Kensington’s Great Sister Cemeteries of Kensal Green And Brompton
The massive increase in London’s population during the early nineteenth century overwhelmed the capital’s capacity to bury the dead. The deplorable overcrowding of churchyards and burial grounds that resulted was not tackled by the Government but by private enterprises opening what came to be known as the Magnificent Seven Cemeteries of London.
This cordon sanitaire of ‘garden’ cemeteries, opening between 1833 and 1841, offered plots in perpetuity which encouraged extravagant expenditure and this has left us with a never-to-be-repeated legacy of splendid monuments, many now pleasantly weathered and romantically overgrown.
Kensington is the only London borough lucky enough to contain two of these cemeteries that serve as attractive wildlife havens. Although varying widely in size and layout, both are listed Grade I in English Heritage’s Register of Parks and Gardens, and within their combined 112 acres contain an outstanding collection of listed buildings and monuments. This illustrated lecture will compare their founding, architecture, monuments and notable occupants.
Robert Stephenson is the chairman of the National Federation of Cemetery Friends and is a trustee of the Friends of Kensal Green and of Brompton Cemeteries, having guided at both for over twenty years.
