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City of London Cemetery and Crematorium

{{Short description|Cemetery and crematorium in the north east of London, England}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{distinguish|Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium}}

{{Infobox cemetery

| name = City of London Cemetery and Crematorium

| image = File:City of London Cemetery - Entrance.jpg

| imagesize = 260

| caption = The main gate

| map_type =

| map_size =

| map_caption =

| established = {{Start date and age|1856}}

| country = England

| location = Aldersbrook Road, Newham, London, {{postcode|E|12 5DQ}}

| coordinates = {{coord|51.55782|0.04432|display=inline}}

| type = Public

| style =

| owner =

| size = {{convert|200|acre|ha}}

| graves = 150,000+

| interments = approaching 1 million

| website = {{Official website}}

| findagraveid = 658426

| political =

}}

The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium is a cemetery and crematorium in the east of London. It is owned and operated by the City of London Corporation. It is designated Grade I on the Historic England National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.

Anyone can be interred at the City of London Cemetery irrespective of city connections or religious beliefs.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Community_and_living/Deaths_funerals_and_cremations/Cemetery_and_crematorium/ |title=Cemetery & Crematorium |access-date=2011-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101225114703/http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Community_and_living/Deaths_funerals_and_cremations/Cemetery_and_crematorium/ |archive-date=2010-12-25 |url-status=dead }} The cemetery reuses graves which have not been used for more than 75 years, and which are known to have depth for at least two more burials. English Heritage has listed many burial grounds and says it has no objection to the reuse of graves in principle, as long as heritage is protected.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13357909 | work=BBC News | title=Reuse of graves 'needed to prevent crisis' | date=15 May 2011}}

Location

The cemetery is on the north-east side of Aldersbrook Road, in Manor Park, in the London Borough of Newham, near Epping Forest. It has two entrances: the Main Gate, close to the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Forest Drive; and the South Gate, a small gate at the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Rabbits Road.[https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/cemetery-and-crematorium/visitor-information/Pages/Contact-us.aspx The whereabouts of the cemetery (including a map) on the cemetery website]

History

File:The entrance gateway of the City of London Cemetery. Wood en Wellcome V0042397.jpg of the cemetery gate]]

In 1849 William J. Haywood, Chief Engineer of the City of London Commissioners of Sewers, reported on the condition of the city's churchyards and their health risks. The Commissioners were responsible for public hygiene and sanitation and were in effect also the burial board for the City of London, due to an act of Parliament{{which|date=February 2025}} in 1852. The commissioners directed that a cemetery be built for the city's 106 parishes, to replace intramural interment (burial within the confines of a parish). The task was taken up by William Haywood and Dr John Simon.

In 1853 this led to the purchase of land owned by the 2nd Duke of Wellington, forming most of the Manor of Aldersbrook. The {{convert|200|acre|km2|2}} of land suited the construction of the cemetery because it was accessible—only {{convert|7|mi|km}} from the City of London—and had attractive planting and porous, gravelly, well-drained soil. This former farm land was sold to the Corporation for £30,721 and the cemetery was founded in 1854. It was laid out in 1855 by William Haywood, who designated {{convert|89|acre|m2}} for burial but also reserved land for plots sold in perpetuity, buildings, landscaping and roads. He was helped by landscape gardener Robert Davidson.[http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/upload/doc/cemetrybooklet-web.doc Web booklet on Cemeteries by English Heritage (2003)] In selecting planting, Haywood and Simon were guided by John Claudius Loudon's On the Laying Out, Planting, and Managing of Cemeteries (1843). The total cost is estimated at over £45,000, which is approximately £26,000 more than originally planned.

The first interment was on 24 June 1856, although the cemetery was not consecrated until November 1857, due to legal difficulties (which were solved in the Burial Act 1857). It is estimated that in 1858 around 2,700 interments took place. Approximately 600,000 people have been interred here and with the remains from over 30 London churchyards also placed on the site, the figure is approaching 1 million.{{Cite web |url=http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Community_and_living/Deaths_funerals_and_cremations/Cemetery_and_crematorium/burial_registers.htm |title=Registers (Burials) |access-date=2012-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323044857/http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/LGNL_Services/Community_and_living/Deaths_funerals_and_cremations/Cemetery_and_crematorium/burial_registers.htm |archive-date=2012-03-23 |url-status=dead }}

At the beginning of the 20th century a crematorium was built (designed by D. J. Ross), at a cost of around £7,000 and was opened on 25 October 1904 in the presence of Sir Henry Thompson.

In 1937 a garden of rest was constructed, followed by a series of memorial gardens, today with an estimated 20,000 rose bushes.

A new crematorium was built in 1971 to a design by E. G. Chandler. It is a modern, symmetrical building containing two chapels and a basement crematory.

The cemetery has been in continuous use since its opening. Many of the churches that were demolished in London had their dead reinterred in the City of London Cemetery (see § Reburial and memorials).

= Importance =

The cemetery grounds have been listed Grade I on the Historic England National Register of Parks and Gardens.{{NHLE|num=1000286|desc=City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}} Eight Grade II listed buildings on the National Heritage List for England are also associated with the cemetery, these are the Main Entrance Screen and Lodges,{{NHLE|num=1080984|desc=Main Entrance Screen and Lodges at City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}} the Non Conformist Mortuary Chapel,{{NHLE|num=1080985|desc=Non Conformist Mortuary Chapel East End of Chapel Avenue at City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}} the Columbarium,{{NHLE|num=1080986|desc=Columbarium at City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}} the Monument at the South End of the Columbarium and Non Conformist Chapel,{{NHLE|num=1000286|desc=Monument at southeEnd of Axis at south end of Axis South from Columbarium and Non Conformist Chapel at City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}} the monument to William Haywood,{{NHLE|num=1190633|desc=Mausoleum to Lieutenant Colonel W. Haywood at City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}} the cottage,{{NHLE|num=1293711|desc=Cottage at City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}} and the Central Avenue chapel and the South Chapel{{NHLE|num=1357988|desc=Chapel (Central Avenue) City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}}{{NHLE|num=1357999|desc=South Chapel City of London Cemetery|access-date=11 February 2016|mode=cs2}}

Facilities

City of London Cemetery and Crematorium, which has received the Green Flag Award,[http://www.greenflagaward.org.uk/winners/GSP000935/ City of London Cemetery and Crematorium] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907032310/http://www.greenflagaward.org.uk/winners/GSP000935/ |date=2008-09-07 }} (Green Flag Award winners) accessed 11 January 2009 is open 365 days a year and contains formal gardens, roadways, and over 3,500 mature trees in a rolling landscape. It has uniformed information staff, a florist shop and a café with its own garden.{{Cite web |url=http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/GreenFlagAwardSites/London/Default.aspx?parkID=456 |title=City of London Cemetery and Crematorium |access-date=2012-02-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120305195839/http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/GreenFlagAwardSites/London/Default.aspx?parkID=456 |archive-date=2012-03-05 |url-status=dead }}

The cemetery has different burial sites, an Anglican Chapel with a {{convert|61|ft|m|abbr=on}} spire, and a round Dissenter's Chapel (designed by William Haywood), although the cemetery and crematorium is today non-denominational. There are now two crematoria, designated the Old and the New. The Old Crematorium is no longer in use as a crematorium but is used as a chapel. There is also a chapel of remembrance and a columbarium. The cemetery is one of only a few cemeteries in London with catacombs. This however has proven to be an unpopular method of burial; part of the unused catacombs have now been converted into columbarium space.

Despite having over 150,000 gravesites the cemetery is reaching capacity. New burials have begun to be placed above older burials, leaving deep interments undisturbed.{{Citation

|last=Walker

|first=Blair S.

|date=1 December 2009

|title=Stacking Up the Departed in London

|series=In the News

|periodical=AARP Bulletin

|issn=1044-1123

|publisher=AARP Publications

|volume=50

|issue=10

|pages=8

|url=http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/family/articles/stacking_up_the_departed_in_london.html

|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091212041556/http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/family/articles/stacking_up_the_departed_in_london.html

|archivedate=12 December 2009

|accessdate=18 December 2009

|url-status=dead

}} These new burials involve advice from experts, and the family of the previously buried if known.

There are 729 identified Commonwealth service personnel of the First and Second World Wars commemorated at the cemetery, many buried in a War Graves plot, which has a Cross of Sacrifice and a Screen Wall memorial that lists casualties who are buried in the plot or elsewhere in the cemetery without headstones, and those cremated at the City of London Crematorium. Many of the soldiers died at the Bethnal Green Military Hospital.[http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/38300/CITY%20OF%20LONDON%20CEMETERY%20AND%20CREMATORIUM,%20MANOR%20PARK] CWGC Cemetery Report.

The Cemetery provides a car park, but allows vehicle permissive access to cemetery roads. It is served by National Rail and London Underground stations, and London Transport buses.

Reburial and memorials

The Union of Benefices Act 1860 allowed for the demolition of many unused City churches, and for the reinterment of the remains in the City of London Cemetery. The cemetery also contains inhumations from London churches destroyed during the Blitz.

Some churches were destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and never rebuilt due to the Rebuilding Act. Many were joined with other parishes. The remains in their churchyards were either left, moved to a new location or to this cemetery (sometimes at a later date). Among these were:

Notable burials

People reputed to have been reinterred here:

Size

It is the third largest such municipal facility in the United Kingdom. Roselawn Cemetery in Belfast, with approximately {{convert|280|acre|ha|sigfig=3}} in surface area, is considered the largest. Brookwood Cemetery, which was privately owned until purchased by Woking Borough Council in 2014 is larger than the City of London Cemetery by surface area at {{convert|220|acre|ha|sigfig=3}}{{cite web | url=https://www.woking.gov.uk/property-and-land/brookwood-cemetery | title=Brookwood Cemetery | date=2 November 2018 }}

Gallery

File:City of london cemetery gate.jpg|Cemetery gates

File:City of London Cemetery and Crematorium Anglican Church chapel east facade.jpg|Anglican Chapel

File:Dissenters' Chapel at City of London Cemetery and Crematorium 1.jpg|Dissenters Chapel

File:City of London Cemetery - Traditional crematorium East Chapel.jpg|Traditional crematorium East Chapel

File:Catacomb - geograph.org.uk - 518918.jpg|Columbarium and catacombs

File:Catacomb columbarium interior - City of London Cemetery, Newham, London England 01.jpg|Catacomb interior

File:A view of foral tributes and crematorium at City of London Cemetery.jpg|New Crematorium

File:City of London Cemetery and Crematorium ~ grave monuments lining Central Avenue.jpg|Central Avenue

File:William Haywood tomb at City of London Cemetery and Crematorium 1.jpg|William J. Haywood mausoleum

File:City of London Cemetery - St Dionis Backchurch reburials monument - Newham, London England 2.jpg|St Dionis Backchurch reburials monument

File:Vigiland memorial monument at the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium 1.jpg|Vigiland monument

File:City of London Cemetery - WWI memorial and graves of combatants - Newham, London England 01.jpg|First World War Cross of Sacrifice memorial and war graves

File:Mary Ann Nichols grave marker at City of London Cemetery and Crematorium 1.jpg|Mary Ann Nichols' grave marker

File:City of London Cemetery - Bobby Moore grave plaque in the Memorial Gardens.jpg|Bobby Moore grave plaque

File:Christopher Wicking grave stone - City of London Cemetery, Newham, London England.jpg|Christopher Wicking grave

File:City of London Cemetery and Crematorium ~ Café patio garden red umbrellas 01.jpg|Café

File:City of London Cemetery - flowering shrubs 06.jpg|Cemetery rhododendron

References

{{Reflist}}

Further reading

  • Beach, Darren, London's Cemeteries, Metro Guides, 2006.
  • Meller, Hugh & Brian Parsons, London Cemeteries: an illustrated guide and gazetteer, The History Press, 2008.
  • Francis, Doris with Leonie Kellaher and Georgina Neophytou, The Secret Cemetery, Berg Publishers, 2005

External links

{{Commons category|City of London Cemetery and Crematorium}}

  • {{Official website}}

{{Coord|51.560|0.048|region:GB_type:landmark|display=title}}

{{Crematoria in England}}

{{Cemeteries in London}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1856 establishments in England

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1856

Category:Cemeteries established in the 1850s

Category:Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Newham

Category:Grade II listed buildings in the London Borough of Newham

Category:Grade II listed monuments and memorials

Category:Grade I listed parks and gardens in London

Category:Parks and open spaces of the City of London Corporation

Category:Crematoria in England

Category:Crematoria in London

Category:Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries in England

Category:Cemeteries in London