West Norwood Cemetery - Site

Site

Reckoned to hold the finest collection of sepulchral monuments in London, it features 69 Grade II and Grade II* listed buildings and structures, including a dedicated Greek Orthodox necropolis with 19 listed mausoleums and monuments. It is one of the Magnificent Seven metropolitan lawn cemeteries of the Victorian era, and its extensive Gothic Revival architecture qualifies it as one of the significant cemeteries in Europe.

Lambeth have recognised it as a site of nature conservation value within the Borough in addition to its outstanding value as a site of national historic and cultural interest. English Heritage have placed it on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, describing it as the first cemetery to be designed in the Gothic Revival style. The entrance gate is set within railings, painted a historically accurate 'spice' brown. Railings and walls were kept high in order to dispel fears of body snatchers. There is second entrance nearby, normally kept locked, in Norwood High Street which is close to West Norwood railway station.

It is a mixture of cleared, manicured, and mature landscaping, and includes Anglican and unconsecrated burial grounds, a crematorium, memorial gardens, columbarium, recordia, chapel, vaults and catacombs on top of a gently rolling hill, with views across South London. The larger plots on the central higher ground and by the main drives were originally sold as prime locations and are the site of some of the grander Anglican monuments and mausolea, while the Greek Orthodox necropolis in the North East contains a high density of neoclassical architecture.

Many of these mausolea are listed, such as the Grade II mausoleum for Sir Henry Doulton's family, constructed appropriately of pottery and terrcotta. As a contrast, just a few yards to the west of the crematorium is the very simple headstone to Isabella Mary Mayson Beeton, aka Mrs Beeton, the Victorian cookery writer.