LOCKERBIE

 Also in the area of Eskdale, is the small town of Lockerbie. Do you remember when you first heard of it?

Pan Am Flight 103 was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by Clipper Maid of the Seas, a Boeing 747-121 registered N739PA. 

Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, while the aircraft was in flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, it was destroyed by a bomb that had been planted on board, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing.  Large sections of the aircraft crashed in a residential street in Lockerbie, killing 11 residents. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom, as well as its deadliest aviation disaster.

The parish cemetery lies just outside the town, and now, in a quiet area away from the road, stands the memorial to the lost lives of the disaster. The names of those lost are engraved on the memorial, which is entirely non-denominational, and there are plaques all round the surrounding wall, which explain how many people of each religious denomination died.  Although primarily a Christian burial ground, the cemetery is open to people of all religions and none.

The gatekeepers cottage, is now a small museum explaining all the local history, not just that of the disaster.