Jonathan: Last summer – before starting work here in England – I worked with a small team of volunteers doing a very detailed survey of the huge Hallan cemetery near Daliburgh.

With the help of Sandy (chief instigator of the project) I surveyed the position of all graves – with headstones and without – together with boundary walls, roads, buildings etc.

That formed the framework of a database of all the graves and their occupants going back many generations.  Believe it or not, this information was until now stored mostly in the heads of successive sextons.  That reflects the importance to the gaels of kinship, and is what lies behind the question ‘Co as thu’ – literally where are you from, but really meaning from what family (and thus place) are you descended?

The database is now complete and is accessible on-line at http://www.hallancemeterysouthuist.co.uk

Photo shows Jonathan with a Topcon 210 at Hallan Cemetery in July 2009. Cille Pheadair in the middle distance, and Eisebhal beyond.  Sandy was holding the camera perfectly horizontal: The lean to the left is due to prevailing westerly winds.