cavingliz non-cave albums: Nunhead Cemetery

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Nunhead Cemetery

The "Magnificent Seven" are seven private Victorian cemeteries in London, dating back to the 19th century. They were built in a ring outside the centre of London in an attempt to help overcrowding in existing parish burial grounds.

Traditionally, people who died in London were buried in churchyards. But when the population of London doubled in the first half of the 19th century, these churchyards became overcrowded leading to epidemics and pollutants getting into the water supply, carried by the sewer rats.

In the 1830s, seven cemeteries were established around London. One of these was at Nunhead. Nunhead is located near Peckham and Honor Oak in SE London, in the borough of Southwark.

Nunhead Cemetery dates back to 1840.

It was originally called All Saints. Out of the seven cemeteries, Nunhead is probably the least known although it is the 2nd largest. It doesn't have any particularly famous people buried there. There are however some imposing monuments, tall columns and ornate tombs, as well as simple headstones denoting the public burials.
The main gate is on Linden Grove -

Tombs and grave stones in the frost -

The Victorian section is quite overgrown and many of the tombs are leaning or covered with vines.

This Anglican chapel is now derelict, due to an arson attack in the 1970s -

View from the chapel to the London Eye -

One of the newer sections is set aside for Muslim burials -

I was surprised that this one had wreaths and Christmas decorations -

There are also 1st and 2nd World War graves.

The cemetery was nearly full by the middle of the 20th century so was no longer used. The lawns became meadows and then woodland. Today the site is classed as a Local Nature Reserve. Trees and vegetation have hidden and covered many of the tombstones and are a haven for birds.