Nunhead Cemetery | |
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Details | |
Established | 1840 |
Location | |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 51°27′51″N0°03′11″W / 51.46423°N 0.05304°W |
Type | Public |
Size | 21 hectares (52 acres) |
Website | Official website |
Find a Grave | Nunhead Cemetery |
Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, England. It is perhaps the least famous and celebrated of them. [1] The cemetery is located in Nunhead in the London Borough of Southwark and was originally known as All Saints' Cemetery. Nunhead Cemetery was consecrated in 1840 and opened by the London Cemetery Company. [2] It is a Local Nature Reserve. [3] [4]
The Main Gate (North Gate) is located on Linden Grove (near the junction with Daniel's Road) and the South Gate is located on Limesford Road. The cemetery is in the London Borough of Southwark, SE15.
The cemetery was consecrated in 1840, with an Anglican chapel designed by Thomas Little. It is one of the "Magnificent Seven" Victorian cemeteries established in a ring around what were then the outskirts of London, and is one of two located south of the River Thames (the other being West Norwood). The first burial was of Charles Abbott, a 101-year-old Ipswich grocer; the last burial was of a volunteer soldier who became a canon of Lahore Cathedral. [5] The first grave in Nunhead was dug in October 1840. The average annual number of burials over the ten years 1868–1878 was 1685: 1350 in the consecrated, and 335 in the unconsecrated ground. [6]
Reinterred remains were removed from the cemetery in 1867 and 1933 from the site of the demolished St Christopher le Stocks church in the City of London.
The cemetery contains examples of the imposing monuments to the most eminent citizens of the day, which contrast sharply with the small, simple headstones marking common or public burials. By the middle of the 20th century the cemetery was nearly full, and so was abandoned by the United Cemetery Company. With the ensuing neglect, the cemetery gradually changed from lawn to meadow and eventually to woodland. It is now a local nature reserve and Site of Metropolitan Importance for wildlife, populated with songbirds, woodpeckers and tawny owls. A lack of care and cash surrendered the graves to the ravages of nature and vandalism, but in the early 1980s the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery was formed to renovate and protect the cemetery.
The cemetery was reopened in May 2001 after an extensive restoration project funded by Southwark Council and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Fifty memorials were restored along with the Anglican Chapel.
At 52 acres, Nunhead is the second largest of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Views across London include St Paul's Cathedral. [7]
The Victorian part of the cemetery is currently in a poor state of repair, being best described as an elegant wilderness; locals like to call it a nature reserve. Many areas of the cemetery are fairly overgrown with vines, as visible in newer tourist photos. Numerous tombstones lean to the side. Although the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery are doing their best to restore some parts of the cemetery it is badly in need of care and funding. It is about 52 acres (210,000 m2) and is a popular place to walk.
The lodges and monumental entrance were designed by James Bunstone Bunning. There is an obelisk, the "Scottish Political Martyrs Memorial", the second monument (the other is in Edinburgh) dedicated to the leaders of the Friends of the People Society, popularly called the Scottish Martyrs, including Thomas Muir, Maurice Margarot, and Thomas Fyshe Palmer, who were transported to Australia in 1794. It was erected by Radical MP Joseph Hume in 1851–52. It is immediately on the right on Dissenters Road, when entering through the North Gate.
A memorial commemorates nine Sea Scouts who died in the Leysdown Tragedy off the Isle of Sheppey in 1912, including Percy Baden Powell Huxford aged 12 (named after, but not related to, Lord Baden Powell). The original memorial, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, was erected in 1914. [8] Most of this was removed after vandalism, and only the base remains. [9] The present replacement memorial was erected in 1992, on the initiative of the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery.
There are a large number of First and Second World War war graves in the cemetery, the greater proportion (592 graves) being Commonwealth service burials from the former war. Most of those are concentrated between three war graves plots: the United Kingdom plot (Square 89), holding 266 graves, the Australian plot which holds 23 graves, and the Canadian plot (Square 52) which holds 36 graves, including burials of South African and New Zealand servicemen. Those buried in the UK plot and in individual graves outside the three plots are, because of not being marked by headstones, listed by name on a Screen Wall memorial inside the cemetery's main entrance. A second Screen Wall lists 110 Commonwealth service personnel of the Second World War who are buried in another war graves plot (Square 5), and elsewhere whose graves could not be marked by headstones. There is also a Belgian war grave of the First World War. [10]
Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of North Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederick Carden. The cemetery opened in 1833 and comprises 72 acres (29 ha) of grounds, including two conservation areas, adjoining a canal. The cemetery is home to at least 33 species of bird and other wildlife. This distinctive cemetery has memorials ranging from large mausoleums housing the rich and famous to many distinctive smaller graves and includes special areas dedicated to the very young. It has three chapels and serves all faiths. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London.
West Norwood Cemetery is a 40-acre (16 ha) rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and ecological interest.
Brompton Cemetery is since 1852 the first London cemetery to be Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Established by Act of Parliament and laid out in 1839, it opened in 1840. Consecrated by Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London, in June 1840, it is one of Britain's oldest and most distinguished garden cemeteries. Some 35,000 monuments, from simple headstones to substantial mausolea, mark more than 205,000 resting places. The site includes large plots for family mausolea, and common graves where coffins are piled deep into the earth. It also has a small columbarium, and a secluded Garden of Remembrance at the northern end for cremated remains. The cemetery continues to be open for burials. It is also known as an urban haven for nature. In 2014, it was awarded a National Lottery grant to carry out essential restoration and develop a visitor centre, among other improvements. The restoration work was completed in 2018.
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is a local nature reserve and historic cemetery in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets within the East End of London. It is regarded as one of the seven great cemeteries of the Victorian era, the "Magnificent Seven", instigated because the normal church burial plots had become overcrowded. Since the 1990s it has been managed by the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, a registered charity, with the purpose of protecting, preserving and promoting this important space for conservation, heritage and community.
Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England.
Anfield Cemetery, or the City of Liverpool Cemetery, is located in Anfield, a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It lies to the northeast of Stanley Park, and is bounded by Walton Lane to the west, Priory Road to the south, a railway line to the north, and the gardens of houses on Ince Avenue to the east. The cemetery grounds are included in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens at Grade II*.
The General Cemetery in the City of Sheffield, England opened in 1836 and closed for burial in 1978. It was the principal cemetery in Victorian Sheffield with over 87,000 burials. Today it is a listed Landscape on the English Heritage National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It is also a Local Nature Reserve. It is owned by the City of Sheffield and managed on behalf of the city by a local community group, the Sheffield General Cemetery Trust.
Everton Cemetery, in Long Lane, Fazakerley, Liverpool, opened in July 1880.
The City Road Cemetery is a cemetery in the City of Sheffield, England, which opened in May 1881 and was originally called Intake Road Cemetery. Covering 100 acres (40 ha), it is the largest of the municipal cemeteries in Sheffield and contains the head office for Bereavement Services in Sheffield. The cemetery contains Sheffield Crematorium, whose first cremation was on 24 April 1905.
Hither Green Cemetery, opened as Lee Cemetery in 1873, is a large cemetery located on Verdant Lane, London, England. The cemetery is situated between Catford, Hither Green, Downham, Grove Park and Lee, located adjacent to a railway line, and close to Grove Park Sidings and Grove Park Nature Reserve. Next to Hither Green Cemetery is Lewisham Crematorium that was opened in 1956.
St Pancras and Islington Cemetery is a cemetery in East Finchley, North London. Although it is situated in the London Borough of Barnet, it is run as two cemeteries, owned by two other London Boroughs, Camden and Islington. The fence along the boundary which runs west to east between the two parts of the cemetery has been removed, although the line of it is still marked.
Brockley and Ladywell Cemeteries were opened within one month of each other in 1858 and are sited on adjacent plots of previously open land. The two component parts are characteristic examples of the first wave of Victorian public cemeteries and are now part of the Brockley Conservation Area.
Southern Cemetery is a large municipal cemetery in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of the city centre. It opened in 1879 and is owned and administered by Manchester City Council. It is the largest municipal cemetery in the United Kingdom and the second largest in Europe.
The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium is a cemetery and crematorium in the east of London. It is owned and operated by the City of London Corporation. It is designated Grade I on the Historic England National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery, Hanwell is located on the north side of the Uxbridge Road in Hanwell, London, England.
The Camberwell cemeteries located close to each other in Honor Oak, South London, England, are notable for their significant burials and architecture. They have been an important source of socioeconomic data documenting the historical growth and changing demography in the community for the Southwark area since 1855.
Richmond Cemetery is a cemetery on Lower Grove Road in Richmond in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It opened in 1786 on a plot of land granted by an Act of Parliament the previous year. The cemetery has been expanded several times and now occupies a 15-acre (6-hectare) site which, prior to the expansion of London, was a rural area of Surrey. It is bounded to the east by Richmond Park and to the north by East Sheen Cemetery, with which it is now contiguous and whose chapel is used for services by both cemeteries. Richmond cemetery originally contained two chapels—one Anglican and one Nonconformist—both built in the Gothic revival style, but both are now privately owned and the Nonconformist chapel today falls outside the cemetery walls after a redrawing of its boundaries.
Hull General Cemetery was established by a private company in 1847 on Spring Bank in the west of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. In 1862 the Hull Corporation established a cemetery adjacent, now known as Western Cemetery, and in c. 1890 expanded the cemetery west across Chanterlands Avenue onto an adjacent site.
Hollybrook Cemetery is a cemetery in Bassett, Southampton, England, containing around 53,000 graves as of August 2012 and still open to new burials as of March 2016. It is one of the main cemeteries in Southampton.
East-the-Water Cemetery was the Church of England burial ground for East-the-Water, once a separate village but now a suburb of Bideford, in Devon, England. Located on Barnstaple Road, the cemetery as of 2018 is abandoned and neglected, and the Victorian cemetery chapel is a dangerous structure on the verge of collapse. Burials in Bideford now take place at Bideford Higher Cemetery.
The cemetery is easily reached with public transport via local buses and National Rail: