Necropolis

[deebers]

Cool - thanks...

We took a trip up last night. It was quite distressing to see all the damaged graves and the sheer lack of respect people have for resting places

It was even more distressing to see all the sleeping bags and litter.

I would love to have seen the Necropolis in its heyday - with the horse-drawn hearses.

The facade building opposite the bridge - it would have been fascinating if it housed catacoombs!

Have you seen this website with photos of some of the headstones?

Then again - who am I talking to? You know everything about this place!

[DMcNay]

Excuse me while I blow my own trumpet...

http://www.uer.ca/locations/show.asp?locid=21727

[KonstantinL]

I have taken literally hundreds of photos at the Necropolis and infact I came very close to killing myself when attempting to get a shot in frame I almost walked backwards off one of the high ledges! One more step back and I might have been a 'recent body' someone else was enquiring about!

Anyway here's one of my pics.

[deebers]

Nice pix!

The Necropolis is a truly photogenic place!

Would anyone here prefer to see it fully restored or do they prefer it in its current delapidated state?

Also - can anyone tell me why it was shut for ages a while back?

[Apollo]

The closure was on safety grounds. The council was fear't that somone would have a loose tombstone fall on them. I believe the local neds had been playing with them, but not pushing them over completely (so I imagine the council sent their own in to finish the job).

[Ronnie]

Nice pix!

The Necropolis is a truly photogenic place!

Would anyone here prefer to see it fully restored or do they prefer it in its current delapidated state?

Also - can anyone tell me why it was shut for ages a while back?

I'd prefer some conservation of what is there, to make it safe and to prevent further damage. The whole place is about death and decay, and I for one feel that denying that landscapes change and stones crumble is tantamount to denying death. It was shut for a few years because of subsidence on the west slope, which was shored up a bit and the monuments made safe(r). I'm in the mood for a wee tour soon ...

[mpcsmith]

[Pgcc93]

Cracking silouhette mpcsmith.

Looks like you took that on a cold crisp winters day!


<for typo>

[Apollo]

Thaks for the reminder about the subsidence. I got into the mood for a wander around just about that time, and always found it amusing that the closure consisted of taping the gates closed, when you could easily jump over most of the fences or walls. But, I didn't.

[mpcsmith]

took it on the same dat as the two above. sunny summers day! just came out quite well.

[crusty_bint]

GCC's Necropolis Heritage Trail, map available for download as a PDF:
>clicky<

[Mori]

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5058613.html

Necropolis to light up night sky

A HISTORIC Glasgow landmark is to be illuminated at night in a bid to drive out criminals from the area.

Trials of a new £160,000 state-of-the-art lighting system for the Necropolis are already under way.

Council chiefs want to encourage local residents to visit the Gothic graveyard both night and day.

The main gates are currently locked at night but it is still a haven for many underage drinkers and vandals.

However, there are plans for more events in the evening at the cemetery, which it is hoped will make it more accessible to local people.

Now Glasgow City Council and Friends of Glasgow Necropolis want to install a new lighting system.

And the public will get the chance to have their say at a Necropolis Hallowe'en event next week.

It's hoped to install lighting running from the entrance up the path to the top of the hill.

Dennistoun councillor Frank Docherty wants the historic graveyard - based on Paris's famous Pere Lachaise - to be much more accessible.

Councillor Docherty said: "The Necropolis is a kind of sleeping giant of history sitting right in the middle of Glasgow. People walk past it every day and don't realise the history that is on their doorstep.

"The ambient lighting system will go some way towards addressing that."

Jim McQuillan, parks and developments manager, added: "The lighting trials are ongoing and the Hallowe'en event is part of that. We don't want to cover the whole place in CCTV cameras because it would take away from the charm of the Necropolis.

"But there is no getting away from the fact that the cemetery does attract certain unwanted people at night because it's a dark, concealed area."

Nigel Willis, acting chairman of Friends of the Necropolis said: "We kickstarted this last year and it's going very well.

"We want to raise the profile of the Necropolis and encourage a more positive usage of what is a splendid historic setting."

A final decision on the lighting system must also be approved by Historic Scotland.

The Necropolis boasts 30 listed monuments. Two of the most famous on the hillside graveyard, the Monteith Mausoleum and John Knox Statue, were illuminated earlier this year, as the Evening Times revealed.

27/10/06

[e2wufos1]

Anyone got details of the Necropolis Hallowe'en event next week as it sounds quite interesting?

Jim

[cumbo]

sunrise this morning

[tarzan-bridge]

I got this from David Daiches' "Glasgow" Andre Deutsch 1976. pg141.
"The Necropolis.....lay immediately to the east of the Cathedral, on the other side of the Molendinar and was originally known as the Fir Park or Merchants' Park, belonging to the Merchants' House of Glasgow.............The idea of turning this park into a formal burial park was first put forward by John Strang, the historian of Glasgow, in his book "Necropolis Glasguensis"(sic) 1831.
Paraphrasing now- Formally opened in 1833 the first interment took place the previous year on the 12 of September 1832 of "the Jew Joseph Levy" a quill merchant. The Jewish burial area, now within the Necropolis, had been bought in 1830 for 100 guineas.

Going by the dates it looks as if the Jews had the idea first.