Nunhead Cemetery, London

[bixaorellana]

If anyone is following my London Diary thread, you'll know that I set off for the Nunhead Cemetery and wound up in Peckham Rye.

After soaking up the atmosphere there, I walked on to visit the real thing of moody atmosphere -- a semi-abandoned cemetery. I say semi-abandoned because since the early 1980s The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery have been trying to bring it back from the dead, so to speak.

The cemetery, consecrated in 1840, was one of the "Magnificent Seven" Victorian cemeteries established in a ring around what was then the periphery of London. But by the middle of the 20th century the cemetery was nearly full and abandoned by the United Cemetery Company. A quarter century went by, a quarter century in which the cemetery suffered vandalism and its unmaintained tombs tilted and sank. But at the same time, nature took hold and the the necropolis reverted to a woodland full of birds and other wildlife.

Southwark Council obtained the site in 1975, but was unable to do much with it until the late '90s, when it was awarded Lottery funding allowing for revovation.
Further (quite interesting!) reading: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunhead_Cemetery and londonist.com/london/secret/secrets-of-nunhead-cemetery

As I said in my posts on Peckham Rye, I'm not sure where I passed from it into Nunhead, so I'll just start with a couple of sights along the way and then we'll plunge into the wonderful world of Victorian mourning ~

How appropriate that I should run into some ghosts along the way!



I walked along the brick portion of this wall for what seemed like forever. If you go, persevere, as there is an entrance.

Upside-down torches – the inverted torch symbolizes death, the burning flame (which normally would be extinguished when the torch was turned upside-down) symbolizes the flame of eternal life and the Christian belief in resurrection. source <-- more fun facts



Welcoming information at the gates, heavily cropped here so it would fit and be readable ~



This is what is left of the East Lodge. Another sign advises that the scaffolding is to allow engineers access in order to assess what might be done ~



And this is West Lodge, which is heavily populated by elves, or perhaps small children ~





This place is big ~



The air is gloriously full of bird song, mysterious wildlife noises, and fresh green aromas.
I sat quietly for a few minutes on one of the welcoming benches, just taking it in, then began to wander ~

[bixaorellana]

The next four pictures are all of the same tomb. In the first one you'll see that the neighboring tomb uses its sides to continue recording who is buried there,
as does the Daniel tomb and most of the imposing ones throughout the cemetery.













You wonder if Susan's last wish was to be brought home to England ~

[bixaorellana]

Poor Susan was there in the sunny and relatively well-groomed area to the left of the chapel, as can be seen in the chapel picture above.
But I was eager to get off into the woods, full of green gloom and spangles of sunlight and a real look at what years of neglect effected.
There was a sign warning people to stay on the path, as the tombs were dangerously unstable.

It started off rather tidily, but quickly became a wild tangle of its own kind of beauty ~

[cheerypeabrain]

Absolutely beautiful and very atmospheric. Faded glory overtaken by nature...there are worse things that could happen to places like this.

[bixaorellana]

Thank you, dear Cheery. Your epitaph for the cemetery is perfect. Really, maybe this is the best thing that could happen.

When I was in that wild section shown above, I could have sworn that I was moving straight on, deeper and deeper into the woods.
Just when I'd decided that it would be prudent to turn back, I abruptly found myself back at the chapel. Indeed, this place might be enchanted!

Taking the opposite path, to the right of the chapel, I passed cheerful signs of life spilling over the fence of the West Lodge ~

The Scottish Political Martyrs Memorial is impossible to miss. It is interesting that in a space once popular with the wealthy, filled with crumbling monuments to themselves, the most enduring and instructive memorial is to criminalized political dissidents who were working for reform and expanded rights for everyone.
It's also interesting that no matter how many times I look at these pictures that I took myself, I can't for the life of me figure out how that thing has five sides.




   

   



Even on the tidied-up wide gravel paths, nature greenly waits in the wings to continue taking its course ~

[bixaorellana]

Okay, just one more mossy and moody sequence, then you'll get some sunshine and a tiny glimpse of Nunhead ~









Oh look -- here is a grave that appears to be recently tended ~



Let's see ~



I've never seen this before. Is it so you can go by and extend your condolences to the family? I wonder who lives there now ~

[bixaorellana]

As promised, it's time to turn back into the sunlight and return to the land of the living ~









It was the official Transport for London site which routed me through Peckham Rye.
While grateful for getting to see that area, it turned out that the station I'd originally targeted on the map was indeed quite close to the cemetery.
The person whom I asked for directions told me to look for the garden center across from the station.

Yep -- it was a beautiful Saturday and the green-thumbed were out in force ~



The wavily wonderful approach to the station ~





And on to the train and off toward home.
Here is a gratuitous shot of a pedestrian bridge passed along the way, just because it is such a nifty thing ~



A visit to Nunhead Cemetery is a delightful thing to do. It's of course a lovely green stopping place, but also gets its share of wanderers,
chatting strollers, and dog walkers so seems to be an integral part of the community.

Further reading for those who like that sort of thing: historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1000824
www.exploringsouthwark.co.uk/nunhead-cemetery/4587639994
www.geni.com/projects/People-buried-in-Nunhead-Cemetery/14979

[lagatta]

Oh, I love stuff like that. In Amsterdam part of Flevopark in the East End was a former Jewish cemetery suddenly abandoned when the Nazis moved in. A sad and moody entrance to a park full of families and friends on picnics and taking part in sport and games...

I'm sending the Scottish Martyrs bit to a friend of Glaswegian origin... Many of Les Patriotes (early 19th-century campaigners for home rule and democratic rights here in Québec; were also deported to Australia. That is the origin of the well-known folk song "Un Canadien errant". There was a similar movement in Upper Canada (part of what is now Ontario).

I'm sure that far too often such deportations were a death sentence.

It must have been frustrating to visit a garden centre on another continent with no way of taking plants back home!

[kerouac2]

Bixaorellana, you have a real knack for fantastic cemetery pictures as we have all seen time and time again, but your real calling is in abandoned cemeteries.

Unfortunately, we don't have any in France, although you can always find a number of abandoned tombs. This is probably due to the law of separation of church and state, with either the municipal or the central government being the owner and responsible for cleaning and upkeep of places and worship and cemeteries, as long as they existed before 1905 -- and probably no matter when they were created, concerning cemeteries, since private ones are forbidden.

Tombs really used to be so wordy, didn't they? I know that you can find that every now and then on modern tombs, but it is pretty rare these days. It would be interesting to know what compelled people to say so much on tombs, particularly when there was a charge for each carved letter. At least they never resorted to telegraphic text except I suppose for a few things like "R.I.P."

[fumobici]

Lovely, interesting, and atmospheric report bixa, thank you. The ruins of the chapel are particularly poignant and charming. The neglect seems baked into the concept of a private, for-profit cemetery. Once the plots are sold off, the owners have quickly diminishing reasons for paying for continuing necessary upkeep and maintenance. Thus to me, the very concept of private cemeteries seems ill-thought out. The bit above at the end of the report where we see a bit of Nunhead around the station particularly appeals to me. I've still quite enjoyed browsing nurseries across the ocean from home, I can make notes of plants that I discover and usually find a source closer to home to obtain specimens if they are suitable for the local climate here.

[bixaorellana]

Who knows what distracted me from never responding to the lovely comments you all made! At any rate, I do apologize!

LaGatta, I had no idea about those Canadian deportations. Were they sent off to prisons or simply ripped away from home and dumped on a foreign shore?

Thanks, Kerouac -- best compliment ever!
I guess the Victorians just liked flowery language and on a tomb it conveys the terrible reluctance to let the loved one go.

Thank you, Fumobici. Yes, I am always compelled to snoop garden centers even when I can't buy anything. Sometimes I discover that a plant I'd avoided would in fact do quite well in my environment.

As far as private cemeteries, the idea of making a ring of them around London probably seemed efficient in the early Victorian era, no matter how short-sighted it seems now. What I found most surprising was that in the 1950s a private company would be allowed to simply abandon a cemetery, although maybe there was no existing law to prevent it.

[tod2]

Missed this completely! Bixa, where the heck was I in June
Thank you for directing me here as it is a really beautiful 'green' wander around Nunhead Cemetery - which I have never heard of!
The green of the overhanging trees, the mossy tombs, the green of the weeds creeping everywhere, and your photograph of the tree stump supporting one yellow leaf is magical.
I was in awe of the magnificent stone chapel which has what I think is a portico for the arrival of the hearse.
That has been a lovely wander around.

I agree, that is a nifty entrance to the station!

[kerouac2]

I just looked at all of the pictures again and they just keep getting better and better.

[bixaorellana]

Again with my rudely slow responses!

Thank you both so much for your close attention to the report.

Tod, that's an interesting observation about the portico for the hearse -- did not think of that!

Mar 5, 2017 14:28:41 GMT patricklondon said:

The big nineteenth-century cemetery near me once advertised a Family Fun Day there.........(seriously).

I just came across the quote above, which seems to describe a cemetery similar to Nunhead. It's from a perfectly wonderful thread that has been pushed out of sight, but which greatly deserves resurrecting (ahem): anyportinastorm.proboards.com/thread/6163/burial-grounds

[lugg]

Great report Bixa - Fab pics but especially Ist photo of reply no 1 - wow . I think though that this confirms that I don't want to be buried and made me wonder if the numbers of people being buried are dropping, I guess itprobably varies depending on nationality/ religion etc