© COLMAC 2007 All Rights Reserved
Southern Necropolis 1890
The appalling condition of the Old Gorbals Burial Ground on Rutherglen Road (now the Rose Garden) and the method of internment employed there had long been the subject of public condemnation. Finally, at a public meeting held in the Baronial Hall on 15th November 1839, a proposal was put forward for the establishment of a new graveyard. At a second meeting held on the 27th February 1840 the proposal was passed and a committee formed to launch the scheme. A prospectus was published that promised to bring the cost of owning a burial place within the reach of the poorest in society.
The seven acres of land which forms the central section was purchased from Glasgow merchant William Gilmour of Oatlands House on land that once formed part of the Estate of Little Govan. The price of a lair would vary by its length and breadth and by its position with the grounds and repayment of the final sum was taken in weekly instalments at a minimum of sixpence per week.
The seven acres of land which forms the central section was purchased from Glasgow merchant William Gilmour of Oatlands House on land that once formed part of the Estate of Little Govan. The price of a lair would vary by its length and breadth and by its position with the grounds and repayment of the final sum was taken in weekly instalments at a minimum of sixpence per week.
The Southern Necropolis was officially opened in July 1840 and the first burial took place on 21st July 1840. By 1846 all the lairs of the central section were sold and a further two and a half acres at a price of £2063 was purchased from William Gilmour to form the eastern section. The following year an additional one and a quarter acres were purchased at a cost of £1000. The demand for lairs continued and in 1850 nine and a half acres of land at a cost of £4858 were purchased from the Trustees of George Jardine, former Professor of Logic at the College of Glasgow, to form the western section. The City of Glasgow took over responsibility for the Southern Necropolis in 1952.
