Highgate Cemetery in North London is both sacred AND historic. It’s a beautiful place to walk around & I very often visit there when I am in London. World famous, it was originally built in 1839 as one of 7 private burial grounds in the city & is divided into ‘western’ & ‘eastern’. I believe there used to be a tunnel that went beneath Swains Lane, the road that separates the two areas. Then after a funeral, the coffin was transported from the Chapel over to the east side for burial. The Grade 1 listed park is now run by “The Friends of Highgate Cemetery”
There are around 170, 000 people buried here – some very famous people including Karl Marx, Douglas Adams, Sir Ralph Richardson, Max Wall & more recently Jeremy Beadle & Malcolm Maclaren. The cemetery is a mix of gravestones, memorials & mausoleums (some are listed). Many TV shows & films have referenced here, including Bram Stoker in his ‘Dracula’ novel. More recently Audrey Niffenegger who wrote the brilliant ‘The Time Travellers Wife’ based her latest novel ‘Her Fearful Symmetry’ on Highgate Cemetery. So as you can see, this ain’t no ordinary place…
