West Norwood Cemetery

West Norwood Cemetery, London

Visited June 2020

Another of my local 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries alongside Nunhead - the only two south of the Thames, this is one of my favourite places to walk. On a rainy Sunday in early June, with lockdown still - sort of - in place, there were few people around. Some areas had been left to go a bit wild, in a good way, with cow parsley hiding smaller headstones, while around some paths which have previously been overgrown, such as Ship Path, careful cutting back had been done to reveal graves and keep paths open. More birds than usual could be heard, and in one of the loveliest moments I surprised, or was surprised by, a young fox having a nap on a grave. It ran off as soon as it woke up enough to realise I was close by, but moments like this remind me of how wild a city London is at heart, and that graveyards are spaces to be inhabited not only by the dead, but by the living too.