Photographic and Stone Condition Compartment Surveys 2012 – 2022

The Friends of Glasgow Necropolis under the leadership of Ruth Johnston started the Photographic and Stone Condition Survey (PSCS) in 2012 when she became chair. This is a project of huge importance for the future knowledge of the Glasgow Necropolis and should inform future plans for conservation and restoration in the Necropolis.

We have had the assistance of students from the Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland in partnership with Page\Park, Architects, and funded by the Erasmus programme to survey, and record the condition, of the surviving 3,500 monuments in the Glasgow Necropolis before they are lost to weathering and vandalism. Under this programme, the surveys of the following compartments of the Glasgow Necropolis have been completed.

The people involved from that period

1. Monika Nowak: Sept-Dec 2012 – MNEMA 91, BETA 133 Monika/Natalia B
2. Natalia Burakowska: March– Aug2013 – LAMBDA 194, BETA 133 see above
3. Anna Patelka: June – Sept 2013 – DELTA 163, IOTA 395, OMICRON 74
4. Urszula Jatkowska: Sept – Dec 2013 – SEXTUS 316
5. Edyta Przydryga: March – June 2014 – GAMMA 178
6. Sara Szerszunowicz: June – Sept 2014 – KAPPA 126
7. Magda Kumorowicz: April – July 2015 – UPSILON 165
8. Nina Grzelinska: June – Sept 2015 – PRIMUS 132
9. Agata Nowak: April – July 2016 – ALPHA 143
10. Ania Ptak – June – Sept 2016 – SIGMA 113
11. Natalia Pytlik April – June 2017 – EPSILON 231 split between Natalia P/Tomasz Z
12. Tomasz Ziemkiewicz June – Sept 2017 – EPSILON 100 (out of over 700) split between Natalia P/Tomasz Z

Numbers mentioned after each compartment are the numbers of monuments in each section that were surveyed

When Erasmus funding was no longer available, in 2019 the Friends obtained funding from the Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities for a PhD student, Michelle Craig, to continue the survey and she completed Compartment Secundus.

13. Michelle Craig funded by Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities – SECUNDUS 67

Subsequently we obtained funding from Glasgow City Heritage Trust for the survey of Compartment Omega – one of the oldest Compartments in the Necropolis. The funding required the involvement of a local school and also led to the production of an Omega Guide leaflet funded by GCC Area Partnership budget and available from the Friends on our tours.

14 Michelle Craig Funded by Glasgow City Heritage Trust – OMEGA 241

This brought the total of completed surveys to 16.

Some surveys of the larger mausolea were done by Historic Environment Scotland and Conservation Architecture Students from the University of Strathclyde.

The Intention is that on completion the data will be available on a searchable website to aid research and help families to find their family memorials – all of this is currently done manually by our Genealogist Morag Fyfe.

Photographic and Stone Condition Compartment Future Surveys