West Norwood Cemetery

West Norwood Cemetery 

Opened 1837 

West Norwood Cemetery  Began its life in 1836 when William IV was king of England. For those of you have read my other blog post that I have done before will know that the church yards at that time in history were becoming overcrowded. So it was decide to build new cemeteries out in the suburbs of the city. The Magnificent Seven cemeteries were build over the next ten to fifteen years to resolve this problem which West Norwood is one of them. West Norwood Cemetery is an 40 acre site and opened its gates 1837. The cemetery is also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery and was one of the first private landscape cemetery of its kind. The ground was consecrated by Bishop of Winchester on 7^th December 1837 and burials started soon afterwards. The cemetery was designed by William Tite who was a director of the cemetery company and he designed all the landscaping and some of the monuments that are still there today. The cemetery was the first cemetery in the country to be be designed in the new Gothic style which became very popular in the mid 1800's.

The cemetery was built on an ancient woodland called The Great North Wood which is how Norwood got its name. The trees in on the land were cleared for the cemetery but William Tite decided to keep some of them and in 2005 a survey of the trees in the cemetery. This survey found that there were fifteen oaks that predated the opening of the cemetery and one of them dated as far back has 1540-1640. There was also a maple and an ash tree as well.

The original site included two Gothic chapels which were place at the crest of the hill which over look the cemetery. There was consecrated chapel that faced west. The entrance had two octagonal towers, and cloisters spanning over the Anglican catacombs. Just to the north was a Dissenters' chapel, which had a north facing entrance that had cloisters over its unconsecrated catacombs. During the WWII both chapels were damaged by V1 flying bombs. After the war the Episcopal was flattened and a memorial garden replace it covering its catacombs forever. The main office at the front of the cemetery was also damaged and was rebuilt in a more sympathetic style to its Gothic roots.

In the 1960s the cemetery was became neglected and overgrown with vegetation. Lambeth Council brought the site and which a 'lawn clearance' programe which resulting in the removal of over 10,000 memorials. The local council is working very hard to bring the cemetery back to its form glory. This has not been an easy task as the council wanted to sell the old graves that were over 75 years old. This would be so that that people of West Norwood could be buried in the cemetery. This was not to be the case as in 1994 a court ruled that council could not do this, has the cemetery was originally private and not a municipal cemetery, it would be illegal.

The cemetery to day is a very nice place to visit and lovely to look around. I hope you will enjoy the images that I have took of the cemetery's monuments.

Abney Park Cemetery

                          Abney Park Cemetery
 

AbneyPark Cemetery is situated in the London borough of Hackney in a place called Stoke Newington and was opened in 1840. The cemetery was originally designed and set out by Lady Mary Abney, Dr. Isaac Watts and the Hartopp family. The cemetery was laid out on 32 acres of land. Near to the center of the park is a single brick chapel that was built, very near to where the old Abney House once stood. Abneyhouse was built in 1700 and was the home of Sir Thomas Abney (1640-1722). The chapel was unconsecrated, so that it would be open to all denominations of any religion. This is why it was decided to only built one chapel instead of the normal two chapels. Abney Park was the first non-denominational cemetery in Europe and became the favorite place to be buried by nonconformists of all persuasions from all over London.

Abney Park cemetery was the the first time that an educational arboretum and a cemetery had been combined. The landscape had been laid out with this in mind and had over 2,500 different trees, shrubs and 1,029 different varieties of rose bushes all growing in very fertile ground. The man who was responsible for planting and labeling all of these plants was Mr George Loddiges a local Hackney nurseryman. Mr Loddiges thought that the park was such a great idea that he later on brought shares in the company. George worked closely with Mr GeorgeCollison the company secretary who was the key force behind the radical cemetery. Mr Collison had took the idea from a visit he made to a cemetery in the new world, America. He visited a place called Mount Auburn Cemetery in Massachusetts and was inspired by what he found there. He then thought that it would be a great idea to bring the concept back to England. The pair work very closely together with the architect William Hosking who had designed the chapel and all the drainage on the park. Together these three people were responsible for creating a very impressively garden cemetery of it's time. Unfortunately Loddiges nursery had to close in the late 1850's and the maintenance of the cemetery and its botanical labeling were impaired.

Abney Park is one of the Magnificent Seven garden cemeteries that were built around London in the mid 1800's. These cemeteries were entirely different to all the other cemeteries that had been before. The garden cemeteries were designed to be a place of beauty and peace, a pleasant place to remember your love one's. When you walk around these cemeteries you can not help but get a sense of what the Victorians were about. Abney park is no exception. As you walk up to the cemetery entrance, with it's Egyptian style pillars and gates. It gives you the feeling that there's something grand about this place. The Egyptian Revival style was very popular with the Victorians at this time. The entrance was designed by William Hosking and is the only complete “Egyptian Revival” entrance way to a cemetery anywhere in the world.

In the early 1880's a Commercial General Company was formed who had brought the cemetery on the open market. A new enterprise was formed even though the park had not been formalized through an act of parliament for use as a burial ground. The park went through some changes after this company had brought the cemetery. The park was then standardized to a park-like landscaping replacing most of the unique arboretum planting. Over the years air pollution took its toll on the plant life especially of the conifers in the park. The Commercial General Company look after Abney Park until it went into receivership in the 1970's. A few years later Hackney council took over the whole of the cemetery in 1978 except for one forecourt building. Then Abney Park became subject to the Local AuthoritiesCemeteries Order of 1977. Over the next twenty one years the cemetery was left to its own devices and only a few burials took place at the councils discretion to people who held deeds to the graves and land pots on the park from the previous company. During this time the local people formed the The Abney Park Trust in 1991. The trust turned the park into a woodland memorial park and Local Nature Reserve with educational facilities. This was all done with the blessing of the local council. At the same time has the trust was formed another group was set up. This group was called Friends of Abney Park and was formed to help provide volunteers and to help raise funds for the park. The group merged with the trust in 2002. In 2009 Abney Park became scheduled to be one of Britain’s historic park and gardens at risk from decay and neglect.

Abney park is a great place to visit and take a scroll along the winding paths and see monuments popping out for the dense under growth. I myself found that the park is a wonderful place to visit. There are plenty of different paths to walk along. The chapel its self is quiet a stunning gothic building to walk around and to look at, even though its in ruins. I would recommend that you should take a visit.

Lavender Hill Cemetery

Lavender Hill Cemetery

Opened 1871

Cedar Road, Enfield EN2 0TL