Warriston Cemetery (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Biography
Designed in 1842 by Edinburgh architect David Cousin, and based on ideas first introduced at Kensal Green Cemetery in London, Warriston Cemetery lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of the city. It was built by the then newly formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company. The cemetery opened in 1843. Not long after, the cemetery was intersected by the Edinburgh Leith and Newhaven Railway, and so a tunnel was added, with Gothic archways at its mouths, to link the north and south sections. In 1929 the Edinburgh Cemetery Company expanded their business into cremation, converting East Warriston House (1818) into Warriston Crematorium on an adjacent site. The architect for this new project was Sir Robert Lorimer, whose name lives on in Lorimer Chapel the main chapel of the Crematorium. The site was extended in 1967 by the architect Esme Gordon. In 1994, Warriston Cemetery was compulsorily purchased by the City of Edinburgh Council.