Quiet London: Highgate Cemetery

A visit to a cemetery may not be everyones idea of a good time.  However I’m hoping that by sharing some photographs and thoughts from my visit to the beautiful Highgate cemetery in North London I may be able to convince you otherwise.

I appreciate for many, cemeteries and graveyards may be sad and miserable places, full of death and lost life.  However for me I feel mostly the opposite.  I think cemeteries are actually places which are full of life.  Ok, maybe not the living but of lives once lived, sometimes full and long lives, sometimes lives cut short far too soon.  Whichever it is they tell a story,  and people and their stories, even if these stories are only half formed or mostly unknown, are always interesting.

The History

Highgate cemetery has a fascinating history.  It was opened in 1839 at a time when London no longer had enough space to bury its dead.  Then Highgate was out in the country and was one of seven places chosen to become burial grounds for London.  Over the next three years the cemetery was landscaped with exotic formal planting, and unique architecture and went on to become the capital’s principal cemetery.  Because of its unparalleled elevation overlooking London, and  its unique architecture, the wealthy were encouraged to invest in it and it became a place where the very rich and famous were buried, and indeed became one of London’s most ‘fashionable’ cemeteries.

At the turn of the century, the desire for elaborate funerals was waning and many of the cemetery’s forty or so gardeners and grounds-men were called up to fight in WW1. The grounds were maintained for some time until around 1930 when  less expensive and more common graves were becoming the main or preferred options.  Gradually graves were neglected and the cemetery slipped into disrepair.  In 1960,  with the cemetery already falling into rack and ruin, the then owners The London Cemetery Company was declared bankrupt.  During the next 15 years the new owners The United Cemetery Company struggled to keep the cemetery afloat, the cemetery was vandalised and neglected.  Funds eventually ran out and the gates were finally closed.

In 1975 The Friends of Highgate Cemetery was formed form a group of local residents. They collectively bought the cemetery for the princely sum of £1 and since then have brought it back to life, restoring and conserving it so that now over 70 of its buildings and monuments have been listed by English Heritage.

Today it is still run primarily by local volunteers from ‘The Friends of Highgate Cemetery’ and it is open to the public to visit and enjoy.

Visiting

The Cemetery is made up of the East and the West Cemetery.  Admission to the West Cemetery is by guided tour only.  At weekends tickets are sold from 10am on a first come first served basis for all the slots throughout the day.  Monday to Friday requires prior booking.

Tickets of the West Cemetery tours are: Adults £12; Children 8 to 17 £6. Unfortunately  children under 8 are not allowed on the tour.  The ticket price includes entrance to the East Cemetery on the day of your tour, or valid for a month.

Tickets to the East Cemetery alone cost £4 adults, whilst children under 18 go free.

We visited on a Saturday and arrived at the ticket office at around 12.30 on a glorious April day and bought our tickets for a 2.30pm slot which was perfect as it enabled us to sneak off for lunch in pretty Highgate village.

Touring the Highgate West Cemetery

From the moment you enter the gates and into the big courtyard which leads onto the cemetery you know you are somewhere quite unique.  Instantly the size of everything is striking.  A large colonnaded walkway frames an imposing set of stone stairs which lead up to the West Cemetery

The HWest Cemetery is full of atmosphere.  Many of the graves have been restored but many are still shrouded in ivy and foliage and have broken or become sunken.  There are graves of all shapes and sizes, tombs and catacombs and our excellent guide captivated us with stories of the inhabitants, who they were why they were there and lots of history.  Many of the graves gave a clue to the occupation of its inhabitant.  For example the famous grave guarded by a lion is the resting place of George Wombwell a traveling British menagerie exhibitor who took exotic animals around the UK for Victorian England to gaze upon!

A path winds its way gently though the cemetery and the feeling is one of peace and tranquility.  Wild flowers poke out behind graves and all feels secluded and safe.  The west cemetery has the most impressive architectural features so loved by the Victorians, including the Egyptian Avenue, Circle of Lebanon, Terrace Catacombs and the mausoleum of Julius Beer.  There is so much to see I could have stayed far longer than the 70 minutes which the tour took.  It is a place of tranquilty and peace and a lovely escape for a short while.

Visiting the Highgate East Cemetery

Tours of the East Cemetery take place at 2pm on a Saturday but at all other times it is possible to visit by yourself.  The entrance fee helpfully includes a map with a list of all the significant graves.  We found it very easy to wander around gently and in a very uncrowded way, winding away through small paths reading inscriptions and enjoying the peace and quiet.

Who’s Who

Karl Marx is buried in the East Cemetery and it was his rather unsightly monument which seemed to attract the most visitors.  However there are numerous other great and good and maybe not so good buried in both cemeteries.  The East Cemetery is home to many of Highgate’s best known residents  for all walks of life including authors such as Douglas Adams, and George Eliot, artists such as Patrick Caulfield and the sculptor Anna Mahler.  This is a place where primetime TV celebrities such as Jeremy Beadle sit comfortably along political activists and serious actors.  You can find out much more about who is buried there by visiting the Highgate Cemetery website.

It is still possible to be buried in the cemetery but space is limited and only a limited number of plots are available.  In case you were wondering it is possible to reserve a plot in advance by you must be over 80 or terminally ill.  Worth bearing in mind!

Highgate Cemetery is a gorgeous and fascinating place to visit and I would certainly go back again.

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