Out of Doors

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Factual: Science & Nature

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Out of Doors: Coffin Roads, Apple Harvests and an Intertidal Grave

Coffin Roads, Apple Harvests and an Intertidal Grave

BBC Radio Scotland - Out of Doors, Coffin Roads, Apple Harvests and an Intertidal Grave

Mark Stephen and Rachel Stewart with stories from the great outdoors.

Mark creeps down beneath the streets of Edinburgh to the Real Mary King’s Close, to learn about the dark past of this submerged street with Guest Experience Manager  Katie Scott, and tour guide Raffy.

Rachel visits the intertidal grave of Lilias Adie, the only known grave of a woman accused of witchcraft in Scotland. She meets with Fife Council Archaeologist Douglas Speirs, who embarked on a successful quest to locate the grave. 

Jenny Johnstone and Annie McDonald are the brains behind the Stories of Scotland podcast. They meet Mark on the sand dunes, to share one of the folkloric tales of Culbin Sands. 

Mark and Rachel head to St Andrews to meet with Author, Ian Bradley, who has written a book about Scotland’s abandoned Coffin Roads. He shares some of the superstitions and rituals that were once acknowledged when burying loved ones.

Meeting at the heart of the Old Town Cemetery in Stirling, Mark hears how the graveyard landscape influenced Peter Ross as a child. Author of A Tomb With a View, Peter grew up reading headstones. In fact, it is how he learned to read.

Rachel bobs for information about this year's Apple Harvest, meeting with Roger Howison of Parkhill Farm near Fife. She learns how Roger juggles his orchard with his crops, and why this year was a bit of a bumper for apples. 

Heading to the Castlegate in Aberdeen, Rachel talks witches with author and Professor Bill Naphy, chair in History, Divinity, Philosophy and Art History, at the University of Aberdeen. 

For a paranormal end to an abnormal broadcast, Mark heads away to Culross Palace, for a chat with Linda Whiteford. She’s been keeping tabs on all the strange goings on in the town, which, with its white harled houses and red-tiled roofs, remains the most complete example of a 17th and 18th Century burgh.

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