Old John Taylor's Grave - Leadhills Cemetery

Image: © Raibeart MacAoidh Taken: 11 Oct 2008

This grave in Leadhills Cemetery is that of John Taylor and his son Robert Taylor. John Taylor allegedly lived to the remarkable age of 137. He was born near Alston in Cumberland, but of his birth certificate there is no record. He spent most of his apparent 105 years working life in Scotland, first at a lead mine in Islay, before moving to oversee mines in Strontian, and came to work at Leadhills in 1732. The factors which have led to the calculation of his age is his supposed memory of a celebrated eclipse of the sun in 1652. This occurred on what was later called 'Mirk Monday' He described when he was about 15 years of age (which was the minimum age to work underground at that time) he had been called up from the depths of the mine to witness the day being turned into night and birds falling from the sky (The birds were probably diving down to roost, being fooled by the sudden darkness). Given these factors, it was worked out that when he died in 1770 he was 137. Locals marked his grave with a stone saying he was 137 years old - an apparent typographical error. Three years earlier, a paper submitted to the Society of Antiquaries in London reported that he was alive and well at the age of 130. People now believe that he was in fact actually a mere 133 and not 137.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0