Cemetery is latest tourist attraction in Derry

Derry City Cemetery. Getty

Derry City Council is trying to drive tourists visiting the Northern Irish city to their graves - literally!

The new initiative from Derry City Councils' Heritage and Museum Service aims to promote the City Cemetery as the newest tourist attraction, the Belfast Telegraph reports.

A visitor guide and map of the City Cemetery offers a new perspective on the headstones and histories of the people buried at the 19th-century site.

Margaret Edwards of the Heritage and Museums Service said: 'It is the rich diversity of the City Cemetery over the last 160 years from Victorian and Edwardian times through to 21st century that makes the cemetery such an interesting place to visit.

'You only have to examine the layout of the cemetery to gather an understanding of the past and cost of our conflicts. It is a location which will prove an excellent example of how we have embraced our shared future here in Derry.'

Mayor Kevin Campbell said it offered an interesting aspect to the already varied visitor attractions in Derry.

He said it 'will enable locals and visitors to take a self-guided tour of our City Cemetery and examine our rich cultural diversity.'

Campbell added: 'Once launched, the publications will offer a road map which outlines the locations of different graves of prominent figures such as political activists, heads of trade and industry, veterans of war and those on both sides of the troubles, as it follows the lives of named figures such as Cecil Francis Alexander, William Tillie and members of Fosters family of Ballinacross, all of whom have shaped the city.'

The City Cemetery publications will be available to locals and tourists from next week at various locations in the city.

Would you visit the cemetery on your trip to Derry? Leave a comment and let us know below.

Browse more quirky attractions in Britain...

%VIRTUAL-Gallery-123639%

Sign up to our weekly newsletterFollow us on TwitterBecome a fan on Facebook