Lambeth Cemetery

Lambeth Cemetery, Blackshaw Road Tooting London SW17 0BY is in Tooting in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is one of three cemeteries now owned by the London Borough of Lambeth (the others being the South Metropolitan Cemetery in West Norwood and Streatham Cemetery also outside Lambeth and in the L.B. Wandsworth).

History

Like Streatham, Lambeth Cemetery was developed by a parish burial board in 1854 following the Metropolitan Burial Act of 1852 which was a response to the second cholera epidemic of 1848-49 [ [http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/56593586-F3AC-45C9-A930-632A1849D7B1/0/026057.pdf Lambeth Crematorium] ] [ [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/doc/cemetrybooklet-web.doc Outline of the growth of Metropolitan cemeteries] ] . It was one of a series of measures related to public health problems consequent on the growth of the London.

It is organised as a rectangular grid of paths and has a few trees and is sited just east of the River Wandle in what was countryside in the 1850s and was largely to remain so for some decades. There are two lodges beside the main gate in Blackshaw Road and a memorial chapel, all built in brick in a gothic style and designed by F.K.Wehnert and J.Ashdown [Ref. Bridget Cherry and Nicholaus Pevsner "London 2: South" (Buildings of England series) Harmondsworth, Penguin Books: 1983 p.698 ] . The cemetery was extended to the south in 1874 when Robert Taylor was chairman of Lambeth Burial Board and Hugh Mcintosh was the surveyor who laid out the extension [Source of information on the extension is the stone inscription in the boundary fence in Blackshaw Road at the south end of the 1954 cemetery.] . There is also a Crematorium and Garden of Remembrance opened in May 1969 in ten acres of gardens at the northern end [ [http://www.lambeth.gov.uk/Services/CommunityLiving/DeathsFuneralsCremations/Cemeteries.htm Documents the Crematorium] ] . Another noteworthy feature is the War Memorial screen monument opened in 1953 for both First and Second World War graves.

Interments and current use

Lambeth cemetery is said to house 250,000 burials and was associated with Victorian music hall artists, notables including the comedian Dan Leno. Between 1969-91 it was subject to "lawn conversion" [See [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200001/cmselect/cmenvtra/91/91m59.htm Memorandum of the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery] to the (House of Commons) Select Committee on Environment, Transport and Region Affairs] ] and today presents a sad aspect of straight paths dotted with trees and predominantly modern, late twentieth century gravestones, many of which have been staked to stop them falling over, with occasional nineteenth century gravestones and monuments. The cemetery is watched over by green woodpeckers and sparrowhawks and the site is predominantly neutral grassland [The [http://wildweb.london.gov.uk/wildweb/PublicMapCentreSite.do?type=site&image.x=189&image.y=48&siteid=7368 wildlife value of Lambeth Cemetery] ] . The Garden of Remembrance near the Crematorium is maintained as a mown grass parkland.

Cemeteries nearby

*West Norwood Cemetery coord|51.432977|N|0.098117|W
*Streatham Cemetery coord|51.433455|N|0.174450|W

References

External links

* [http://homepage.ntlworld.com/hitch/gendocs/cem.html Victorian London Cemeteries]