Islamic cemeteries, Tunisia

Tunisia, Islamic Cemeteries

Visited February 2014

While in Tunisia, I popped into Islamic cemeteries whenever I was near one. Unlike western cemeteries, there aren’t expensive gravestones with long inscriptions. They’re also not so silent, neat or landscaped. But yet I find them fascinating, as a view of another type of burial custom. The two pictured here are Monastir, near the Ribat (fortress) used in The Life of Brian, and near the Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba in Kairouan.

Kairouan

Kairouan

Kairouan

Mausoleum of former Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, Monastir

Mausoleum of former Tunisian President Habib Bourguiba, Monastir

Monastir

Monastir

Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, City of London

Bunhill Fields, City of London

Visited February 2014

Bunhill Fields, near Old Street on the edges of the City of London, is a historic burial ground which is now also a park. Many of the gravestones are fenced off and accessible only by appointment, but you can still get a good view of them from the paths. Among the great and the good buried here are writers William Blake, John Bunyan (the author of Pilgrim's Progress) and Daniel Defoe. 

The cemetery, unusually for the period not linked to any church, was founded in the 1660s as a burial place for non-conformists and dissenters (i.e. those following other religions than the Church of England). It was closed to burials in 1853, after which it was partially cleared and landscaped to become a park. Further landscaping took place in the 1960s following bomb damage in the Second World War, but a large number of gravestones remain. Despite only covering 4 acres, it's believed that at least 120,000 people were buried here over 200 years. Not nearly that many stones remain - 2,333 according to the City of London, who manage the site.

Surrounded on all sides by modern developments, and most regularly used as a cut through or lunch spot by local office workers this doesn't really feel like a historic (Grade 1 listed) graveyard, but it's well worth a visit.

 

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.