Churchyard of St Anne's, Kew Green

Churchyard of St Anne's Church, Kew Green, London

Visited October 2015

The parish church of St Anne's sits right on Kew Green - three sides have park around them, with the fourth onto the road. It's a small churchyard, surrounded by a wall and raised from the surrounding Green. The church dates from 1714, and is built on land given by Queen Anne.

There are a few famous artists buried here - when I visited the tomb of Thomas Gainsborough was surrounded by a barrier so inaccessible. There are also graves of a number of people who were in service to the royal family at nearby Kew Palace, in particular those who served Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Princess Augusta in the first half of the 19th century. They were originally buried in the churchyard, but were reburied at Windsor Castle in 1930.

Tynemouth Priory Graveyard, Tyne and Wear

Tynemouth Priory Graveyard, Tyne and Wear

Visited September 2014

Tynemouth Priory and Castle is an English Heritage site on the north-east coast of England - funnily enough, it's at the mouth of the River Tyne. There's been a religious site there since about the 7th century, although the present ruins date from about the 11th century, and the castle a little later. There are also remains of a later lighthouse and coastal defenses on the site.

To the seaward side of the priory ruins is a graveyard, which mainly seems to date from the Victorian, period and maybe a bit earlier. Most of the gravestones are weathered, thanks to their clifftop location where the salty sea winds have scoured their surfaces flat, but traces of some inscriptions remain. The graveyard isn't in use any more, but I haven't been able to find out when the last burials took place.

St John's Churchyard, Wapping

St John's Churchyard, Wapping, East London

Visited October 2015

Walk along Wapping High Street and across the road from the Town of Ramsgate pub is a rather nondescript little park, with no signs indicating what it's called. Go inside and it's mainly grass with a few mature trees, some benches and a lot of pigeons. But look more closely and you'll spot a few rather weathered table tombs among the grass, and gravestones leaning agains the wall in two corners. This is the former churchyard of St John's, Wapping. The church itself was destroyed by bombing in the Second World War - all that remains is the tower, and that's been incorporated into a modern block of flats.

A small plaque high up on the wall notes that this churchyard was the burial place of Thomas Rainsborough, a colonel in the New Model Army who was killed in the Seige of Pontefract in 1648 during the English Civil War. No trace of his grave remains today.

Next to the church tower on Scandrett Street is a building dating to 1760 which used to house the St John's Charity School, and which has a sculpture on teh fron showing a boy and a girl in their school uniforms.

Highgate Cemetery (west side)

Highgate Cemetery

Visited May 2013

highgatecemetery.org/

The west cemetery of Highgate is open by guided tour only. This is the only one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries which charges for entry (unless you're visiting a family grave, obviously), and the west cemetery is open by guided tour only, costing £12 for adults. Is it worth it? Well, it's not something I'd do frequently, but yes, it's worth it. The tour ticket includes entry to the east cemetery on the other side of the road, which would normally cost £4.

As it's a guided tour, you'll see different parts of the west cemetery depending on your guide, and possibly the interests of you and others in your group. Every tour includes the Egyptian Avenue and the Circle of Lebanon (with huge cedar of Lebanon in the centre). As it's a guided tour, there's no wandering off the path or moments of quiet isolation.

The cemetery is possibly the most famous in London, since opening in 1839. There have been stories of vampires (a quick google of the Highgate Vampire is an eye opener and no mistake, and  a number of the great and the good are here, from Pre-Raphelite artists to menagerie owners, newspaper moguls, the founder of Crufts, and scientists.

St Dunstan in the East, City of London

 St Dunstan in the East, City of London

Visited June 2014

Not much remains of the churchyard of this simply gorgeous spot, which lies just to the north of London Bridge, between the Monument and the Tower. The church dates from before the Fire of London in 1666, and was repaired to a design by Christopher Wren after the Fire. It was damaged in the Blitz in 1941, and never rebuilt. After the War, it was decided to turn it into a park managed by the City of London, opening in 1970 in and around the standing ruins of the church. There are some gravestones around the walls, all dating from before the 1850s when the churchyard was closed to burials. 

This is a wonderful place to visit, and highly recommended for a visit - there might not be many gravestones to look at, but the atmosphere and ruins are an oasis in the busy City.

Nunhead Cemetery, London

Nunhead Cemetery, London

Visited January 2013

I've already blogged about this cemetery, here, but in early 2013 I was able to visit when it snowed all day one Sunday. The snow wasn't deep, but it made the cemetery look wonderfully monochrome, and it was almost deserted. It's close enough to walk there, so next time it snows (maybe this winter?) I'll try and visit Nunhead again, and maybe West Norwood.

Larbert Old Parish Churchyard, Falkirk

Churchyard of Larbert Old Parish Church, near Falkirk, Scotland

Visited September 2015

A short walk away from the train station in the village of Larbert (now a suburb of Falkirk), is this lovely old churchyard. The earliest gravestones date from the 17th century, earlier than the current (19th century) church. An area of the churchyard is set aside for burials of the great and the good of the Carron Company, an iron making company established in Falkirk in the 18th century. This area contains a Doric Greek style mausoleum, among other

Notably, although there is no shortage of 18th and early 19th century gravestones, there are very few memento mori on the tombstones.

One thing to look out for, which fascinated me, is the large number of gravestones with a single date, and the names of a man and a woman. Why no dates of death? Because it was traditional than on their wedding, the couple would be gifted a burial plot and headstone! And if you notice that they have different surnames, that's because in Scotland in the 19th century it was still usual for a woman to retain her own surname after marriage.