Kensal
Green Cemetery
Opened
January 1833
KensalGreen Cemetery was the first commercial cemetery in London. There was
a need for larger cemeteries at the time has the population in the
cities have expanded and all the normal burial grounds were become
full to the brim. In 1832 parliament passed a bill that set the way
for new cemeteries to be build around London. These cemeteries would
become the magnificence seven which Kensal Green was the first one of
them to be built.
The
General Cemetery Company was formed and had purchased the land at
Kensal Green in 1831 in anticipation of the bill being passed. They
then promoted a competition for someone to design the cemetery. There
was 46 entrants to the competition and the winner was Mr Henry EdwardKendall (1776-1875). Kendall's wining design was in a Gothic style
but it was a neo-classical Greek Revival Style that was build. It was
the chairman of the General Cemetery Company who preferred the Greek
Style, He ask the companies surveyor a Mr John Griffith to draw up
new designs and it was his designs that were built and what you see
today.
The
cemetery is 54 acres in size and was originally divided up into an
Anglican section 39 acres and Non-conformists section 15 acres. The
small nonconformist section is oval in shape and has a neo-classicalchapel with catacombs and is at the eastern end of the cemetery. In
the western part of the cemetery there is a very dominate Anglican
chapel that is set upon a terrace. This chapel was built with
catacombs beneath it. The chapel had a hydraulic lift for easy
lowering of the coffins down below.
There
are three separate catacombs at Kensal Green there were intended for
lead-sealed coffins that were triple-shelled. The catacomb under the
north terrace is now sealed forever and the catacomb under the
nonconformist chapel was damage during the 2ndworld war and is also close and sealed. The only one that is still in
operation is the catacomb under the Anglican chapel which is in the center of the cemetery. The catacomb has space for 4000 deposits and
has vaults for family groups. Burial within these catacombs were far
more expensive than being buried up above in a plot. These catacombs
became popular with the unmarried and childless couples who have no
family plots else where. The catacombs were more expensive in the
begin but that was just a one off payment that cover the whole
funeral. Where as if you were buried up above after the funeral cost
you would have to spend more cash on a monument or mausoleum that
could be very expensive but this was the Victorian way.
The
cemetery at Kensal Green is a very quiet place to have a walk around
and grab your thoughts. It also has some very fine monuments to look
at. I would recommend it to any tourist to go and have a look around
and see what it has to offer. It also so has the effect of
transporting you back to the Victorian times as if by magic you get a
real sense of what the Victorians were about.
