Nunhead Cemetery

Look up The Avenue from the North Gate toward the Anglican Chapel

Grave of Vincent Figgins

Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries in London, England. It is perhaps the least famous and celebrated of them.^[1]. The cemetery is located in the Nunhead area of southern London and was originally known as All Saints' Cemetery. Nunhead Cemetery was consecrated in 1840 and opened by the London Necropolis Company. It is a Local Nature Reserve.^[2]

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 Southwark, SE15.

Notable burials

• Charles Abbott, the 101 year old Ipswich grocer and Charterhouse brother
• Frederick Augustus Abel, Cordite co-inventor
• George John Bennett, 1800–1879, English Shakespearian actor
• Edward John Eliot, 1782–1863, Peninsula War soldier
• Jenny Hill, Music hall performer
• Thomas Tilling, bus tycoon
• Alfred Vance, English Music hall performer
• Thomas Muir, Scottish founding member of The Society of the Friends of the People and political reformer^{[dubious – discuss]}

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 (210,000 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: 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, including Thomas Muir, Maurice Margarot, and Thomas Fyshe Palmer, who were transported to Australia in 1794. The monument was erected by radical M.P. Joseph Hume in 1837.

Percy Baden Powell Huxford (named after but not related to Lord Baden Powell), aged only 12, was one of the nine Sea Scouts who died in the Leysdown Tragedy (1912) of the Isle of Sheppey. 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 History Forum Website [1]). A good picture of the original monument however, can be seen on the Scouting Milestones Website [2]. 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 Mew's exploration of death, insanity and social alienation In Nunhead Cemetery and is the setting for Maurice Riordan'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 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).

Gallery

Nunhead Cemetery is one of the Magnificent Seven. It is one of the two cemeteries located south of the river Thames (the other being West Norwood Cemetery).

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  The North Gate of Nunhead Cemetery

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  The Gate Lodge, left of the North Gate

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  The monument of John Allen

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  The Stearne Mausoleum (now restored).

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  The base of the Scottish Martyrs Monument

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  The base of the Scottish Martyrs Monument

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  A view of the cemetery in February 2010

References

1. ^ Friends of Nunhead Cemetery
2. ^ Nunhead Cemetery, Wild About Britain

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 station is close by.

Coordinates: 51°27′49″N 0°03′10″W / 51.4636°N 0.0528°W / 51.4636; -0.0528