Crows and cemeteries were made for each other. Mournful cries fill the air as the birds perch on crumbling memorials, wings flapping, dark feathers flying.
But there’s nothing mournful about Brompton Cemetery in south-west London.
One of the so-called Magnificent Seven Victorian garden cemeteries that circle the capital, Brompton is full of life.
Joggers, cyclists and dog walkers use the tree lined paths all day long, office workers tuck in to packed lunches, city dwellers take a breath of fresh air down among the dead.
And people like us travel from miles away to poke around the graves of the rich, famous and fascinating.
Maintained by the Royal Parks, Brompton’s late inhabitants may not be as well known as those interred at Highgate or Nunhead, nor is it as picturesquely overgrown as Tower Hamlets’ cemetery, but it is a place for the living not just the dear departed.
And that’s exactly what the Victorians were aiming for – beautifully landscaped burial grounds where families could pay their respects to their ancestors, see and be seen and enjoy a leisurely stroll.
Of course, you needed to be pretty wealthy to land a plot on Central Avenue or in the Great Circle, but there was still room for the less well-off, although as a private burial ground it has very few pauper’s graves.
The cemetery is still in use today, so of course visitors must stay on the paths and respect the graves.
Brompton Cemetery quick facts:
• It opened in June 1840 as the West of London and Westminster Cemetery
• The founder was architect, inventor and entrepreneur Stephen Geary
• It covers nearly 40 acres of land between Old Brompton and Fulham Road
• More than 205,000 people are buried there in 35,000 graves
• The catacombs can hold 500 coffins, although not every space is filled
• People from at least 40 different nationalities are buried there
• Around 700,000 people visit the cemetery every year
Self-guided tours of Brompton Cemetery
The cemetery is open every day from 7 am and closes at dusk, and you’ll need plenty of time to explore its 40 acres.
Pick up a free visitor guide at the information desk for a map that will lead you to the most popular memorials. If you want more detail, for a small donation take the booklet that gives you a choice of four, self-guided walks which cover the Top 100 graves and sights.
The Top 25 walk will introduce you to some of the most memorable memorials.
There’s the final resting place of Suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, a pre-Raphaelite stone and copper monument designed by Edward Burne-Jones for the shipping magnate Frederick Leyland and the unassuming and easily-missed grave of Emma Shaw, the first woman to be buried in the cemetery in 1840.
The fastest man on the Thames, Robert Coombes is commemorated with an upturned rowing boat and Percy Lambert, the first person to drive more than 100 miles per hour is honoured with a broken column, signifying a life cut short. He died trying to regain the record he’d won, then promptly lost to another driver.
If that’s all too hectic for you, simply stroll through the pale stone arched colonnades of the Great Circle to view the elegant chapel.
And there are the catacombs, only open to tours a few times each year, but lovers of the macabre can gawp through the gates at an array of mouldering coffins.
The Garden Cemetery walk is for nature lovers, highlighting wildlife and the beautiful trees – planes, yew, maple, birch and more – that sustain them.
Heroes and Pioneers will lead you to military medal winners, arctic explorers, medical masters and sporting prodigies, or you can focus on the writers, artists and performers who’ve taken their final bow and now form part of the Creative Characters trail.
Opera singers rub shoulders with Music Hall artistes, entrepreneurs and journalists. On this walk you’ll discover another intricately carved Pre-Raphaelite tomb, marking the life of Valentine Prinsep who, destined by his family for the Civil Service, defied expectations and became an artist and writer instead.
Or you can do it the way we did – just ping-pong about, looking for the silver stud markers set in the paths, reading the strategically placed information boards and finding those who refused to be categorised in death as well as life.
Our favourites at Brompton Cemetery
This is our own, eclectic mix of the ones we were most drawn to.
John ‘Gentleman’ Jackson
A mighty stone lion tops the boxer’s tomb, signifying his fighting spirit.
I’m a big fan of Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances, and we do live close to the Prince Regent’s fantasy palace, so we had to stop by.
In April 1795, Jackson unexpectedly beat the much more experienced fighter Daniel Mendoza, to take the title Boxing Champion of England. He almost immediately retired and set up an academy for the gentry, teaching young bucks how to fight fair.
It was a shrewd move, never having to defend his title and becoming a firm favourite in polite circles. In 1821, Jackson supplied and supervised a force of unarmed men to keep the peace at Westminster Abbey as the Prince, who was by then pretty unpopular, was crowned King George IV.
When Jackson died in 1845, aged 76, friends and admirers clubbed together to erect the huge memorial.
Hannah Courtnoy
Graves have long been portrayed as a portal to the underworld, but could this mausoleum actually be a Time Machine?
Hannah was an unusual woman in her time, living with but never marrying an older man. When he died, he controversially left her all his money, which in turn paid for an elaborate Egyptian-style tomb for Hannah.
Its strange doors and surrounding symbols have led people to speculate it’s actually a Victorian, time-travelling Tardis.
Susannah Nutkins
No-one knows much about the Nutkins family, but Susannah’s gravestone may have given rise to one of the most well-known characters in children’s fiction. Beatrix Potter used to regularly visit Brompton cemetery when she was a child and studied the wildlife there, and it’s possible the names she read made their way into her famous tales later on.
Rumour has it there’s a Jeremiah Fisher somewhere in the cemetery along with a handful of McGregors, three Thomas Brocks and a Mr Tod. Sadly, we didn’t find any of them.
Kit Lambert
A tribute to an often-maligned character in the music business – The Manager.
Without Kit Lambert, it’s hard to say if The Who would have become the superstars they are today. He produced their first UK hit I’m a Boy, and Pete Townshend has publicly credited Lambert with influencing him to write the rock opera Tommy.
As with so many rock ‘n’ roll stories, it all came crashing down and Kit died in 1981, after falling down a flight of stairs.
Brian Glover
Tucked away beside the railway track, not far from the Brigade of Guards monument, was a grave I personally wanted to visit, to remember the most delightful person I have ever interviewed. In my former career as a radio presenter, I met a host of famous people, almost all of them professional, polite and a pleasure to work with.
But Brian Glover stood out from the crowd. He must have answered the same questions about his life and work dozens of times, but every answer he gave me was diamond-bright, like he was telling the story for the first time. And he made me feel like I was the only person ever to have heard it.
A wrestler-turned-actor-turned-writer, with a string of TV and film credits to his name, I will never forget his portrayal of God, standing atop a real forklift truck, as part of the Royal National Theatre’s Mysteries.
Pure gold. Thank you Brian Glover.
Visiting Brompton Cemetery
The easiest way is by train.
West Brompton Station is just two minutes walk from the cemetery gates and is served by both the District Line and the West London overground service between Clapham Junction and Stratford.
For more information and updates on daily closing times, see the Royal Parks website
For details of the regular Sunday afternoon guided tours, catacomb open days and special themed walks, all run by the Friends of Brompton Cemetery, see their website
There is a small café at the entrance serving drinks and snacks.
If you’ve visited Brompton Cemetery, whose resting place were you most interested to find?
Where to next?
• Brighton Tomb Trail
• Fuller’s Follies
• Take a history walk