A large cemetery located on Hawkhead Road in southeast Paisley (Renfrewshire), Hawkhead Cemetery is neatly laid out with broad avenues and mature trees. It opened on the 13th April 1891 and extends to 9.3 ha (23 acres). Amongst the many graves are 218 of men, and at least one woman, who were killed during the First or Second World War, which are maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. No less than five of these service personnel were awarded the Victoria Cross and a memorial to those individuals was unveiled on 26th June 2007 close to the entrance.
Other memorials are dedicated to the 70 children who were crushed to death at the Glen Cinema in Paisley in 1929 and to the 92 people who died on the night of 7th May 1941, when a German parachute mine was dropped on the town. Many of those killed were buried in a mass grave within the cemetery.
