Warriston Cemetery

Warriston Cemetery lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around 14 acres (5.7 ha) of land on a slightly sloping site. It contains many tens of thousands of graves, including notable Victorian and Edwardian figures, the most eminent being the physician Sir James Young Simpson.

It is located on the north side of the Water of Leith, and has an impressive landscape; partly planned, partly unplanned due to recent neglect. Of note are two purple-leaved elms, one of the rarest of pre-Dutch Elm Disease cultivars, and three mature Guernsey Elms. It lies in the Inverleith Conservation Area and is also a designated Local Nature Conservation Site. The cemetery is protected as a Category A listed building.

In July 2013 the Friends of Warriston Cemetery was inaugurated to reveal the heritage and to encourage appropriate biodiversity.

History

Designed in 1842 by Edinburgh architect David Cousin, the cemetery opened in 1843: the first interment was towards the east, Margaret Barker, who was buried on 3 June 1843.

Warriston

Warriston is a suburb of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It lies east of the Royal Botanic Garden in Inverleith. The name derives from Warriston House, a local mansion house demolished in 1966.

Warriston Cemetery was opened in 1843 and is now owned by the City of Edinburgh. Warriston Crematorium was opened on 29 October 1929 on the eastern edge of the old cemetery. It was built in 1808 as East Warriston House and converted in 1928/9.

There is a small housing estate near Warriston Cemetery locally known as Easter Warriston.

A large playing field belonging to George Heriot's School extends into the Goldenacre area. It was used in the 1981 film Chariots of Fire for the scene where, for the first time, Harold Abrahams watches Eric Liddell run.

The Water of Leith flows by here. Kirkwood's 1817 Plan of Edinburgh and its Environs shows its north and south banks connected by a line of stepping stones at a ford at the end of present-day Logie Green Road.

In 1848, the Polish composer Chopin stayed at No 10 Warriston Crescent as the guest of Polish émigré doctor Dr. Adam Łyszczyński. In 1948 a commemorative plaque to mark the centenary of his visit was placed on the house by the Polish community in Edinburgh. The library at Kórnik near Poznań in Poland possesses an autograph of Chopin's song, 'The Spring', bearing the annotation "Warriston Crescent 1848".