Glasgow Necropolis


The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery in Glasgow, Scotland. It is on a low but very prominent hill to the east of Glasgow Cathedral in an area bordered by the Townhead and Dennistoun districts to the north east of the modern city centre. Fifty thousand individuals have been buried here. Typical for the period, only a small percentage are named on monuments and not every grave has a stone. Approximately 3,500 monuments exist here.
WWW glasgownecropolis.org

Background

Following the creation of Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris a wave of pressure began for cemeteries in Britain. This required a change in the law to allow burial for profit. Previously the parish church held responsibility for burying the dead but there was a growing need for an alternative. Glasgow was one of the first to join this campaign, having a growing population, with fewer and fewer attending church. Led by Lord Provost James Ewing of Strathleven, the planning of the cemetery was started by the Merchants' House of Glasgow in 1831, in anticipation of a change in the law. The Cemeteries Act was passed in 1832 and Glasgow Necropolis officially opened in April 1833. Just before this, in September 1832, a Jewish burial ground had been established in the north-west section of the land. This small area was declared "full" in 1851.

History

Pre-dating the cemetery, the statue of John Knox sitting on a column at the top of the hill, dates from 1825.
The first burials were in 1832 in the extreme north-east on the lowest ground and were exclusively for Jewish burials.
Alexander Thomson designed a number of its tombs, and John Bryce and David Hamilton designed other architecture for the grounds.
The main entrance is approached by a bridge over what was then the Molendinar Burn. The bridge, which was designed by David Hamilton was completed in 1836. It became known as the "Bridge of Sighs" because it was part of the route of funeral processions. The ornate gates were erected in 1838, restricting access onto the bridge.
Three modern memorials lie between the gates and the bridge: a memorial to still-born children; a memorial to the Korean War; and a memorial to Glaswegian recipients of the Victoria Cross.
Across the bridge the original scheme was to enter the area via a tunnel but this proved unviable. The ornate entrance of 1836 remains.
The cemetery, as most early Victorian cemeteries, is laid out as an informal park, lacking the formal grid layouts of later cemeteries. This layout is further enhanced by the complex topography. The cemetery's paths meander uphill towards the summit, where many of the larger monuments stand, clustered around the John Knox Monument.
The Glasgow Necropolis was described by James Stevens Curl as "literally a city of the dead". Glasgow native Billy Connolly has said: "Glasgow's a bit like Nashville, Tennessee: it doesn't care much for the living, but it really looks after the dead."

Volunteers

The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis is a charity whose aim is to maintain and restore the site. It was founded in 2005., it has 140 volunteer members and has raised over £100,000 to support its goals. The organisation also runs private tours for visitors to the necropolis.

Proposed eastern entrance

In 2025, Glasgow City Council proposed a new eastern pedestrian entrance into the Glasgow Necropolis from Firpark Street as part of the "Learning Quarter" regeneration plans. The entrance was intended to improve access for residents in Dennistoun and surrounding east-end neighbourhoods.
Local community groups, including Dennistoun Community Council, supported the proposal. The GCC organised drop-in events to review the design and highlighted the potential benefits of improved pedestrian access and connections to local streets and facilities.
Local councillors also backed the plan, noting that it would give east-end residents better access to the Necropolis and create a convenient pedestrian route connecting the Bridge of Sighs to the Cathedral precinct and city centre.
Commentary in the Herald Scotland described the move as reflecting a shift toward greater public access and community integration, noting that most residents welcomed the proposal.
While the proposal reflects broad local support for improved accessibility and community benefit, Friends of Glasgow Necropolis publicly opposed the entrance. In an open letter to GCC, FoGN warned it could be "detrimental in the long term to the heritage of the cemetery," citing risks of vandalism and antisocial behaviour. The letter does not provide any evidence or data to support these claims.

Notable statues and sculptures

Tomb/mausoleumStatue/sculptureDesigner/artistYear
Memorial column on summit of the hillMonument to John KnoxDoric column by Thomas Hamilton and statue by William Warren 1825
Tomb of Mrs LockhartSculptureWilliam Mossman1842
Mausoleum of Major Archibald Douglas MonteathLarge tiered octagonal building of neo-Norman designDavid Cousin1842
Tomb of William MotherwellMarble bustJames Fillans1851
Tomb of actor-manager John Henry Alexander of the Theatre RoyalScene representing stage and proscenium arch with flanking figures of "Tragedy" and "Comedy" James Hamilton, sculpted by Alexander Handyside Ritchie1851
Houldsworth MausoleumFlanking angels and "Hope" and "Charity", with "Faith" visible inside the mausoleumJohn Thomas1854
Tomb of Charles TennantSeated marble figure of Charles Tennant of St RolloxPatric Park1838
Tomb of Walter Macfarlane, of the Saracen FoundryArt-nouveau portrait panelBertram Mackennal of London1896
Blackie publishing family tombTomb slabTalwin Morris 1910
Monument to William McGavinStatue by Robert ForrestJohn Bryce1834
Andrew McCallCeltic cross to Andrew McCallCharles Rennie Mackintosh1888
Monument to Peter LawrenceStatue of Life with a dashed torchWilliam Mossman1840
Tomb to Mrs Margaret MontgomerieStatues of "Hope" and "Resignation"J G & W Mossman1856

Lords Provosts in the Necropolis

Other burials of note

War graves

Glasgow Necropolis holds graves of 19 Commonwealth service personnel, 15 from World War I and 4 from World War II, that are registered and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The first, and highest ranking, of those buried here is Lieutenant-General Sir James Moncrieff Grierson, who died in August 1914 in France and whose body was repatriated. His grave is in section Primus 38.

Jewish section

As Jewish people were not allowed to be interred within Christian burial grounds, a small area outwith the boundary of the main cathedral graveyard was allocated to them. The ground contains 57 burials.
Jewish burials took place here from 1832 to 1855, after which they were in the Eastern Necropolis.
The cemetery is now part of the expanded Necropolis and due to its low location its significance is often unrecognised.
The Jewish cemetery was restored in 2015.

Women of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary

Within the Glasgow Necropolis there are three monuments to 16 nurses and domestic staff from the Glasgow Royal Infirmary who are buried in the cemetery. These burials appear to have been arranged and funded by the hospital and are mostly for staff whose families did not live near Glasgow, such as Aberdeenshire, the Hebrides and Ireland. On the oldest headstone the staff died between 1872 and 1887. Five of them listed on this headstone were in their twenties with one older.

Other memorials