St Leonard's Churchyard, Streatham

 St Leonard's Churchyard, Streatham

Visited December 2020

This churchyard is right on Streatham High Street, and when I lived nearby over a decade ago I used to walk past it on a weekly basis but never dropped in. So this winter, while tackling part of the Capital Ring from Crystal Palace to Streatham I took a detour at the end to come and have a look. 

It's not a very large churchyard, although it does go all the way round and contains a number of very old monuments which surprised me given that land here must be at a premium. 

The church mainly dates from the 1830s and 40s, although a few parts of the tower are mid-14th century. Inside the church are some historic monuments, but this being the time of Covid it wasn't open to visitors.

In the churchyard most of the monuments are 18th and 19th century, with some of the early ones having memento mori on them. My personal favourite is the 1826 chest tomb of George and Elizabeth Abell, with a splendid skull on one end and inscriptions, with other skulls, on the sides. There is some damage to chest tombs at the back of the church, and a few monuments (including the Abell monument) are on the Heritage at Risk Register. Hopefully something can be done to stabilise and preserve them.

The Abell monument

side of the Abell monument

Minster Abbey, Sheppey (Kent) 2020

Minster Abbey, Sheppey (Kent)

Visited July 2020

I previously visited this site in April 2017, so more information about the church and churchyard is here.  

It was a lovely sunny afternoon when I visited this time, so I was able to get some good photographs of the old gravestones outside. It being during the first round of restrictions in England, there was no access inside the Minster itself this time. As ever, it's a lovely place to wander round looking at gravestones for an hour or so, making a lap of the walls of the landscaped lawn around which the stones have been arranged when the ground was cleared.

St Margaret of Antioch, Lee

Old and New Churchyards of St Margaret of Antioch, Lee

Visited January 2021

There are two churchyards at St Margaret of Antioch, across the road from each other and only 5 minutes walk from the centre of Lewisham.

The remains of the Medieval church and its churchyard, on the north of the road, are smaller and sadly, when I visited, the gate was locked although it does look like it should be open in 'normal times', whatever they may be. As the tomb of Edmund Halley - he the comet is named after - is in there, I'd like to visit some day! There's a wonderful information board by the railings which tells you about this building - indeed there are a number of these boards throughout Lee for historic buildings and once the weather improves I aim to do a history walk around them.

The lower levels of the west tower are all that remains of the church which was originally built in 1080, after the rest was demolished in the early 19th century and a new church built on the site. That church collapsed a few decades later having been built on the unstable foundations of the old church and the current church across the road dates from the early 1840s. 

The 'new' church is surrounded by the graveyard, and has a lych gate at the back. It's worth a visit as some of the memorials are quite lovely, although at the current time the church itself is closed to visitors which is a shame.

Old Churchyard (photos taken from the street)

Current (Victorian) churchyard

Camberwell Old Cemetery, January 2021

Camberwell Old Cemetery

Visited January 2021

Yesterday we had a rare snow day here in South-East London, so I took the opportunity to head to Camberwell Old Cemetery while the snow was still falling. I do love the snow, and it gives the cemetery such a different character.

St George's Church, Beckenham

 St George's Churchyard, Beckenham

Visited November 2020

This church and churchyard, just beside Beckenham Green in South East London, has the oldest lych gate in England. Within the churchyard there are gravestones dating back to the 17th century, up to mainly the Victorian period, with the oldest stones near the lych gate and south porch of the church. The churchyard was closed to burials in 1892, although burials in existing graves, e.g. family members, were still permitted. 

Sadly most of my photographs of the gravestones didn't come out well, so I will be going back another day to get some better ones, and perhaps visit the church itself once such things are permitted again.

Beckenham Cemetery, London

Beckenham Cemetery, London

Visited December 2020

Beckenham Cemetery is in the borough of Bromley, sandwiched between South Norwood Country Park and Birkbeck railway station, but named after none of these... It is a large, sprawling cemetery which must be stunning in summer when the trees are in leaf. In winter, on a crisp sunny day, it was lovely to walk around this older, wooden part. The more modern part, nearest to the country park, is less wooded and still in use for burials as well as being the site of Beckenham Crematorium. A few modern burials are also to be found among the trees, but much less so.

The cemetery was founded in 1880, and known as the Crystal Palace District Cemetery. It houses an ornamental garden and waterfalls which I didn't visit as it was cold, and I suspect they're better viewed in the summer anyway. It's a beautiful place for a walk, easily enough to fill a few hours and well worth a visit.

Among the most famous graves here is that of W.C. Grace, the cricketer. Also somewhere here is the grave of Thomas Crapper, he of the flushing toilet fame, but despite being armed with a map and photograph I couldn't find him. Another day.

One of my favourite graves is that of Henry Lowdes, depicting a soldier 'On Guard'. Only a couple of days later I was walking through Camberwell Old Cemetery and, buried in the grass, I spotted a near-identical figure which had been toppled and somewhat damaged (it's headless and the arms are broken) but I'd never spotted before! 

Henry Lowndes (left, in Beckenham) and Lord Rodney (right, in Camberwell)