18.11.19
NB: If you don’t like cemeteries, this blog post is not for you.
In 2016 the Partybanks’ tried to visit Highgate Cemetery only to arrive and find it just about to close for the day.
In 2019, you can only visit the west cemetery if you book on a tour. There is also a charge to visit the east cemetery. I’m not surprised. The maintenance on such a huge area must be phenomenal. Add to the mix that the cemetery is run by a charity these days, to be honest, you have to wonder about it’s future viability. Lucky it is so stunning.
It is the most beautiful and peaceful place.
And crooked and run down and abandoned.
The reason the West Cemetery is ‘visit by tour group only’, is that it is dangerous!
So, how can you spend a whole day in a cemetery? So easily!
We started in the East Cemetery, the less ‘ostentatious’ of the two. Armed with a map of ‘famous’ graves to visit, we found the ones that hit a nerve.
George Eliot (novelist), Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), Malcolm McLaren (Sex Pistols) and Sidney Nolan.
The most famous of course is KM. Howdy comrade!
Others unknown to us were simply interesting for their individuality.
This headstone was a homage to being gay. Note the two penguins holding hands (usually one on the actual books), and the word ‘Partner’ with space left for the usual ‘s’. Jim Horn lived 1976-2010.
Anna, daughter of Gustav. She lived a good age but the sculpture, I think, says ‘grief’.
This one is simply out there!
The West Cemetery which was the oldest, showed the importance and connection the Victorians placed on burial, status and wealth.
The closer you were to the ‘main drag’, the more you paid for the plot, and the more elaborate was your memorial.
The attention to detail was amazing.
This bloke was a coach (as in horse) driver who broke the record of travelling between London and Brighton. His prize money paid for his monument!
Note the horse whip and horse shoes!
This mausoleum paid homage to a military man. The posts on the chain fence were cannons!
The West Cemetery is famous for various features reflecting the passion of the times. The Egyptian Avenue, lined with 8 private vaults on either side, is a passageway entered by a huge arch flanked by columns and obelisks.
The Egyptian Avenue leads directly on to the heart of the West Cemetery, The Circle of Lebanon.
The huge cedar tree at its centre had just been removed because of the damage it was doing to the vaults below! But the good news is they are replacing it. So in another 100 years, it should look like this again!
Above the Circle of Lebanon are the Terrace Catacombs. It’s pretty eerie wandering along the corridors, with coffins still fully visible in various states of disrepair.
But I have to say, the angels were my favourites.
Sometimes pointing or looking upward, they represented resurrection and indicated the deceased on the way to heaven. An angel looking downwards represented mourning.
So beautiful.
Kanga And Wombats Adventures 