About

Who are The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis?

A public Launch at The Merchants House on Wednesday 22nd June 2005 produced a committee and members from a wide range of backgrounds whose aim is to conserve the Glasgow Necropolis. Their interests include : family history research, cemetery history, architecture and sculpture, architectural conservation, natural history and ecology, tourism and hospitality and economic development.

Download & read The Constitution

What do we do?

The committee and members, along with GCC, decide priorities and the schedule of activities, which are divided into short, medium and long-term actions. The short-term activities include Tours and Publicity aimed towards conservation and promotion of the Necropolis as a cultural resource for both the people of Glasgow and for the many national and international visitors.

Why does the Necropolis needs Friends?

The Necropolis has suffered over the years from under-investment, natural decay and vandalism. We need to encourage investment and tourism, publicise its importance to the history and culture of Glasgow, and provide interpretive materials which help Glaswegians and visitors, international influence alike to understand the history and its architecture.

What’s so important about the Necropolis?

It embodies Glasgow at the height of its power as the Second City of the British Empire. The engineers, artists, iron founders, inventors, ship builders, locomotive makers, scientists, poets, factory owners, business people of Victorian Glasgow are buried here. Their monuments were designed by famous architects and sculptors of the time such as Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson and Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the Necropolis was the first ornamental, garden cemetery in Scotland with a landscape inspired by the famous Père Lachaise in Paris. It is included in Historic Scotland’s Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes. The Necropolis is also home to many thousands of ordinary Glaswegians, who are buried in unmarked graves.

The Friends have links to the Merchants’ House, the Trades House, the Glasgow Natural History Society, Glasgow and West of Scotland Family History Society, Glasgow University, Strathclyde University, The Metropolitan College, various schools and the local community and have the full support of Glasgow City Council, which owns the Necropolis.

Patron

Alexander Stoddart

Office Bearers

Ruth Johnston – Chairperson

Annette Mullen – Vice Chairperson

Sarah Morrison – Treasurer/Membership Secretary

Committee

Brian Johnston – Architectural Consultant

Scott Kerr – Website Manager

Annette Mullen – Tours Co-ordinator

Ann O’Connell – Merchants House Representative

Richard Weddle – Glasgow Natural History Society Representative