HIGHGATE CEMETERY

A Brief Introduction

Highgate Cemetery belongs to a group of cemeteries called the Magnificent Seven, the first was Kensal Green in 1833, followed by Norwood in 1838, Highgate in 1839, Abney Park, Brompton, and Nunhead in 1840, and finally Tower Hamlets in 1841. Created in a ring around the outskirts of London in response to the terrible burial conditions then in existence within the small graveyards and churchyards of the city. There was no legislation for burials. Internments were just inches below the soil, grave robbing was rife, and although body snatching was over by the 1830s people still lived with the fear. The small graveyards could not cope with the demand, burials were broken up and disinterred for new burials, animals scavanged. The people of the day believed in the resurrection and were genuinely terrified of what would happen to their bodies once they had died. This led the way for companies to set up private cemeteries with the attraction of plots being sold to families and individuals for their own private use, to be theirs in perpetuity.

Highgate Cemetery was considered beautiful when it was first established and it still is today. The original structures and pathways still exist, although the panoramic view of London from the Terrace Catacombs has long been obscured by the growth of trees. Many years of neglect followed both World Wars where Nature was allowed to completely take over to the detriment of the catacombs and monuments. Today it is kept under control, no longer allowed to damage, uplift and engulf monuments, its beauty now lies in the way Nature has been allowed to reclaim its rightful place and to combine with art and architecture to create a place quite unlike any other cemetery.

"Highgate Cemetery must have first claim to being the most unashamedly romantic of all the cemeteries in Britain."
James Stevens Curl - The Victorian Celebration of Death

Entry to the cemetery is through the Tudor arched gateway which straddles between the two gothic mortuary chapels. On the right is the smaller Dissenters Chapel (now an office), and on the left is the Anglican chapel. Originally the building was symetrical but when the eastern section was opened in 1854 the Anglican chapel was enlarged to incorporate a hydraulic catafalque. At the same time a tunnel was dug from this end of the building going under the road and opening in the eastern section, so that the coffins could be lowered and taken through to the cemetery without holding up the traffic on Swains Lane. The Chapels had octagonal butresses with wooden pinacles (long since gone) and bay windows. Up until 1985 the chapels were in a derelict state with nothing remaining of the interiors, esp the catafalque. In 1985 a restoration programme was begun and although not back to their former glory they are at least back in a useable state.