1. The Entrance Gates Designed by D & J Hamilton 1838
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The gates were installed in 1838 to provide access to the "Bridge of Sighs", which carried the carriageway from the square across the Molendinar Ravine to the Necropolis. They were designed by James Hamilton, whose father David designed the bridge, and were cast at Thomas Edington & Sons' Phoenix Foundry in Queen Street. These ornate gates were made in cast iron at a cost of £150. The massive piers were derived by Hamilton from Stark’s Asylum in Parliamentary Road. In the centre of the gates is the Merchants’ House symbol, ‘the clipper on top of the world’. Underneath this is the engraved latin phrase ‘Toties redeuntes eodem’ – ‘So often returning to the same place’ which is the Merchants` House motto. |
On closer inspection you will notice the right hand gate has a hinged window. In days gone by the gates would be locked and only suitably attired visitors allowed entry to walk about and permitted to sign the visitor’s book. In July 1878 the visitor’s book shows that 13,733 people visited the Necropolis, consisting of 12,400 citizens and 1,333 other visitors.
2. The Cemetery Lodge Designed by D & J Hamilton 1839-40
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Costing £413.10s 4d and constructed from the remains of the Old Barony Church, this castellated Romanesque ashlar construction was the former office of the Superintendent.
This lodge was re-sited here from its original position further along on the left, immediately before the Bridge of Sighs. Look for the plates where the original gates were sited.
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3. The Superintendent's House 1848
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This house, built in 1848 on elevated ground for £400, contains the present office for the cemetery.
On the walk from the gates to the bridge one can catch glimpses of the Cathedral and its graveyard which was described by Sir Walter Scott ...." the broad flat monumental stones are placed so close to each other, that the precincts appear to be flagged with them, and, though roofed only by the heavens resembles the floor of one of our old English churches".
Scott also commented in the same book… ‘On the opposite side of the ravine rises a steep bank, covered with fir trees closely planted, whose dusky shade extends itself over the cemetery with an appropriate and gloomy effect.’ |
4. The Bridge Of Sighs Designed by D & J Hamilton 1833-4
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Described as ‘the separation between time and eternity’ proposed by John Strang and built by contactor John Lochore as a single 60 foot semi-circular arch using coursed rubble with an ashlar parapet at a cost of £1,240.
Notice the three arches, the two external arches being walkways while the mighty Molendinar coursed below the middle span over an artificial waterfall. Over the archway is the following inscription:
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THE ADJOINING BRIDGE
Was erected by
THE MERCHANTS’ HOUSE OF GLASGOW
To afford a proper entrance to their new cemetery combining
convenient access to the grounds with suitable decoration to the
venerable cathedral and surrounding scenery to unite the tombs of many generations
who have gone before with the resting places destined for generations yet
unborn, where the ashes of all shall repose until the resurrection of the just, when that which
is born a natural body shall be raised a spiritual body, when this corruptible must put
on incorruption, when this mortal must put on immortality, when death is swallowed up in victory.
A.D. MDCCCXXXIII
“Blessed is the man who trusteth in God and whose hope the Lord is.”
The land for building the bridge in 1833 was bought for 6 shillings a square yard - around thirty pence per square yard in decimal currency. The foundation stone was laid on 18 October 1834, on the park side of the bridge, with much pomp and ceremony. James Ewing, the Lord Provost, led the procession and children from the local charity schools sang psalms and said prayers. A choir from the Cathedral gave the musical accompaniment.
In the cavity of the foundation stone was placed a hermetically sealed phial containing current coins, almanacs, newspapers of the day, the draft contract, a specification of the bridge, a list of the directors and members of the Merchants’ House and copies of the inscriptions. It was intended that the view from the bridge "would form a scene so magnificent and as interesting as would scarcely be equalled by anything of the kind in the UK".
Glasgow Necropolis Heritage Trail main page