We were able to visit this cemetery, thanks to our tour guide, otherwise it's closed to the public. It was great wandering around the old gravestones as it felt like the social history of Belfast city was depicted in this Graveyard. There are some beautiful tombs here, some still well preserved, others vandalized, of Belfast's notable families like the Dunvilles, the Sinclairs and the McCrackens.
Three other distinguishing features:
-This Graveyard also felt the brunt of bodysnatchers, so that first a wall was built, and secondly you'll see some of the tombs are enclosed in iron cages as well
- there is a lovely memorial acknowledging the mass grave for the victims of the 1832 cholera epidemic.
- a founder of the Belfast RSPCA was buried with a tomb of a dog on top, but the dog is no longer there - apparently stolen in the mistaken belief it was Gray Friars Bobby, according to our guide.
I learnt a lot on this tour and it was cool seeing the city's hidden history.
Note: #241 of Yelp 100 challenge for 2016
Note: last review for list of Belfast things done/seen as part of August 2016 trip (this review is slightly out of order -Europa bus stop should have been last Belfast review but this location wasn't on yelp and so slight delay before it got listed) read more