Previously the parish church held responsibility for burying the dead but there was a growing need for an alternative.

Led by Lord Provost James Ewing of Strathleven, the planning of the cemetery was started by the Merchants' House of Glasgow in 1831, in anticipation of a change in the law.

Pre-dating the cemetery, the statue of John Knox sitting on a column at the top of the hill, dates from 1825.

The ornate gates (by both David and James Hamilton) were erected in 1838, restricting access onto the bridge.

[5] The first, and highest ranking, of those buried here is Lieutenant-General Sir James Moncrieff Grierson, who died in August 1914 in France and whose body was repatriated.

[6] As Jewish people were not allowed to be interred within Christian burial grounds, a small area outwith the boundary of the main cathedral graveyard was allocated to them.

[8] The cemetery is now part of the expanded Necropolis and due to its low location its significance is often unrecognised.