Nunhead Cemetery
Encyclopedia
Magnificent Seven, London
The "Magnificent Seven" is an informal term applied to seven large cemeteries in London. They were established in the 19th century to alleviate overcrowding in existing parish burial grounds.-Background:...
cemeteries
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is perhaps the least famous and celebrated of them.. The cemetery is located in the Nunhead
Nunhead
Nunhead is a place in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England. It is an inner-city suburb located southeast of Charing Cross. It is the location of the Nunhead Cemetery. Nunhead has traditionally been a working-class area and, with the adjacent neighbourhoods, is currently going...
area of southern London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and was originally known as
London Necropolis Company
The London Necropolis Company , formally the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company until 1927, was a cemetery operator established by Act of Parliament in 1852 in reaction to the crisis caused by the closure of London's graveyards in 1851. The LNC intended to establish a single cemetery...
. It is a Local Nature Reserve
Local Nature Reserve
Local nature reserve or LNR is a designation for nature reserves in the United Kingdom. The designation has its origin in the recommendations of the Wild Life Conservation Special Committee which established the framework for nature conservation in the United Kingdom and suggested a national suite...
.
Location
The Main Gate (The 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 SouthwarkLondon Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark is a London borough in south east London, England. It is directly south of the River Thames and the City of London, and forms part of Inner London.-History:...
, SE15.
Notable burials
- Charles Abbott, the 101 year old Ipswich grocer and Charterhouse brother
- Frederick Augustus AbelFrederick Augustus Abel-External links:...
, CorditeCorditeCordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom from 1889 to replace gunpowder as a military propellant. Like gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burning rates and consequently low brisance...
co-inventor - George John BennettGeorge John BennettGeorge John Bennett was for nearly 40 years a Shakespearian actor on the London stage, notably Covent Garden and Drury Lane. He was the son of the eminent popular comedian George Bennett and , the daughter of an ancient family in Westmorland...
, 1800–1879, English Shakespearian actor - Edward John EliotEdward John EliotCaptain Edward John Eliot was an English soldier.Eliot was the son of Francis Perceval Eliot and his wife Anne née Breynton...
, 1782–1863, Peninsula War soldier - Jenny Hill, Music hall performer
- Thomas TillingThomas TillingThomas Tilling Ltd, later known with its subsidiary companies as the Tilling Group, was one of the two huge groups which controlled almost all the major bus operators in the United Kingdom between the wars and until nationalisation in 1948....
, bus tycoon - Alfred VanceAlfred VanceAlfred Peek Stevens , best known by his stage name Alfred Vance, was an English singer in the 19th Century music halls.-Early life and family:Vance was born in London in 1839...
, English Music hallMusic hallMusic Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
performer - Thomas Muir, Scottish founding member of The Society of the Friends of the People and political reformer
Layout and other structures
At the time of writing the Victorian Part of the Cemetery is in a sad state of repair, being best described as an elegant wilderness, locals like to call it a nature reserve. Although the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery are doing their best to restore some parts of the cemetery it is in bad need of care (and probably funding). It is about 52 acres (210,436.7 m²) in size and is a nice place to walk.The lodges and monumental entrance were designed by James Bunstone Bunning. There is also an obelisk
Obelisk
An obelisk is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape at the top, and is said to resemble a petrified ray of the sun-disk. A pair of obelisks usually stood in front of a pylon...
: the 'Scottish Political Martyrs Memorial' (it is located immediately on the right on Dissenters Road, when entering through the North Gate), the second monument dedicated to what are popularly called the Scottish Martyrs (the other being in Edinburgh), dedicated to the leaders of the Friends of the People Society
Friends of the People Society
The Society of the Friends of the People was formed in Great Britain by Whigs at the end of the 18th century as part of a movement seeking radical political reform that would widen electoral enfranchisement at a time when only a wealthy minority had the vote...
, including Thomas Muir
Thomas Muir (radical)
Thomas Muir was a Scottish political reformer.Muir was the son of James Muir, a hop merchant, and was educated at Glasgow Grammar School, before attending the University of Glasgow to study divinity...
, Maurice Margarot
Maurice Margarot
Maurice Margarot is most notable for being one of the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, a radical society demanding parliamentary reform in the late eighteenth century.-Early life:...
, and Thomas Fyshe Palmer
Thomas Fyshe Palmer
Thomas Fyshe Palmer was an English-born Unitarian minister, political reformer and political exile.-Early life:Palmer was born in Ickwell, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Henry Fyshe who assumed the added name of Palmer because of an inheritance, and Elizabeth, daughter of James Ingram of...
, who were transported to Australia in 1794. The monument was erected by radical M.P. Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume
Joseph Hume FRS was a Scottish doctor and Radical MP, born in Montrose, Angus.-Medical career:He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and moved to India in 1797...
in 1837.
Percy Baden Powell Huxford (named after but not related to Lord Baden Powell), aged only 12, was one of the nine Sea Scout
Sea Scout
Sea Scouts are members of the international Scouting movement, with a particular emphasis on water-based activities, such as kayaking, canoeing, sailing, and rowing. Depending on the country and the available water these activities are on lakes, rivers or sea in small or large ships. Sea Scouting...
s who died in the Leysdown Tragedy (1912) of the Isle of Sheppey
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England in the Thames Estuary, some to the east of London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale...
. A special memorial was built for these Sea Scouts in this cemetery in 1914. Sadly, even that was vandalised (most of it was actually removed, only the base remains, see for more information The Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
History Forum Website http://www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=675.0)). A good picture of the original monument however, can be seen on the Scouting Milestones Website http://www.scouting.milestones.btinternet.co.uk/seascouts.htm. A new memorial was erected in 1992 (made possible by the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery).
There is a conducted tour of the cemetery run by the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery, open to all, on the last Sunday of each month, starting from the Linden Grove gates at 2:15 p.m. At the center of the cemetery is a derelict chapel, its roof now gone but its stone walls still standing and intact . Many areas of the cemetery are fairly overgrown with vines, as visible in newer tourist photos. Numerous tombstones lean to the side.
In media
The cemetery is the setting for the Victorian poet Charlotte MewCharlotte Mew
Charlotte Mary Mew was an English poet, whose work spans the cusp between Victorian poetry and Modernism.She was born in Bloomsbury, London the daughter of the architect Frederick Mew, who designed Hampstead town hall and Anna Kendall. She attended Lucy Harrison's School for Girls and lectures at...
's exploration of death, insanity and social alienation In Nunhead Cemetery
In Nunhead Cemetery
In Nunhead Cemetery is a poem by Charlotte Mew. As the title overtly proclaims, the poem deals with the subject of death, and also with the subject of insanity...
and is the setting for Maurice Riordan
Maurice Riordan
Maurice Riordan is an Irish poet, translator, and editor. Born in Lisgoold, County Cork, Riordan has published three collections of poetry: A Word from the Loki , a largely London-based collection which was a Poetry Book Society Choice and shortlisted for the T. S...
's final poem, The January Birds in his 2007 collection, The Holy a d. The Woman Between the Worlds, a 1994 science-fiction novel by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
Fergus Gwynplaine MacIntyre was a journalist, novelist, poet and illustrator, who lived in New York City and said he had lived in Scotland and Wales. MacIntyre's writings include the science-fiction novel The Woman Between the Worlds and his anthology of verse and humor pieces MacIntyre's...
set in Victorian England, depicts a funeral at Nunhead Cemetery in 1898 for the burial (in a closed coffin) of a female extraterrestrial. The novel intentionally avoids citing a precise location in Nunhead for this grave, in case some reader mistakenly believes that genuine alien remains can be retrieved from the site.
The cemetery also featured in Episode 2 of the Winter 2008 BBC series "Spooks", although it was credited as Highgate Cemetery.
The cemetery features in a number of scenes in the movie, Melody (1971 film)
Melody (1971 film)
Melody is a 1971 British film directed by Waris Hussein about "puppy love". It was released as S.W.A.L.K. in the United Kingdom . The film starred Jack Wild, Mark Lester and Tracy Hyde...
.
Gallery
Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent SevenMagnificent Seven, London
The "Magnificent Seven" is an informal term applied to seven large cemeteries in London. They were established in the 19th century to alleviate overcrowding in existing parish burial grounds.-Background:...
. It is one of the two cemeteries located south of the river Thames (the other being West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a 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...
).
Further reading
- FoNC, Nunhead Cemetery, An Illustrated Guide, Friends of Nunhead Cemetery, 1988, ISBN 0 9508881 6 8
- Meller, Hugh & Brian Parsons, London Cemeteries: an illustrated guide and gazetteer, The History Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7509-4622-3.
- Beach, Darren, London's Cemeteries, Metro Guides, 2006, ISBN 1 902910 23 0.
External links
- Friends of Nunhead Cemetery Website - FoNC
- Dark Destiny - Nunhead Cemetery
- BBC - Nunhead Cemetery
Transport
The cemetery is easily reached with public transport via local buses and National Rail:- Bus: 78, 343 and 484 all have stops nearby
- Train: The Nunhead railway stationNunhead railway stationNunhead railway station is a railway station in the Nunhead area of the London Borough of Southwark. The station and all trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...
is close by.