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City of London Cemetery and Crematorium

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Cemetery and crematorium in the north east of London, England

Not to be confused with Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium.
City of London Cemetery and Crematorium
The main gate
Details
Established1856
LocationAldersbrook Road, Newham, London, E12 5DQ
CountryEngland
Coordinates51°33′28″N 0°02′40″E / 51.55782°N 0.04432°E / 51.55782; 0.04432
TypePublic
Size200 acres (81 ha)
No. of graves150,000+
No. of intermentsapproaching 1 million
WebsiteOfficial website Edit this at Wikidata
Find a GraveCity of London Cemetery and Crematorium

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.

Anyone can be interred at the City of London Cemetery irrespective of city connections or religious beliefs. The cemetery reuses graves which have not been used for more than 75 years, and which are known to have depth for at least two more burials. English Heritage has listed many burial grounds and says it has no objection to the reuse of graves in principle, as long as heritage is protected.

Location

The cemetery is on the north-east side of Aldersbrook Road, in Manor Park, in the London Borough of Newham, near Epping Forest. It has two entrances: the Main Gate, close to the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Forest Drive; and the South Gate, a small gate at the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Rabbits Road.

History

19th-century wood-engraving of the cemetery gate

In 1849 William J. Haywood, Chief Engineer of the City of London Commissioners of Sewers, reported on the condition of the city's churchyards and their health risks. The Commissioners were responsible for public hygiene and sanitation and were in effect also the burial board for the City of London, due to an Act of Parliament in 1852. The commissioners directed that a cemetery be built for the city's 106 parishes, to replace intramural interment (burial within the confines of a parish). The task was taken up by William Haywood and Dr John Simon.

In 1853 this led to the purchase of land owned by the 2nd Duke of Wellington, forming most of the Manor of Aldersbrook. The 200 acres (0.81 km) of land suited the construction of the cemetery because it was accessible—only 7 miles (11 km) from the City of London—and had attractive planting and porous, gravelly, well-drained soil. This former farm land was sold to the Corporation for £30,721 and the cemetery was founded in 1854. It was laid out in 1855 by William Haywood, who designated 89 acres (360,000 m) for burial but also reserved land for plots sold in perpetuity, buildings, landscaping and roads. He was helped by landscape gardener Robert Davidson. In selecting planting, Haywood and Simon were guided by John Claudius Loudon's On the Laying Out, Planting, and Managing of Cemeteries (1843). The total cost is estimated at over £45,000, which is approximately £26,000 more than originally planned.

The first interment was on 24 June 1856, although the cemetery was not consecrated until November 1857, due to legal difficulties (which were solved in the Burial Act 1857). It is estimated that in 1858 around 2,700 interments took place. Approximately 600,000 people have been interred here and with the remains from over 30 London churchyards also placed on the site, the figure is approaching 1 million.

At the beginning of the 20th century a crematorium was built (designed by D. J. Ross), at a cost of around £7,000 and was opened on 25 October 1904 in the presence of Sir Henry Thompson.

In 1937 a garden of rest was constructed, followed by a series of memorial gardens, today with an estimated 20,000 rose bushes.

A new crematorium was built in 1971 to a design by E. G. Chandler. It is a modern, symmetrical building containing two chapels and a basement crematory.

The cemetery has been in continuous use since its opening. Many of the churches that were demolished in London had their dead reinterred in the City of London Cemetery (see § Reburial and memorials).

Importance

The cemetery grounds have been listed Grade I on the Historic England National Register of Parks and Gardens. Eight Grade II listed buildings on the National Heritage List for England are also associated with the cemetery, these are the Main Entrance Screen and Lodges, the Non Conformist Mortuary Chapel, the Columbarium, the Monument at the South End of the Columbarium and Non Conformist Chapel, the monument to William Haywood, the cottage, and the Central Avenue chapel and the South Chapel

Facilities

City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, which has received the Green Flag Award, is open 365 days a year and contains formal gardens, roadways, and over 3,500 mature trees in a rolling landscape. It has uniformed information staff, a florist shop and a café with its own garden.

The cemetery has different burial sites, an Anglican Chapel with a 61 ft (19 m) spire, and a round Dissenter's Chapel (designed by William Haywood), although the cemetery and crematorium is today non-denominational. There are now two crematoria, designated the Old and the New. The Old Crematorium is no longer in use as a crematorium but is used as a chapel. There is also a chapel of remembrance and a columbarium. The cemetery is one of only a few cemeteries in London with catacombs. This however has proven to be an unpopular method of burial; part of the unused catacombs have now been converted into columbarium space.

Despite having over 150,000 gravesites the cemetery is reaching capacity. New burials have begun to be placed above older burials, leaving deep interments undisturbed. These new burials involve advice from experts, and the family of the previously buried if known.

There are 729 identified Commonwealth service personnel of the First and Second World Wars commemorated at the cemetery, many buried in a War Graves plot, which has a Cross of Sacrifice and a Screen Wall memorial that lists casualties who are buried in the plot or elsewhere in the cemetery without headstones, and those cremated at the City of London Crematorium. Many of the soldiers died at the Bethnal Green Military Hospital.

The Cemetery provides a car park, but allows vehicle permissive access to cemetery roads. It is served by National Rail and London Underground stations, and London Transport buses.

Reburial and memorials

The Union of Benefices Act 1860 allowed for the demolition of many unused City churches, and for the reinterment of the remains in the City of London Cemetery. The cemetery also contains inhumations from London churches destroyed during the Blitz.

Some churches were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and never rebuilt due to the Rebuilding Act. Many were joined with other parishes. The remains in their churchyards were either left, moved to a new location or to this cemetery (sometimes at a later date). Among these were:

Notable burials

People reputed to have been reinterred here:

Size

It is the third largest such municipal facility in the United Kingdom. Roselawn Cemetery in Belfast, with approximately 280 acres (113 ha) in surface area, is considered the largest. Brookwood Cemetery, which was privately owned until purchased by Woking Borough Council in 2014 is larger than the City of London Cemetery by surface area at 220 acres (89.0 ha)

Gallery

  • Cemetery gates Cemetery gates
  • Anglican Chapel Anglican Chapel
  • Dissenters Chapel Dissenters Chapel
  • Traditional crematorium East Chapel Traditional crematorium East Chapel
  • Columbarium and catacombs Columbarium and catacombs
  • Catacomb interior Catacomb interior
  • New Crematorium New Crematorium
  • Central Avenue Central Avenue
  • William J. Haywood mausoleum William J. Haywood mausoleum
  • St Dionis Backchurch reburials monument St Dionis Backchurch reburials monument
  • Vigiland monument Vigiland monument
  • First World War Cross of Sacrifice memorial and war graves First World War Cross of Sacrifice memorial and war graves
  • Mary Ann Nichols' grave marker Mary Ann Nichols' grave marker
  • Bobby Moore grave plaque Bobby Moore grave plaque
  • Christopher Wicking grave Christopher Wicking grave
  • Café Café
  • Cemetery rhododendron Cemetery rhododendron

References

  1. "Cemetery & Crematorium". Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  2. "Reuse of graves 'needed to prevent crisis'". BBC News. 15 May 2011.
  3. The whereabouts of the cemetery (including a map) on the cemetery website
  4. Web booklet on Cemeteries by English Heritage (2003)
  5. "Registers (Burials)". Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  6. Historic England, "City of London Cemetery (1000286)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  7. Historic England, "Main Entrance Screen and Lodges at City of London Cemetery (1080984)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  8. Historic England, "Non Conformist Mortuary Chapel East End of Chapel Avenue at City of London Cemetery (1080985)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  9. Historic England, "Columbarium at City of London Cemetery (1080986)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  10. Historic England, "Monument at southeEnd of Axis at south end of Axis South from Columbarium and Non Conformist Chapel at City of London Cemetery (1000286)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  11. Historic England, "Mausoleum to Lieutenant Colonel W. Haywood at City of London Cemetery (1190633)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  12. Historic England, "Cottage at City of London Cemetery (1293711)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  13. Historic England, "Chapel (Central Avenue) City of London Cemetery (1357988)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  14. Historic England, "South Chapel City of London Cemetery (1357999)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 11 February 2016
  15. City of London Cemetery and Crematorium Archived 2008-09-07 at the Wayback Machine (Green Flag Award winners) accessed 11 January 2009
  16. "City of London Cemetery and Crematorium". Archived from the original on 5 March 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
  17. Walker, Blair S. (1 December 2009), "Stacking Up the Departed in London", AARP Bulletin, In the News, vol. 50, no. 10, AARP Publications, p. 8, ISSN 1044-1123, archived from the original on 12 December 2009, retrieved 18 December 2009
  18. CWGC Cemetery Report.
  19. "Monument at South End of Axis at South End of Axis South from Columbarium and Non Conformist Chapel , Newham". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 7 April 2013.
  20. "Burial site identified". BBC News. 5 May 2019. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  21. Adam Lusher, Laid to rest at last: Edith Thompson, victim of a 'barbarous, misogynistic death penalty' – The Independent 22 November 2018
  22. "Brookwood Cemetery". 2 November 2018.

Further reading

  • Beach, Darren, London's Cemeteries, Metro Guides, 2006.
  • Meller, Hugh & Brian Parsons, London Cemeteries: an illustrated guide and gazetteer, The History Press, 2008.
  • Francis, Doris with Leonie Kellaher and Georgina Neophytou, The Secret Cemetery, Berg Publishers, 2005

External links

51°33′36″N 0°02′53″E / 51.560°N 0.048°E / 51.560; 0.048

Crematoria in England
General
Cemeteries and crematoria in London
The Magnificent Seven
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