere to eat my lunch before reaching Kinglassie as I thought it might be more difficult then. I ended up sitting on the railway line and watching Bullfinches and other small birds flit around making the occasional alarm call.

I visited NT2498 very briefly before leaving the railway line at Kinglassie. This was another place I had seen signposted many times and I once corresponded with someone from this village, so I was more than a little curious to see it. I knew it was once a mining village, like so many places in east Fife.I walked past the erstwhile colliery and the row of mining cottages which were built for the miners and their families. Work on the pit began in 1908 and by 1955 over 760 men were employed there. The pit closed in 1966.

Today there seemed to be little to see here, although I did only skirt the eastern end of the village. I photographed the school and its benchmark as the square's requisite subject.

Kinglassie Primary School. NT2398

Kinglassie Primary School benchmark. NT2398

I turned right at the Mining Museum and joined the Pilgrim's Way, which was signposted to Markinch 8 miles away.

Kinglassie Mining Museum and Pilgrim's Way. NT2398

I was climbing steeply now (after saying there were no hills!) and was not making as much headway as the red-coated Greyhound to my right. It was speeding uphill in chase of a hare. Below, a woman with a huge bear-like brown dog was watching it. Why wasn't she calling it back? I stood with my heart in my mouth and watched, willing the hare to escape. There was another rabbit or hare further away too. Oh, how I hoped they would both escape. I can't be certain because both hare and dog disappeared into the vegetation, at which point, the hare was well ahead of the dog. The woman then found her voice and caller her dog to heel and it returned empty mouthed. I had ascended the hill without thinking much about it and opened the gate for the culprit to get out.  I know they're only doing what comes naturally to them, but I hate to see it. It's one of the reasons I would never own a dog.

I now spotted a lone tower in the distance, in another gridsquare. I checked the map. It was Blythe's Tower. I couldn't see a way to access it, but it would have to wait for another occasion. It was built in 1812 and was used as a lookout tower by the Home Guard in WWII. For now, I would satisfy myself with a distant photo of it and do further investigations before my next visit.

Blythe's Tower from NT2399

The footpath now led right between a fence and a wall towards Finmont farm. There were other people on the path ahead of me.

Footpath near Finmount Farm. NT2399

After passing the farm, I turned right at a T-junction and joined a minor road briefly before turning off towards Fife airport.

Sign for Fife Airport. NT2399

I wasn't sure if this was where my son had done his skydive for his 21st birthday several years ago. In any case, my mind turned to that event when mum was still with us and when my son had gone piggy back on a stranger's back for his first (and only) skydive; when he had sat in a 'classroom' with several other unmasked people and when my family had come together to witness this important event. None of that was possible now; it was another world away, a world that seemed strange, distant and alien. How quickly and thoroughly our new world and rules has enveloped us and completely altered our mindset, that I should balk at the thought of things which only a year ago had been completely normal. Balk and yet yearn for that strange world too. When would it return?

Pondering these rather morbid thoughts, I walked past Goatmilk Farm with its incongruous mnonkey puzzle tree and the diminutive Goatmilk hills in the background.

Goatmilk Farm. NT2499

There was supposed to be a benchmark at the entrance to Fife Airport, but I didn't spend long looking for it as there was a car parked there with the driver inside. I always feel a little self-conscious looking for benchmarks in public, so I gave the area a quick, futile glance and continued on my way.

My eye is always drawn to ruins and East Goatmilk looked like it might be worth a further explore, if I could get there that was.

East Goatmilk. NT2499

Shortly after this my letters changed from NT to NO - always an exciting moment. I was only in the gridsquare briefly and guessed there was a golf course coming up as there had been a sign warning drivers to slow down. Sure enough, two golfers crossed the road ahead of me. I nipped across simply to photograph the best view of the golf course - always difficult!

Glenrothes Golf Course. NO2400

I now came across my 6th benchmark of the day and one I was not expecting to see. It was on a milestone and I can only think that I had omitted this gridsquare in my preparations for the walk, perhaps because I wouldn't be in it for very long.

Milestone near Glenrothes Golf Course. NO2500

I was glad to see that there was a path running south by the side of the golf course. I joined this path and walked south for what was the most boring part of the walk - into an industrial estate. At least there was a benchmark here, I thought to myself as I nipped round a corner to search for it. the sight was disgusting. Here beside the busy B921 was a very popular fly tipping site; an alarm went off at my approach, so I quickly retreated, forgetting about the benchmark - nothing is worth that. Feeling very flat and finding it hard to muster any enthusiasm for the rest of the walk, I plodded along an icy pavement through the Industrial Estate.

Whitehill Industrial Estate. NT2599

I was back in NT territory and couldn't wait to get out. Just as I was beginning to think I was going to have to retrace my steps back through the Industrial estate, a cycle route appeared. I've never been more happy to see one. I emerged onto the busy dual carriageway and initially wondered how I would get across. Moreover, how was I going to continue my walk? The route I had drawn went through Home Farm directly opposite, but there didn't appear to be a right of way there. Like it or not, I was going to have to escape somehow.

A break in the traffic allowed me to cross the road and I plucked up courage to go into Home Farm entrance and quickly turn left onto what I hoped was a public right of way.

Track south from Home Farm. NT2598

Anyone who is still with me might be wondering why I have entitled my post as the Guns of Strathorone and the reason is about to become clear. For most of the duration of the walk there had been the sound of occasional gunshot. It was now constant ad accompanied me until the end of my walk. There are few things I abhor more. Culling pheasants to keep the numbers down and grain safe is one thing, but breeding gamebirds to shoot is quite another and it is commonplace throughout the UK. Claypigeon shooting is simply a way of practising this 'sport' and it is noisy and potentially dangerous.I rarely walk these days without hearing the sound of gunshot piercing the air. Mostly I can filter it out but today it was impossible; the longest period without a shot that I counted for the final two hours of my walk was 30 seconds. For that reason alone I would not recommend this walk to anyone.

Which is a shame, because I was now coming to the nicest part. I approached Lochty Burn and Strathore Woods  and looked for somewhere to sit with my final cup of tea.

Strathore Woods. NT2598

Lochty Burn. NT2598

This is where the nicest thing of the day happened. As I sat quietly watching the tranquil waters of the burn flow past, a tiny high-pitched sound vied with the sound of the gunshot. It was a Goldcrest, oblivious to my presence and I managed to photograph it as it flitted about in the bush next to me.

Goldcrest by Lochty burn. NT2598

I continued along the banks of Lochty Burn, opposite Strathore House, from whence it sounded like the shooting was coming, and soon happened upon quite a serious obstacle. The bridge had given way leaving no way of crossing the burn. It doesn't appear very wide on the photograph, but it was wider and more difficult than it looked. Bravely I proceeded to jump across.

Where I had to jump across the burn. NT2698

Gradually I came upon other walkers, the first I had encountered during the day. There were several footpaths to choose, but I stuck to the one I had marked out until I came to Stenton Pond, which was without doubt my favourite part of the walk - and where I added several new species to my embarrasing bird list.

Stenton Pond. NT2798

Herring Gulls and Moorhen on frozen Stenton Pond. NT2798

Moorhen on frozen Stenton Pond. NT2798

I crossed a footbridge across the pond and entered my final gridsquare of the day. I was glad I'd done the walk this way round and left the best till last.

Stenton Pond. NT2898

Several Bullfinches  came to say hello as I passed through the final bit of woodland before hitting urbanisation again. I love Bullfinches and I had seen so many this autumn/winter. They form flocks for safety during the cold months before pairing off in the spring, when they defend their territories like all other birds.

Bullfinch near Stenton Pond. NT2898

I had one more benchmark to look out for as I strode the streets of Thornton back to my car. It was on the church.

Thornton Church benchmark. NT2897

Thornton Church. NT2897    

Only now was the sound of gunshot silent. My expectations had been met for this walk, although there were some saving graces. Still, I won't rush back for this one.

Number of new gridsquares: 16

Number of miles walked: 11.6

Number of benchmarks: 7

Number of trigpoints: 1

Walk worth repeating: No,but I have since heard about two historic hospitals near my route, which I would like to visit and I'd like to explore the Goatmilk hills some more.

Highlights: Goatmilk Hills, Stenton Pond, Goldcrest, Bullfinches.

Unexpected Benches - Kilmany Circular - 22nd December 2020

Today's walk was inspired by my friend, Margaret, who had asked if I had walked any of the Kilmany disused railway and I had had to confess I hadn't even heard of it. This felt strange; I was becoming familiar with swathes of the Fife countryside, if not literally, by dint of perusing the Ordnance Survey map for hours on end. So how had this part escaped my attention thus far?

Of course, her enquiry led to my using the search function on my Memory Map and then to devising a route along the old railway line (Newburgh and North Fife (NNF) Railway Line). The Fife Free Press had this to say about the opening of the new railway line:

The Newburgh and North Fife Railway, which is to be opened on Monday [25 January 1909] for public service, is about 13¼ miles in length and was built at a cost of about £240,000. The new railway, besides being expected to aid in the development of an important agricultural district, gives the North British a through route between the districts to the north and west of Perth and Dundee and the Forfarshire coasts. There are three stations, at Kilmanie, Luthrie and Lindores, which have been designed with specially long platforms for the accommodation of the summer excursion traffic. (Fife Free Press 23rd January 1909)

It was with an elevated air of expectancy that I found my way to Kilmany and squeezed into a parking place in this tiny, hidden village. After the usual ceremony of donning boots, etc, I decided I would pay Jim Clark a visit. I had a notion he was a racing driver and there my knowledge on the subject ended, but he was worthy of a memorial and a beautiful one at that.

Life-size Jim Clark memorial, Kilmany, NO3821

Clark was born at Kilmany House Farm on 4th March 1936 and became one of the greatest ever Formula One drivers. He died tragically in a racing accident at Hockenheimring, Germany, where the cause of death was thought to be a deflating rear tyre. He was held in such esteem that it was thought impossible that one of such calibre could be capable of a fatal driving error. He is buried in Chirnside, in the Borders, where his family had moved to in 1942.

The Jim Clark memorial is placed next to the attractive Motray Water which runs through the village of his birth. 

Bridge over Motray Water, Kilmany, NO3821

I crossed the bridge and headed west on the disused railway line. Just as I crossed into the next gridsquare, there is a break in the railway line, forcing me to go up onto the A92, which I crossed and then rejoined the railway line.

Disused NNF railway line, Kilmany. NO3821

Tunnel under the A92 on the Newburgh/North Fife Railway Line. NO3721

 I continued along the railway line until I reached the minor road and a former bridge.

Former railway bridge near Kilmany - NO3721

I had to climb over the gate you can see in the photo to rejoin the railway line. Without realising it, I was now following the lower contour of North Hill and heading in a south-west direction.

Dismantled NNF railway line west of Kilmany- NO3721

As I approached the road north of Rathillet I could see across to Stirton, where I would be in a few hours' time. All I had to do now was turn right instead of left and I would miss out a good third of my walk. Sometimes I am tempted by such thoughts, but not today, not on this glorious wintry day.

Stirton from the south. NO3621

Just before reaching the road, I crossed a former bridge over the Motray Water and looked down onto the burn in the hope of seeing a Kingfisher fly past. It was a day for shimmering things and a Kingfisher's electric blue would have fitted nicely into such a day. Sadly, it did not materialise, but there was plenty of other bird activity around me, flocks of tits and finches and the occasional angry wren.

Bridge over Motray Water. Intriguingly called No. 10. NO3621

Once over the bridge I couldn't seem to find a way to stay on the railway line, so descended to the aforementioned road and headed south towards Rathillet. Thus ended my travels along the North Fife/Newburgh Railway Line for the day. The rest of my walk would be through fields and woodland and along roads.

Road to Rathillet. NO3521

Ahead I could see the junction where I would turn right towards Newburgh. There was another bridge over the Motray Water here.

Bridge over Motray Water at T-junction near Rathillet. NO3520

That was my brief sojourn in NO3520. I had visited this gridsquare several years ago, before my quest began, when a different quest was under way - that of visiting places associated with the Covenanters. This was to see the birthplace of David Hackston's of Rathillet at, you guessed it, Rathillet. He was one of the Covenanters responsible for the murder of Archbishop Sharp's murder - but, seeing as I did not actually go there today, that story will have to save for another day!

Today, I turned right onto a slightly more major minor road where I returned to NO3521 (the most dipped in and out of square of the day) and daringly turned onto the driveway of Montquhanie House. There were no off putting private signs, but I still felt very conspicuous as I wandered along the broad driveway towards the grand country house.

Sign and entrance for Montquhanie House. NO3521

Drive to Montquhanie House. NO3521

But then I saw a welcome bench, plonked by the side of the road. No why would there be such a bench if not to rest the weary legs of intrepid hikers? I asked myself as I gladly dropped my heavy rucksack onto the bench, sat down and got out my flask.

Bench on driveway to Montquhanie House. NO3521

No, I know what you're thinking. This is when a car pulls up and ask you what the **%$* you think you're doing on their land? Right? Wrong. I was troubled by no-one and nothing other than a slightly guilty conscience about the possibility I shouldn't be there. But I pushed these thoughts away whilst I sipped my tea and drank in the fresh, invigorating winter air.

I continued on my way, checking my map every 5 seconds to make sure there was no alternative route as I got closer and closer to the imposing house with about five cars parked outside and my chosen route going directly in front of the house. My slightly dented confidence now became too dented to continue. I just couldn't do it, despite this looking like the most interesting part of the walk. I would have to head back and find a secret way through the woods. My only consolation was that I wasn't going to miss out on any gridsquares in doing so.

Once back on the road to Cupar, I breathed a sigh of relief and walked nonchalantly along the road to the farm, where I paused to take a photo for the gridsquare.

Mountquhanie Farm - NO3421

It was now that I began to realise what a great gridsquare this was - and I'd missed half of it, through fear, justified or otherwise. The farm building was, after all, attractive in itself with its red windows and door and opposite on a concrete gatepost was my first benchmark of the day.

Benchmark on gatepost, Mountquhanie. NO3421

As if this wasn't enough excitement for one gridsquare, there was more to come - in the form of Mountquhanie Castle. Now this really is something I need to investigate further. Is it possible to access this ruinous castle, I wonder?

Canmore has this to say about this fascinating historic dwelling place and its associated buildings.

The ruin of this 16th century fortified house comprises an oblong tower-house, formerly of three storeys. There is a courtyard to the west, open to the north and walled to the south. There are two-storey buildings on the west side of the courtyard, the corner tower of which has a conical roof. The courtyard buildings are now occupied as a house known as Feather Cottage.

The castle was deliberately ruined after the completion of Mountquhanie (or Mountquhannie) House in the 1830s. A small single-storey 'Gothic' laundry was constructed to the east of the tower-house. Feather Cottage was used for estate workers' housing and the upper portion of the circular tower was converted to a dovecote. The vaulted ground-floor chambers were converted to an estate slaughterhouse and butcher shop. The slaughterhouse occupied the east chamber and had a large tree trunk built into the walls to support it just under the vault. This was used to hoist the carcases during the slaughtering process. The west chamber contained the butcher shop and two of the blocked window recesses were converted to smoke kilns for the curing of meat.

The cattle were driven from Balquhidder to Mountquhanie each Martinmas and a butcher was brought from Cupar to slaughter the animals and cure the meat This practice continued into the fIrst half of this century when the slaughterhouse was abandoned.

There is also a small domestic icehouse a little to the west of the farm buildings.

To complete the romantic image the ruin was planted with ivy. Its position on the brow of a hill helped to achieve its utilitarian function of disguising these estate buildings and screening the farmstead from the mansion house.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).

Who wouldn't want to go and explore some more with an ice house, a feather house, a slaughter house, a doocot as well as a castle? All I saw on this occasion were the ruins of the castle, although, having seen a similar looking doocot at Lundin, I wondered whether the small building in front of the Castle was the doocot.

Mountquhanie Castle. NO3421

The excitement of that gridsquare was now all over, however; it became quite dull after that. I walked westwards and then northwards along the minor road to Hazelton, just dipping into NO3321.

Road to Hazelton NO3321

I was only in the next gridsquare briefly too. and photographed the crossroads, where I turned right.

Crossroads at Hazelton. NO3322

I was now heading north-east and starting to think about lunch. There were excellent views to the River Tay from here, which took me a bit by surprise as I'd forgotten I was this far north in the county. 

River Tay from Corbiehill. NO3322

I realised I was approaching Tay Mount trigpoint and hoped it would be easy to access. You never know with trigpoints; they are often in farmers' fields with stock and I usually ask permission if this is the case.

I had no problem on this occasion, thankfully. There was even a path straight up to the trigpoint, which is situated next to pines on Tay Mount Hill at 189 metres.

Pines on Tay Mount Hill. NO3422

Tay Mount trigpoint. NO3422

And this is where my second unexpected bench came in. There amongst the pines, was a small enclosure with a memorial to a loved one, a Christmas wreath, and a bench. I hoped whoever put it there didn't mind my using the bench to eat my lunch.

Tay Mount bench. NO3422

I was also pleased to discover that the descent was easy too. There is no path marked on the map between the trigpoint and the start (or end) of the path to Stirton, which I'm always worried about, even if it is only a matter of a 100 yards or so., Those 100 yards have proved to be horrendous on past occasions. Not so today, however, and I skipped down the hill, through another gridsquare in glorious sunshine, to the start of the track.

Descending Tay Mount. NO3522

From here I could see North Hill, which I had walked round earlier in the day and took the opportunity to photograph it with a bricked in bath tub - not something you see everyday when you're out and about. On a nice summer's day I imagined this would be a lovely place to sit in the bathtub, but you might get some funny looks!

Bath tub and North Hill with Stirton in centre of photograph. NO3521

I had been in this gridsquare earlier, just before my escape from Mountquhanie and was now approaching the place where I would have ended up if I'd been tempted to cut my walk very short a few hours before.

Track to Stirton from the west with North Hill and Darklaw Hill in the background. NO3521

At Stirton Mill, I turned left and northwards to Grange, where I strode off to the north-east, initially taking a wrong turn by heading mistakenly straight for Fincraigs. Fortunately I realised my mistake almost instantly through my obsessive habit of checking the map every five seconds.

Stirton Mill. NO3521

Grange. NO3622

Shambleton Rocks from Grange. NO3622

I was quite excited about Shambleton Rocks. I thiknk it was the name that did it; it reminded me of one of my all-time heros, the great Antarctic explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton. And maybe too, I rather like to word shambles, so I wondered what I might discover here.

Firstly though, I had another gridsquare to conquer, NO3623, not quite as difficult as Shackleton's conquest, admittedly, but this was my furthest north today and I did have to avoid some distant cattle. At the road, I turned left and hoped my next footpath would prove to be as easy as most I had encountered today. I'm glad to say, it did!

Road near Fincraigs. NO3623

I was surprised to discover a small pond at Fincraigs as it is not marked on my 2004 map. Unfortunately, there was no bird life here to see or hear.

Pond at Fincraigs. NO3623

Soon I was bathed in wintry light in Shambleton Woods with the glow of autumn embracing me.

Shambleton Woods. NO3722

This was a lovely part of the walk, although it was neither a shambles nor reminiscent of Shackleton! I wandered into the next gridsquare, breathing in the glorious wintry air.

Shambleton Woods. NO3822

When I reached the next gridsquare, I kept my eyes open for anything that might look like an important tree, for there is apparently a tree named Sir Walter Scott's tree here. Now, it was difficult to tell which one it might be. Apparently it is a Plane Tree in Ghoul's Den and 'was pointed out to each successive Forester by the Proprietor, for its Protection. The tradition is that "Sir Walter Scott when he paid a visit to the den or glen, struck this tree with a small mallet, pronouncing at the same time the words, "This is my tree." (OS Name Book 43, 21 [265])

I couldn't seen any likely candidates as I assumed Sir Walter Scott would have chosen a biggish tree and I couldn't see one that looked remotely big enough or old enough. Then I realised I was in the wrong den - it was the next one east, Ghoul's Den (a good name, I thought). Oh, well, that would have to wait for another time.

Ghoul's Den from track to Kilmany. NO3822

I was now on the homeward stretch and had completed all my gridsquares. I was still keen to look round the churchyard though and was glad there was enough light to do so.

Kilmany Church benchmark, only my second of the day. NO3821

Kilmany Church. NO3821

There were some old graves here, but nowhere to sit with my last cup of tea of the day, so I left the graveyard in peace and wished the village a Merry Christmas. It had been a wonderful walk of unexpected benches, history and sunlight.

Old grave, Kilmany Churchyard. NO3821

Christmas letterbox, Kilmany. NO3821

Number of miles walked: 10.3

Number of new gridsquares: 13

Number of trigpoints: 1

Number of benchmarks: 2

Walk worth repeating: yes, especially if can find way of getting to Mountquhanie Castle and finding Sir Walter Scott's tree.

Highlights: Mountquhanie Castle, Tay Mount, Shambleton Woods, Kilmany Churchyard