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.

Kensal Green Cemetery

  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 2^ndworld 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.

Chingford Mount Cemetery

Chingford Mount Cemetery

Opened 1884