Tour audio Buried in Belfast: City Cemetery

This self-guided trail map highlights some of the extraordinary stories of women laid to rest in Belfast City Cemetery. It takes approximately 3 hours to complete.

It compiles research undertaken by 24 participants from Women in the Archives, a community engagement programme, led by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the Linen Hall Library, as part of the Making the Future project in 2019.

Belfast City Cemetery | 511 Falls Rd, Belfast BT12 6DE

Belfast City Cemetery is one of the oldest public graveyards in Belfast, and the city’s first municipal burial ground.  Before its opening on 1 August, 1869, most other local cemeteries were owned by religious denominations.

Situated in West Belfast, around 226,000 people are buried here, including many of Belfast’s wealthiest families. Victorian, Edwardian and 20th century tastes in design and architecture are reflected in its headstones and monuments.

Although it is a cross-denominational graveyard, there is an underground wall separating Protestant and Roman Catholic areas, and a section for Belfast’s Jewish residents.

There are no new plots available in the cemetery, but burials still take place in existing graves.

Disclaimer: Anyone undertaking this suggested trail does so at their own risk.