I’ve written before about The Magnificent Seven, the seven private cemeteries which were laid out in London in the 1830s and 1840s, as a solution to London’s overcrowded churchyards. I love learning about the history of London and these cemeteries are an integral part of life and death in London, they are also a great place to walk and explore.
A visit to Brompton Cemetery (The Magnificent Seven)
Brompton Cemetery opened in 1840 and was designed by Benjamin Baud to be an open-air cathedral and colonnades flank the central drive leading to an impressive domed Chapel. Uniquely the cemetery was nationalised in 1852 and the Grade 1 listed landscape is now managed by the Royal Parks. Several famous people are buried here, and there are many fine monuments. The buildings and gardens were enhanced by a major conservation project in 2018.
You can visit Brompton Cemetery for free and dogs are welcome too, on leads. There is a designated path for dog walkers from the North Gate to the South Gate. We took our dog and had a lovely walk along the dog path.
Over 200000 people are buried at Brompton Cemetery, marked by around 35000 monuments. The cemetery is laid out almost like a formal garden and is well maintained, although some parts are overgrown. This makes it more interesting to explore.
We picked up a leaflet which featured the top 50 monuments to discover. These ranged from well known and eminent Victorians which are mainly forgotten today. The most important people were buried along the main avenues of the cemetery, and we found the graves of people such as Emmeline Pankhurst where people still leave flowers.
The North Lodge houses a small café, toilets and a visitor centre. There are information panels dotted around the site, as well as the handy leaflet which features the top 50 monuments to look for (the website lists the top 100 monuments).
As well as walking around the cemetery we visited the Chapel which contained an art installation. There are also catacombs which are open occasionally for guided tours.
Our visit ticked off another of The Magnificent Seven, which means we only have one more to visit – Nunhead Cemetery. Although it’s been such a long time since we started visiting these that I feel like I would love to re-visit them all.
The Magnificent Seven:
Brompton Cemetery
Old Brompton Road SW5
Kensal Green Cemetery
Harrow Road W10
Abney Park Cemetery
Stoke Newington High Street N16
West Norwood Cemetery
Norwood Road SE27
Nunhead Cemetery
Linden Grove SE15
Highgate Cemetery
Swains Lane N6
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
Southern Grove E3
