Historic grave tidied by Caithness Countryside Volunteers

The Caithness Countryside Volunteers recently turned out in force on Sunday 30 October, tools in hand to tackle the overgrown and wild path to General Patrick Sinclair’s Grave, Lybster.

The Sinclairs of Lybster have a long history, going back to the Sinclair Earls who ruled Caithness, and played a significant role in the once booming herring fishing village of Lybster.

The volunteers had the arduous task of cutting back two years of gorse bushes and vegetation in order to find the old path way and re-establish it for others to use.  The last time the path and grave were cleared was in May 2009.

The grave is accessed via a small wooden bridge over a ditch which was previously buried in overgrown gorse and trees. This was found and now provides an easy and accessible path to the grave for all to enjoy.

Jennifer Morpeth, Highland Council’s Seasonal Countryside Ranger for North and North East Caithness said: “In the words of Sinclair himself "Persistence Wears Down Resistance" the volunteers certainly wore down the years of resistance from the spikey gorse bushes and overcrowding vegetation with their persistence.”

The Caithness Countryside Volunteers work together with Highland Council’s Countryside Rangers, who are part of the Council’s Planning and Development Service.