Lychgates or corpse gates are relatively unseen in a Scottish church. It's thought that Cromwell's influence at the time of building may have caused this to be erected here. This a really good example of a mortsafe in a corpse gate in Ayr

On each side of the corpse gate you can see a large black ironwork structure. This is a mortsafe, which was extremely common in Scotland. Early 19th century Scotland was plagued with body snatchers. Medical science was moving on at such a pace that universities could no longer keep up with the need for bodies to dissect. Scottish law required that corpses used for medical research should only come from those who had died in prison, suicide victims, or from foundlings and orphans. The shortage of corpses led to an increase in body snatching by what were known as "resurrection men". Measures to ensure graves were left undisturbed, such as the use of mortsafes exacerbated the shortage. This gave rise to the terrible trade of body snatching whereby newly buried bodies would be dug up and sold to the universities.

In this very graveyard, relatives of the newly deceased would take it in turns to watch the graves. This could be done for weeks after the burial until the body was too badly decayed to be of use.

If you couldn't afford that, you could use a mortsafe like the one hanging on the wall shown in the photo. This heavy cast iron frame was clamped around the coffin before burial, thus preventing the body snatchers from opening the coffin. As the weeks passed and the body became decayed, the coffin was dug up and the mortsafe removed ready to be used again.

The Ayr mortsafe, pictured dates from 1816. How gruesome is all this?