Highgate Cemetery

Just over a year ago my aunty visited Highgate Cemetery and I remember thinking why on earth would you want to visit a graveyard…. Not what you’d call traditional entertainment?

Nevertheless, last weekend I found myself in Highgate, it was a beautiful day and I thought why the hell not (Although I suppose hell is a touchy subject in graveyards). Apparently the cemetery also provided some inspiration for the Harry Potter films so of course that sealed the deal.

The cemetery was built in 1836 to house the ever-growing number of people in need of an eternal home around London. It took three years to build and opened its gates to the first guest in 1839. The planners based the cemetery on Victorian parks which means there is plenty of green space – best of all it had a view over central London but was far enough away to be very peaceful. These factors meant Highgate Cemetery became a very sort after resting spot almost immediately.

The first guest in the cemetery was Elizabeth Jackson and she had to wait quite a while for some company. At first the occupants spread out and didn’t want to be near the entrance or the main pathway, however later, due to demand they didn’t get a choice.

The Victorians had a very different attitude to death than we do today which has led to a very gothic looking cemetery. The most notable is the circle of Lebanon, one of the main reasons it took over three years to open, they had to dig out huge mounds of earth to create this spectacular place. The tree in the middle is held up with the help of the catacombs, without the circle of lebanon it wouldn’t still be here!

The whole Victorian funeral was much showier than the affair we have today, the bigger the procession the better. A bigger funeral meant you were seen as ‘higher’ in Victorian society which led to jobs as ‘professional mourners’ these were usually men or boys who you could pay to come and walk in your funeral party! There were shops which only catered for mourning clothes, women were expected to wear these for at least two years after the death of their husband. In fact Topshop on Oxford Street used to be the place to get your mourning clothes from.

One of my favourite grave stones was one with a lion over the top. We stopped at this one for a while as the tour guide told us about the man with a travelling zoo. He started off with just a snake and within a couple of weeks he made all his money back and realised he must be onto a good thing. So he started buying more and more animals. By the end he had two lions that travelled with him and if you paid a little extra you could ride one for a bit! I think someone might have something to say about that these days.

Apparently, during a stop in a local town a kangaroo escaped from his travelling zoo and was found in a bed with a woman! The woman, who had never seen anything like it, decided it had been sent by the devil, freaked out and tried to scare it off with a tea towel! A wonderdul story that I like to believe is true.

Another grave that caught my attention was Tom Sayers – the last of the bare knuckle fighters. He fought an American guy for over 2 hours which by the end of it left one with a broken arm and the other partially blinded. A little bit different from today’s boxing! After that match he retired from boxing and took a slightly less dangerous job as a landlord, unfortunately only 5 years later he caught hypothermia after forgetting his coat when, fittingly, he’d had a little too much to drink.

Luckily for him he didn’t need to hire any professional mourners as over 100,000 people came to be part of his funeral procession. Best of all his wife/mistress wasn’t the principal mourner but it was ‘Lion’ his faithful dog who sleeps above his grave today.

Some more interesting facts:

Charles Cruft, the man who created Krufts (the worlds largest dog show) hated dogs! It was all a marketing ploy.

Alxeanda litvenkio (Russian Federal Security Servic) is buried in the West Cemetery in a led lined coffin because he is still too radioactive to be in a regular one.

Karl Marx  (German philosopher) is buried in the East Cemetery which has had two attempted bombings in the 1960/70s

Quite a few of Charles Dickens family are here – but not the man himself. He didn’t want a big funeral and wanted to be buried somewhere quiet but his last wish was ignored and he was buried at Westminster Abbey.

All of this wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the friends of Highgate cemetery. In 1960 the company who owned the graveyard went bust and for 15 years it was left to the elements and of course the robbers and vandals. Since the friends took it over they have slowly been restoring both the West and East cemetery.

If you’re thinking of visiting Highgate Cemetery there  is a tour every half hour on the weekend from 11 – 4  which costs £12 including entry to both the East and West section.