St Mary's kirkyard (Banff)

St Mary's Kirkyard, Banff, Scotland

Visited May 2015

In the seaside town of Banff, on the Moray coast of North-East Scotland, is this small, but wonderful kirkyard. There's very little left of the Medieval kirk (church) itself except one part (the Ogilvie Aisle, restored in 2003), but the gravestones alone are worth the visit. Here you'll find graves from the 17th century to the 19th century (the kirkyard closed to new burials in 1862), and the early ones are marvellously preserved. All kinds of symbolism is here - skulls, hourglasses, winged angels, coffins, skeletons, and much more. It may look small, but you'll find plenty here to fill an hour or two. It's surrounded on all sides by roads, and there's a Tesco across the way, but don't worry, once you're in it's a sea of tranquility. Look out for the gravestones commemorating those lost in shipwrecks, as well as the great and the good of late Medieval Banff.

St Mary's, Lewisham

Lewisham Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Lewisham, London

Visited May 2015

Right by the busy road from Lewisham Hospital into Lewisham itself is this really pretty church and churchyard. I've passed by loads of times and meant to go in, although from the street it doesn't look very big. Turns out that there is loads round the side and back of the church, and it's not that busy. A few people use it as a cut-through, but I didn't get any funny looks when wandering round taking pictures. There are even interpretation boards at the front and back entrances, which are really useful if you haven't read up about it before your visit.

The earliest burials date to the early 18th century, although there has been a churchyard here since Medieval times. A lot of the stones are very weathered and illegible, sadly, but it's possible to make out the odd hourglass and other 18th century symbols if you look hard enough. The latest burials are from the 1850s, when the Burials Act moved burials from churchyards to the larger cemeteries. If you can block out the noise of the traffic at the front, this is lovely country churchyard in the middle of town.

http://www.lewishamparish.com/churchyard.html

Margravine Cemetery, London

Margravine Cemetery (Formerly Hammersmith Cemetery), Hammersmith and Fulham, London

Visited May 2015

Sandwiched in between Barons Court tube station and the Queen's Club tennis courts, Margravine Cemetery (also known as Hammersmith Cemetery) was opened in 1869. It's quite manicured, and well used as a park and path from Barons Court to Fulham. Don't come here expecting peace and quiet. On a sunny Saturday it was busy with dog walkers, sunbathers and people out for a walk. 

There are few tombs of note here. There's only one mausoleum, at the west end of the cemetery, and only a few decorative gravestones - most are relatively understated and plain. Tidying up the cemetery to form a park means that a lot of memorials were cleared years ago, and one of the chapels has been demolished. Still worth a visit, but don't expect to spend a few undisturbed hours exploring.

Memorial to George Broad. He owned the foundry which made the Eros at Piccadilly Circus

This hexagonal building was once the mortuary

Abe Smith was a prospector in New South Wales, and his memorial has a relief of him in his hut

Jane Austen's Grave, Winchester

Jane Austen's Grave, Winchester Cathedral

visited April 2014

http://www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk/our-heritage/famous-people/jane-austen-a-great-english-novelist/

There are three memorials to Jane Austen in Winchester Cathedral. In the floor of the north aisle is her original gravestone, marking her death in 1817. It doesn't even allude to her novels! A brass plaque in the wall beside it, in 1872, addresses this. Above the plaque is a stained glass window dedicated to her, paid for by public subscription in 1900. Despite her fame, when I visited people were walking past her grave without a second glance.

St Mary's Church, Whitby

St Mary's Church, Whitby, North Yorkshire

visited October 2013

On the hill above the town, right outside Whitby Abbey, is St Mary's Church, and the lovely churchyard. Always a few people around as it's at the top of the steps up from the town, the churchyard is packed with gravestones. Most of the stones have been rendered illegible by the weather, as they're mostly soft sandstone. The churchyard is right on the cliff edge, and a couple of recent landslips have left it quite precariously balanced.

The churchyard is, of course, famous for its appearance in Dracula:

"For a moment or two I could see nothing, as the shadow of a cloud obscured St. Mary's Church. Then as the cloud passed I could see the ruins of the Abbey coming into view; and as the edge of a narrow band of light as sharp as a sword-cut moved along, the church and churchyard became gradually visible... It seemed to me as though something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell."

 

Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries, London

Camberwell Old Cemetery and Camberwell New Cemetery, south London

Visited August 2010

Camberwell Old and New Cemeteries are close together in Honor Oak, South London. The Old cemetery was opened in 1856, and had largely gone out of use by the 1930s, when the new cemetery was up and running. It's gone some inaccessible wild spots (although there is currently a plan to clear some of them), while other bits are rather manicured and flat. Not the most inspiring spot I've visited.

The New Cemetery was first used for burials in 1927, and is a rather modern, manicured and landscaped area with few burials of note. It is very much a working cemetery and crematorium. The views from it over to Docklands are spectacular on a clear day.

Camberwell Old Cemetery

Camberwell New Cemetery

Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery, London

Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery, Lewisham, London

visited August 2010

http://www.foblc.org.uk/

Brockley (originally Deptford) and Ladywell (originally Lewisham) cemeteries were originally 2 separate, but adjacent, cemeteries which opened within a month of each other in 1858. Until 1948 they were separated by a wall, and managed individually. A raised strip of land running down the middle of the cemetery shows the old boundary.

There aren't any spectacular monuments here, but there are quite a few interesting gravestones (lots of seafarers seem to be buried here), it's got some wonderfully overgrown parts as well as manicured modern parts, and has very tasty blackberries in the late summer.

Old postcard showing Brockley Cemetery, 1907

Introduction to the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries of London

Lots has been written on the so-called Magnificent Seven, a set of seven Victorian garden cemeteries in London, all opened in the mid-19^th century after the Burials Act prevented burials in the centre of town any more. I’m not going to go into the history here, as others can write about it better than me, and indeed have published books on the topic.

Highgate and Nunhead Cemetery charges, Illustrated London News, October 1842

Each of the cemeteries is open to the public, and each is looked after by a group of Friends who maintain (in some cases along with the cemetery owner, if different) the cemetery, in various states of neatness. Personally I prefer the wilder ones, but everyone likes something a bit different.

In the past few years I’ve visited and revisited all seven of them at various times of the year. I’ll be adding the photos in individual blog posts in the coming months, but for now here’s some thoughts on each of them.

Abney Park Cemetery

(http://www.abneypark.org/)

Abney Park Cemetery, in north-east London, is one of the more overgrown examples of a garden cemetery. In the middle of it, the ruined non-denominational chapel is still standing. When it was planned out, it was planted as an arboretum, and many of the original plants still exist within what is now a Local Nature Reserve. It is wonderfully overgrown, and despite being near a busy shopping street it has never been very busy when I’ve visited (or maybe that’s just me!). Great to visit in the spring when the flowers are out.

Abney Park was the leading cemetery for Dissenters (especially Protestants who were not part of the Church of England – Methodists, Baptists etc). Burials here include William and Catherine Booth, who founded the Salvation Army

Brompton Cemetery

 

(http://brompton-cemetery.org.uk/)

Managed by The Royal Parks, this is a very well cared for cemetery, with mown grass and flat paths. It’s in a busy area, just round the back of Earls Court, and it’s also a cut-through for cyclists and joggers and has an area for dog-walkers, so if you’re looking for peace and quiet then this is not the place for it.

There are a wide selection of lovely memorials here, and the chapel and colonnade, based on the floorplan of the basilica St Peters in Rome, is worth seeing. It’s featured in a number of films, so will probably be rather familiar. Given the location of the cemetery, there are a number of notable burials here, including Emmeline Pankhurst, although her gravestone is not easy to pick out among the other, more ostentatious, memorials along the central avenue.

Highgate Cemetery

(http://highgatecemetery.org/)

The most famous of the big 7, and also the most visited. It’s also the only one which charges an admission fee. I have mixed feelings about this; yes, money is needed to maintain it, but does that mean it should be treated as a tourist attraction rather than a burial ground? Burials are still carried out here, so it’s not the same as visiting an ancient tomb in Egypt, for example. Entry to the older, Western side, is on tours only which can get quite busy and sell out on hot summer days. Depending on your guide, you’ll see different parts of the cemetery, but they will always include the Egyptian Avenue and Cedar of Lebanon.

The Eastern cemetery can be visited without a tour, although there is an admission charge. The most popular destination is of course Karl Marx, but head away from this and you’ll find all sorts of gems hidden among the trees and shrubs. It’s also a lot quieter away from the main paths!

Kensal Green Cemetery

 

(http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/)

This is quite possibly my favourite of all the cemeteries, in terms of the memorials here. It combines areas of wildness (but not too many) with quite the most splendid avenue of memorials and mausoleums with Egyptian, Classical and Indian themes and decoration, as well as the usual angels and urns. Look out for the rather bonkers tomb build for the circus performer Andrew Ducrow – the epitaph says it was designed “by genius for the reception of its own remains”.

Regular tours and an annual open day are organised by the Friends (there is a small charge for the tours, but they include a cup of tea and biscuit at the end!). They are well worth attending – not only will you find out more about the cemetery and its inhabitants, but you’ll also get to see the catacombs under the Dissenters’ Chapel. I can’t say what they’re like – when I went tours went to the catacombs under the Anglican Chapel, but that is now closed for restoration.

Nunhead Cemetery

(http://www.fonc.org.uk/)

One of two of the Magnificent Seven located south of the river (the other is West Norwood), Nunhead is little known and little visited compared to its more famous siblings Highgate and Kensal Green. It has recently undergone renovation work to some of the memorials and the Anglican chapel, but large areas of the cemetery are wonderfully quiet and overgrown, and it is a Local Nature Reserve.

There are very few large mausoleums or memorials here compared to some of the cemeteries, but worth seeing is the obelisk, the “Scottish Political Martyrs Memorial” dedicated to 3 men who were transported to Australia in the late 18^th century. The views from the cemetery over to the City of London are well worth seeking out.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

(http://www.fothcp.org/)

The most overgrown of all seven cemeteries, this place is wonderful. Come in April/May when the bluebells are out, and the woods are coming back to life. Being situated in the poorer part of London there are very few large memorials to speak of, and most of these take the form of obelisks rather than highly decorated Classical or Gothic mausoleums. Instead there are a lot of anchors on graves, a reminder that many of those buried here would have worked at the docks or on ships.

Not only is it a Local Nature Reserve, it’s also a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation. The flowers are amazing, the sound of birdsong is constant, and when both a young fox and me tried to use the same path I don’t know which of us got the bigger fright! Come for the wildlife as much as the history, and you’ll love it as much as I do. It’s used as a cut-through for cyclists and shoppers, but get off the main paths and you can wander for ages without seeing anyone else.

West Norwood Cemetery

(http://www.fownc.org/)

This cemetery is still in use, as part of it contains the crematorium which still operates. Some areas of the cemetery are kept maintained, with neat paths and mown lawns, while the central part is much more overgrown and wild. There is a patch near the crematorium which contains a wonderful selection of Gothic Revival mausoleums, including the terracotta mausoleum of Henry Doulton. There’s still a feeling of discovery if you head off the main paths, with overgrown areas hiding a wonderful selection of ivy covered tombstones. Also worth a visit is the Greek Orthodox area, fenced off from the main cemetery and full of wonderfully decorated mausoleums.

Before the Victorian Period (or earlier), the site was part of the Great North Wood (hence Norwood), and some of the trees here a definitely older than the cemetery itself. There are also ancient woodland indicator plants such as primroses, bluebells and celandine, which are in bloom every spring.