Burial costs

[SK4SK]

Interested to find out roughly how much a parish burial would have cost in the early 1800s.   Presumably a pauper's burial would have been funded by the parish, but what about a regular burial?  Would it have cost a family considerably more than the hire of the parish mortcloth?
Thanks
Siroli

[epfedin]

Siroli

Do you have a particular parish that you are interested in ?  I've just looked at Cranshaws and Longformacus, adjacent parishes in Berwickshire and at the beginng of the 1800's, the hire of the mortcloth in both parishes was 5/- . The little mortcloth in Cranshaws was 2/6 and at Locherie, it was 1/6.  It would also depend on whether there were different mortcloths - maybe a plush or velvet could be hired.  Sometimes the minister or landowner would have a posher funeral. £1/1/0 was received for a ministers funeral.  There would also be different charges for the use of the little bell or the big bell, again depending on what the parish had.  Paupers would usually get the "mortcloth gratis" and sometimes, you might even see some ale or whisky being bought by the parish for the funeral. 

Best place to look is in the Old Parish Registers or you might get the accounts in the Kirk Session
minutes.

Elma