Warriston Cemetery

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.

Soon after instigation (in 1845) the cemetery was divided by the Edinburgh Leith and Newhaven Railway which was built east to west through its southern half.

Many sections are now so densely overgrown that the stones are no longer visible and are simply bumps in the green undergrowth.

There is something enchanting about wandering in amongst the head- and tomb-stones covered in ivy with a rich canopy of deciduous trees above, forming a natural mausoleum.

Sir James Young Simpson's grave remains visible but the lower section has been infilled with earth to provide space for further burial.

Several eminent sculptors' work is found in the cemetery, including a fine portrait of William Young, horticulturist (1816–1896) by William Birnie Rhind, a monument to Robert Bryson by Thomas Stuart Burnett,[8] and a wealth of fine ornate Celtic crosses by the McGlashens.

[15] The cemetery also contains a CWGC memorial, at the end of the columbarium, in the form of panels listing 142 Commonwealth service personnel of World War II who were cremated here.