A Date with the Dead at the Glasgow Necropolis

Of all the things to do in Glasgow, the Glasgow Necropolis was my favorite attraction, hands down. They call it the “City of the Dead” and it really is like a city unto itself. The inhabitants just happen to be–well–deceased.

Located in the heart of the city, the Glasgow Necropolis has flourished high above the cityscape without subjecting itself to its urban environs. Established first in the 17th century as a park and then in the early 1830s as a cemetery, the land now known as the Glasgow Necropolis has preserved centuries of Glaswegian history.

Visible beyond the Glasgow Cathedral and past a memorial to Glaswegian recipients of the Victoria Cross for Valour, most people approach the Necropolis from its western gate, walking down a cobblestoned walkway lined with rose bushes; to see the tombs themselves, visitors must make the same trek as mourners did when burying their dead, crossing the aptly nicknamed “Bridge of Sighs.”

At the end of the bridge at the entrance to the Necropolis is an ornate terracotta monument in honor of the installation of the bridge by the Merchants’ House of Glasgow as a “proper entrance to their new cemetery.”

You can take a free walking tour with the Friends of the Glasgow Necropolis. In retrospect I wish I had but I was perfectly content at the time to roam among the dead on my own. The footpath to the top of the hill on which the Necropolis is perched is lined with rows of granite, stone, and terracotta tombstones in varying sizes and degrees of decay, adding to the Necropolis’s charm.

One of the famous Glaswegians I met: William Miller, author of the Scottish nursery rhyme “Wee Willie Winkie.”

As you continue following the foot paths upward, the noise of the streets below falls away until you almost feel like you’re at a country retreat.

The walk to the top is neither long nor steep; if you’re in decent shape, you have little to worry about. However, take care on some of the old and mossy steps leading to the top. Eventually, your ascent lands you atop a grassy knoll with some of the largest and most ornate tombs and monuments in the Necropolis rising out of the ground as naturally as if they’d sprung from the soil.

Looking westward provides great views over the city of Glasgow. What’s the most stunning thing about the view? The stark contrast between the verdant landscape of the Necropolis and the urban cityscape below.

For a place where dead bodies are underfoot, I usually find cemeteries to be unusually peaceful and the Necropolis did not disappoint. It’s a great spot to just sit, relax for an hour or two, and spend some alone time in a busy city. Whatever you do when you visit the Glasgow Necropolis, take your time. I wished I’d spent more time exploring every corner of this massive outdoor mausoleum, searching for monuments to eminent Glaswegians of the Victorian era and just drinking deeply from the cup of this Glaswegian institution.