It’s revealed in the information accompanying Ancestry’s new collection, Edinburgh, Scotland, Mortcloth Records for St Cuthbert Burial Grounds, 1780-1854.
A mortcloth was a ceremonial cloth that people would rent and drape over a coffin at a funeral.
Information (that may be) available in these records is: Name, Age, Death date, Burial date, Purchase date, Name of spouse, Names of parents. There an abstract and link to the original register image.
I didn’t anticipate finding any of my relatives among the 81,407 records in the collection. There are 293 Reid entries. From the image, you can learn the burial location’s quadrant and section, the diseases the person may have had, and the amount paid by the family. However, a large part of the register is financial, showing the cost of various services rendered, like grave digging. The mortcloth was often the major cost.
Mortcloth records appear particularly in Scotland. https://yourscottisharchives.com/mortcloths
Sounds like a fascinating collection. Alas, I have no Edinburgh ancestors and I don’t believe my husband does either (his are all on the border). It might come in handy for me at work.
Mortcloths were, to my understanding, used by families who were impecunious and had no coffin or cloth to use for burial service in Scotland. The Presbyterian Church used to ‘rent’ a mortcloth for service. It was not to be interred with the deceased, but rather used again and again, since it was usually an expensive fabric.