The Necropolis.
Sandwiched between my exterior tour of Glasgow Cathedral and walking along viewing the Murals of Glasgow, I took a brief walk through the Necropolis of Glasgow.
Hauntings.
I don’t typically visit cemeteries because my mother always used to say she wasn’t sure if a ghost might follow us home.
She was only half kidding since she grew up in a haunted house in Indiana.
I get that some of you might not believe such things.
But that’s OK.
However, my personal life experience is such that I have some trepidations about the possibility of inviting a spirit home with me.
Cemetery Location and History.
From the Glasgow Cathedral, you could see the Necropolis rising up on the hill.
The hill on which the Necropolis stands was purchased by the Glasgow Merchant’s House in 1651. After being planted with Fir trees, it was known as Fir Park.
In 1831, the Merchant’s’ House decided that its use would be best as Glasgow’s version of the Pére Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, and so the Victorian Cemetery began.
It would become known as Glasgow’s Necropolis.
The entrance to the Necropolis is reached by crossing the “Bridge of Sighs”, likely named this due to the fact that funeral processions crossed it to reach the burial grounds.
The Necropolis covers 37 acres. In 1966, the Merchants’ House gave the Necropolis to the Glasgow City Council.
Since the Necropolis is located East of the Glasgow (or St. Mungo) Cathedral, as you climb the hill you can look back for magnificent views of the Cathedral.
By 1831, Glasgow’s population had grown from 70,000 to 200,00.
There are many impressive monuments due to the wealth of some of the city’s merchants.
Monteath Mausoleum.
One of which is the mausoleum built for Major Archibald Douglas Monteath. He served in the East India Company before returning to Glasgow. His body was interred in 1842.
The mausoleum was modeled on the Church of St. Sepulchre in Cambridge.
Views.
As you climb up the Necropolis, the sweeping views of the city of Glasgow become more and more impressive.
However, we were quickly walking through, mainly looking for any surnames affiliated with our genealogy.
But we still took moments to stop and admire the detailed architecture of the monuments located inside of the Necropolis.
Many of them were designed by renowned architects of the time.
Climbing higher still, the top of the hill is the location of the John Knox Monument. Interestingly, he is not buried below the monument, but under a car park in Edinburgh.
John Knox Statue.
This was the first statue of John Knox to be erected in Scotland and it sits on the second highest hill in Scotland.
I would have loved to have stayed with those who had gathered for what was sure to be an epic sunset of the city, but our time here was short as we needed to meet up with my aunt for dinner.
Also, I would have missed all the murals!
But, there’s always next time!
Have you visited any cemeteries?
Which is your favorite?
I also visited Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. You can check that out here.
Let your light shine!
Amy
It’s beautiful, all the buildings are beautiful and the entrance at Bridge of Signs is beautiful.
Was the house your mother grew up in here a famous house, or a common one that just happened to be haunted?
Thanks Joey!
The house she lived in was not famous. It was in Ft. Wayne and I’m pretty sure it is still there. I don’t know if its “inhabitants” remained. My grandmother was what we refer to as sensitive so experiences tended to follow her. However, my mother, her sisters and brother, and some cousins all have tales from that home.
Interesting.
I love the Terry Pratchett quote at the end. And the photos, obviously 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. I thought the quote offered much truth and was happy to stumble across it. 🙂
I like cemeteries. The older the better. I love finding unusual names, and ornate tombstones, and mausoleums. This one you visited is very pretty. The gate is stunning.
There was a shade in our house many years ago. He would only be in the hallway near my bedroom, and I never felt it was a bad spirit. I often wondered if it were my brother coming to check on me. One day I left a pad of paper with and a pen on the entry hall table where he would see it. On the paper I wrote, ” Why are you here?” I haven’t seen seen the shade since but, my daughter has.
We had some bad luck with pets early on in this house. None, not one, of three cats, a bird, and dog lasted more than 9 months. One day my son said, ” I bet there’s a curse on the land about livestock and valued animals. Some farmer back in the day probably fighting over a cow or horse or something put a curse here.”
That got me thinking he might be onto something so I did a smudging ceremony over every inch of our property. Not long afterwards we adopted Diva Dog. She’ll be 13 in September.
I’d trust your Mom’s instincts. 🙂
I did enjoy looking at the names and some of the tombstones were very interesting. Our hotel in Edinburgh was located right beside a very old cemetery. Since there wasn’t A/C, we had to sleep with the windows open. I wondered if “anyone” might come to visit, but they didn’t.
I used to hear the sound of barefoot footsteps and had a few strange experiences with noises that would awaken me, in the place we rented when we were first married, but I never saw anyone. We had a room in our first home that we thought felt uncomfortable. We had the house was built, so we thought perhaps given that most of Florida was home to Native Americans, that maybe the land had been sacred at some long ago point. We prayed over the space and it did become better, but if I had known about smudging back then I definitely would have done it!
I’ve had other things happen in various homes, but have never seen seen anything.
Smudging works! I did the new addition when it was complete as well as the whole yard, and house too.
a wonderful article ! I have written about cemetery in my blog too , if you can spare some time please visit
https://rajkumarmilan.wordpress.com/2017/07/13/bury/
and
https://rajkumarmilan.wordpress.com/2014/08/19/red-hill/
they are about war cemeteries .
Thank you. I will have to check them out. 🙂