Dundonald Cemetery

Visitor information
Address: 743 Upper Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT16 2QY (entry is via Upper Newtownards Road).

Telephone: Call the cemetery site office on 028 9048 0193. It is open from 8.30am daily to 4.30pm (Monday to Thursday), 4pm (Friday) and 12.30pm (Saturday).

Opening hours: Dundonald Cemetery is open at the following times:

- 1 to 31 March - 8am to 6pm (Monday to Saturday) and 10am to 6pm (Sunday)

- 1 April to 30 September - 8am to 6pm (Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday), 8am to 8pm (Tuesday and Thursday) and 10am to 6pm (Sunday)

- 1 to 31 October - 8am to 6pm (Monday to Saturday) and 10am to 6pm (Sunday)

- 1 November to 28 February - 8am to 4pm (Monday to Saturday) and 10am to 4pm (Sunday)
Dundonald Cemetery opened as a municipal burial ground in 1905.

Burials no longer take place in the graveyard, which is a recognised historical site.

Today, the site is open daily to visitors.

Photo gallery

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Key features

The entrance to Dundonald Cemetery is marked by an imposing set of black and gold double gates.

At the highest point in the cemetery stands a grey limestone war memorial, around five metres high. It is embedded with large bronze Excalibur-type swords which form the shape of a cross at the top of the momument.

The engraving below them reads:
Access information
Bus routes: Metro 4, 20 and 20A.

Car parking: Limited parking is available on the cemetery roads. There is a five miles per hour speed limit throughout the site.

Disabled access: Access to many of the graves is via narrow and uneven grass paths. The cemetery site office has a ramp but its layout is not suitable for wheelchairs. There are no disabled toilet facilities.
"This cross of sacrifice is one in design and intention with
those which have been set up in France and Belguim and other places throughout the world where our dead of the Great War are laid to rest. Their name liveth for evermore."

History

In 1895, Belfast Corporation (now the council) realised that more burial space was needed to cope with the city's growing population.

Two years later, it bought 45 acres of land at Ballymiscaw, Dundonald, for £5,600. The site was known locally as Donall’s Fortress because of a nearby fort.

In 1904, plots were allocated out and a quarter of the cemetery was set aside for Roman Catholic burials, a decision which was later revised.

The first burial in Dundonald Cemetery took place on 19 September 1905.

The Co. Down railway once ran along the rear boundary of the graveyard.

Cemetery records show that, on one occasion, a horse pulling a coach containing relatives returning from a funeral was startled by a passing train. The horse bolted and damaged three tomb railings in the burial ground before being brought under control.

The railway line is now the Comber Greenway, a seven-mile pedestrian and cycle route.

Famous burials

Amongst those buried in the cemetery are: