Watch House - Nether Graveyard, St Cyrus

sketchfab

In the early 19th century, medical researchers made tremendous strides in understanding the human body, but their progress was hindered by a dire shortage of cadavers for dissection. To address this issue, resurrectionists, also known as body snatchers, emerged to meet the demand. These clandestine operators would lie in wait for freshly buried bodies and then sneak into the graveyard under cover of darkness to exhume and pilfer the corpses, which were subsequently sold to medical institutions. This watch house was constructed to thwart the body snatchers' nocturnal activities, with local men patrolling the graveyard in pairs each night. The building's design featured an open window overlooking the graveyard and a chimney, allowing a fire to be lit to keep the guards warm during the colder months. Situated near the North Sea, this graveyard was notorious for being a landing spot for boats carrying medical students from Edinburgh or Aberdeen, who would disembark with the intention of stealing a fresh corpse. Despite its many flaws, this model is my first attempt at building it and has numerous holes, particularly in the rear section, which was inaccessible due to dense undergrowth.