Highgate might be a bit too far to head out on one of our days. It looks so cool but it's quite a way out I think. Is there any other cool old Cemetery's in close to the center of London?
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5865 posts
Highgate isn't very far from central London. It is only about a 20 minute tube ride from Leicester Square and then about a 20 minute walk from the tube station.
Posted by
Gig Harbor, Washington, USA
1869 posts
Google "cross bones cemetery" which is near Southwark Cathedral and Borough Market and see if it intrigues you.
Posted by
near Ringwood, Hampshire, UK
521 posts
There is a really interesting Wikipedia page about London cemetaries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cemeteries_in_London Each cemetary listed has a link where you can click through to a more detailed article. Before the early to mid-19th century most burials took place in churchyards, but over the centuries the ground filled up and so graves were re-used, with bones being moved to crypts. The coming of the railways meant that large municipal cemetaries could be built some distance out of London, and there were funeral trains to take the coffins and mourners out to them. One of these, Brookwood, even had its own railway station next to Waterloo, called London Necropolis, opened 1854.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
Highgate is the closest of the large cemetaries to central London. One interesting if slightly morbid attraction near the centre is Postman's Park near St Paul's Cathedral, which has a wall of tiles memorialising people who died heroically. They date from the turn of the nineteenth/twentieth century, but a new person was added in 2009.
Posted by
Camano Island, WA, usa
1526 posts
If you are also going to Scotland the Necropolis in Glasgow is the epitome of a Victorian Cemetary. Be sure to visit Grey Friers Bobby and Sir Walter Scott's memorial in Edinburgh. Also throughout London and especially along the Thames there are several memorials to the Dead of the many wars and the Plague.
Posted by
Berkeley, California, USA
4 posts
Highgate is not too far by Tube from central London, you wouldn't spend more than half a day, including travel time, so if cemeteries interest you it is waaay worthwhile. --Mags
Posted by
Arlington, WA
993 posts
Google The Magnificent Seven Cemeteries... There 2 parts to Highgate. The old and the older. You will need reservations for the older since they only allow guided tours and if memory serves.. on a day for, again, ims, for no more than 15 people. Kensal Green is also wonderful.