Clifton Street Cemetery

Clifton Street Cemetery was opened in 1797 by Belfast Charitable Society as the city’s main burial ground. Now managed by Belfast City Council, the graveyard is widely recognised as a historically significant site, with strong links to Clifton House and the society who originally opened it. It comprises 14,000 graves including Ireland’s largest Famine graveyard, some of the city’s wealthiest families, 8,000 poor graves and the graves of many of the leaders United Irishmen.

The cemetery is also the resting place of many notable families, with burial records for the Sinclairs and a mausoleum belonging to the Dunville family. There is also a memorial to George C Hyndman, a member of the Belfast Botanical and Horticultural Society which helped establish Botanic Gardens in 1828.

Most significantly however, it is the final resting place of local reformers and activist Mary Ann McCracken, who played such a pivitol role within Clifton House itself.

Public tour’s of the cemetery are regularly available through Clifton House