The Necropolis Railway

Last weekend we had a really lovely day out. The sun was shining and we had a day with nothing urgent to do so we headed out to tick off some places from our never-ending list of places we want to visit.

I’ve mentioned before about the Magnificent Seven, the name given to the 7 cemeteries established on the outskirts of London during the Victorian period. Back in 2008 I wrote that we wanted to visit all seven that year. Well we failed miserably! Sometimes my blog is a useful aid for recording and sometimes not so useful.

In 2007 we visited Abney Park Cemetery, followed by Highgate and West Norwood Cemeteries in 2008. Since then we’ve been to Kensal Green and Tower Hamlets Cemetery too. That just leaves Nunhead Cemetery and Brompton Cemetery. I love visiting these old cemeteries. They are beautifully laid out, there are some amazing tombs to see and of course some really interesting people to learn about.

Anyway, last weekend we wanted to head out of London so headed to Brookwood Cemetery and The Necropolis Railway. Not technically one of the Magnificent Seven, it feels like it should be, opened in 1854. It was designed to help the overcrowding of London’s cemeteries and had a direct rail link from Waterloo with two stations actually built inside Brookwood Cemetery to carry the coffins and the people paying their respects. The railways have long since gone (they were closed after the Second World War) but we found Brookwood train station and were able to walk part of the old track bed into the cemetery.

This cemetery is still in use and has lots of plots for different communities and a Military Cemetery too. There are some beautiful Listed Memorials too. The cemetery is huge, about 400 acres, so we only got to see a little part of it. Next time we’ll definitely be joining one of the guided walks but I’d definitely recommend a visit if you’re in that part of Surrey.