THE PLACE OF THE GREY ROCK

Literally Necropolis mean the city of the dead. However there are many interpretations of the origin of the name Glasgow Necropolis, the most common being ‘the dear green place’. However many scholars have argued that it actually means ’the place of the grey rock’ – being the Fir Park, now known as Glasgow Necropolis. This site is as old as Glasgow itself and overlooks the Molindinar stream where St Mungo baptised his Christian converts in the 6th century. In earlier times a druidical grove is said to have crowned the brow of the Grey Rock. At a subsequent period, tradition assigns this sylvan vale as the scene where Aymer de Valiance and Menteith met to plot the treacherous betrayal of Sir William Wallace at Robroyston.

The Necropolis has been described as a ‘unique representation of Victorian Glasgow, built when Glasgow was the second city of the empire. It is a memorial to the merchant patriarchs of the City and contains the remains of almost every eminent Glaswegian of its day. The Necropolis remains one of the most significant cemeteries in Europe, exceptional in its contribution to the townscape, its symbolic relationship to Glasgow Cathedral and to the medieval heart of the City.

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Parks_Outdoors/Parks_gardens/GlasgowNecropolis/glasgownecropolishistory.htm