9. Mathew Montgomerie Monument Designed by Charles Wilson 1842
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The writer Montgomerie erected this Gothic monument in memory of his wife Margaret at a cost of £400.
Based on Henry VII’s chapel at Westminster, the elaborate stonework was badly damaged by a storm on 6th and 7th February 1856.
The figures of Hope and Resignation were sculpted by J.Mossman, the main monument by Hamilton and Miller. |
10. Aitkens of Dalmoak Mausoleum Designed by J.Hamilton II 1875
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Probably the largest of the mausolea on the Grey Rock, the Aitken monument comprises four compartments, built for the four branches of the family.
It is designed in a Greek renaissance style, with 4 cast iron gates and a domed roof supported on 4 pink granite shafts. |
In a push for social acceptance the Aitken dynasty built the magnificent Dalmoak Castle in 1869, a castellated Gothic mansion house in their estate near Dumbarton. The huge stained glass window at Dalmoak is thought to be the biggest in domestic use in Scotland.
Please proceed with caution if following the grassed pathway leading to monument 11, alternatively please use the upper pathway.
11. William Motherwell Monument Designed by James Fillans 1851
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The Scottish poet, antiquary and journalist William Motherwell (1797 – 1835) is chiefly remembered for "Jeanie Morrison", "My heid is like to rend, Willie", and "Wearies cauld well" The son of a Glasgow ironmonger, Motherwell was appointed sheriff-clerk depute at Paisley in 1819. He published a volume of local ballads under the title of ‘The Harp of Renfrewshire’. He became editor of the Paisley Advertiser in 1828, and of the Glasgow Courier in 1830. Aged just 38, Motherwell died an untimely death in 1835, due to a fit of apoplexy. At the time of his death Motherwell was actively lobbying on behalf of a national monument to Sir William Wallace, ironically intended to be sited in the Fir Park. |
This 20 ft high Gothic temple with a Tudor canopy originally housed a bust of Motherwell executed in Parian marble, sadly now stolen. Halbert the grim is shown on one side surrounded by two snakes and two friends, on the left are scenes showing Jeanie Morrison, Motherwell’s early sweetheart. The bas-reliefs contain images from Motherwell's poetry which often concerned warring and heroic times of Scandinavian adventure.
This monument to the beloved poet was erected by friends sixteen years after his death. Before then a friend came occasionally to mark the spot with a card inscribed with the following quotation from his poetry.
"When I beneath the cold red earth am sleeping life's fever o'er
Will there for me be any bright eye weeping that I'm no more?
Will there be any heart still memory keeping of heretofore."
12. Robert Black Mausoleum 1837
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The merchant Robert Black (1792-1879) was one of the owners of Black and Wingate Cotton Mills, Sandyford Street, Kelvinhaugh , Glasgow.
Black lived in an opulent mansion at Glenarbuck House in Old Kilpatrick, near Glasgow.
This Greek Doric temple, the first mausoleum in the Necropolis, was erected for his daughter Catherine who died aged 12. Altogether 5 of his daughters died before they were 21. Mr Black himself though lived to 86 and died on the 28th November, 1879. |
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