HIGHGATE CEMETERY - The 19th Century

In the early decades of the nineteenth century London faced a crisis. Inadequate burial space along with high mortality rates resulted in a lack of room for the dead. Graveyards and burial grounds were created between shops, houses and taverns - anywhere there was space. On occasions, undertakers dressed as clergy and performed unauthorized and illegal funerals. Bodies were wrapped in cheap material and buried amongst other human remains in graves sometimes just a few feet deep. Quicklime was thrown over the body to help decomposition, so that within a few months the grave could be used again. The stench from these disease-ridden burial places was terrible. They were overcrowded, uncared for and neglected.

Part of the problem was that in the early 1800s London had a population of just 1 million. Within a few decades the population had increased to 2.3 million and was still rising. By the 1830s the population of London had virtually doubled and the authorities realized that provision would have to be made for the increasing numbers of deaths and to that end Parliament passed an act that saw the creation of seven new private cemeteries. These cemeteries were Kensal Green (1833), West Norwood (1836), Highgate (1839), Abney Park (1840), Brompton (1840), Nunhead (1840) and Tower Hamlets (1841).

Then in 1836 an Act of Parliament was passed creating The London Cemetery Company. Stephen Geary, the company’s founder, appointed James Bunstone Bunning as surveyor and David Ramsey as landscape gardener. A head office was opened at 22 Moorgate Street, London.

Just over three and a half thousand pounds was paid for seventeen acres of land that had been the grounds of the Ashurst Estate, descending the steep hillside from Highgate Village. Over the next three years the cemetery was landscaped to brilliant effect by Ramsey with exotic formal planting which was complimented by stunning and unique architecture by Geary and Bunning. It was this combination that was to secure Highgate as the capital’s principal cemetery.

The unparalleled elevation overlooking London, with its highest point being 375’ above sea level, along with unique architecture, meant that the wealthy were encouraged to invest.

Two Tudor style chapels were built, topped with wooden turrets and a central bell tower. In the very heart of the grounds was created the grandest and most eccentric structure, an avenue of vaults on either side of a passageway entered through a great arch. It was created in the Egyptian style which was so in vogue following the discovery of the Valley of the Kings. These vaults were fitted with shelves for 12 coffins. The avenue led into the Circle of Lebanon, built in the same style. This circle was created by earth being excavated around an ancient Cedar of Lebanon, a legacy of the Ashurst Estate and used to great effect by the cemetery’s designers. Above this, catacombs in the gothic style, with an impressive 80 yard frontage, with room for a total of 825 people, were completed in 1842.

On Monday 20th May 1839 The London Cemetery at Highgate was dedicated to St James by the Right Reverend Charles James Bloomfield, Lord Bishop of London. 15 acres were consecrated for the use of the Church of England and 2 acres set aside for so-called Dissenters.

Rights of burial were sold in perpetuity and the first burial on 26th May was of Elizabeth Jackson of Little Windmill Street, Soho.

Highgate became a great success, attracting a varied clientele and soon becoming one of the capital’s most fashionable cemeteries. In 1854 the London Cemetery Company was doing so well that the cemetery was extended by a further 20 acres on the other side of its Swains Lane site. This extension was made possible under the regulations set down by the original London Cemetery Act of 1836.

This new ground, now known as the East Cemetery, was opened in 1856. A tunnel beneath Swains Lane connected the new ground with the Anglican chapel in the older (West) side. With the aid of a hydraulic catafalque, coffins could descend into the tunnel and remain on consecrated cemetery ground for their entry to the other half of the cemetery.

The first burial in the new ground took place on 12th June 1860. There were over 10,400 graves by this point within the cemetery, which then continued to be used on both sides. During this decade over 30 burials a day took place and by the 1870’s the profits were so good that an outer set of tombs was added to the Lebanon circle in the classical style, which had then returned to fashion.