The most imaginative and thrilling structure within Highgate Cemetery is the Egyptian Avenue. The gateway of which is a large Pharoanic arch, flanked either side by two columns with closed lotus buds as capitals. The whole is then guarded by two oblisks, with one still reaching its full heights whilst the other is missing its top half.
The avenue itself slopes gently upwards to a similar arch but which is much smaller, with the walls decreasing in height along the length of the avenue. This gives the optical illusion that the avenue is longer than it actually is. Within the decreasing wall height of the avenue are sixteen recessed doorways, eight on each side. With an egyptian style border along the top and sloping outwards down to the floor. These are the tombs consisting of a small rectangular room with three tiers of shelves down either side and across the back wall. Each tier holds three coffins, and with three coffins able to be placed on the floor this gives a capacity of twelve coffins for each tomb. The first one sold in 1851 for 130 guineas.
The avenue opens out into the Circle of Lebanon, a magnificent structure of twenty sunken tombs built around the roots of the ageing cedar tree, from which the Circle gets its name . The tree is believed to predate the cemetery by between 100 to 150 years, and is the only remaining feature of the terraced gardens of Ashurst Manor.
The first of these tombs sold in March 1839, two months before the cemetery was officially open, for approx 260 guineas. Almost identical to the ones on the avenue but with relief doorways and Egyptian style pediments. Also in each an extra tier of shelves increasing the capacity to 15 coffins.
The success of the Egyptian Avenue and the Circle of Lebanon encouraged the cemetery to build, in the 1870s, an outer semi-circle of sixteen tombs. Divided in to two halves, originally with a staircase exit in between leading up to the Terrace Catacombs. This has long since been replaced by the Beer Mausoleum and Crypt. There are now two staircases either side of the outer circle leading up into the higher level of Highgate Cemetery.
The design for these tombs is in the Classical style as opposed to the style of Ancient Egypt, with triangular pediments. Again with a capacity for 15 coffins
The fashion for these kind of final resting places did falter and one tomb remaind unsold. It was decided to use it as a columbarium, a repository for ashes contained within a casket or urn, with each one having its own niche. Columbarium is Latin for dove cote.
The most famous of the residents must be Radclyffe Hall, novelist and poet. Chiefly remembered for her novel The Well of Loneliness and the notoriety it gained in 1928 when it was judged to be obscene. There is nothing obscene about the book by today's standards, it was considered obscene purely because it was thought to be a corrupting influence as it treated lesbianism as natural and normal. Adam's Breed is considered to be Radclyffe's finest work, winning two major literary prizes. Radclyffe paid £306 for the tomb in 1916 for the reception of Mabel Batten's remains. Mabel was the first of Radclyffe's long term relationships. A year or two later the ashes of Mabel's father were interred, finally followed by Radclyffe in 1943. (Una Troubridge, Radclyffe's lover after Mabel, also intended to be interred here but she died in Italy and was buried before her wishes were known.)
In recent years a group of female academics jointly financed the restoration of Radclyffe's tomb both interior and exterior. In the process Radclyffe was given a new outer coffin, giving her a total of three coffins and a lead lining. As many coffins as Tutankhamen.
The Egyptian Avenue and both circles have a total of 52 tombs. The tombs, with the exception of the Columbarium, the tombs of Mabel Batten (Radclyffe Hall), and Peter Pazzi, all have the original cast iron doors with a relief sculpture of an inverted torch on each. This is symbolic of a life extinguished.