Kensal Green Cemetery
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Kensal Green Cemetery

Kensal Green Cemetery is a burial ground located in Kensal Green, London, England. It was immortalised in the lines of G. K. Chesterton "For there is good news yet to hear and fine things to be seen; Before we go to Paradise by way of Kensal Green".

Contents

History

It was incorporated in 1832 as a private company and is the oldest of the 'Magnificent Seven' cemeteries. It is still in operation and still run by the General Cemetery Company under its original Act of Parliament. This mandates that bodies there may not be exhumed and cremated or the land sold for development. Once the cemetery has exhausted all its interment space and can no longer function as a cemetery the mandate requires that it remains a memorial park. The General Cemetery Company constructed and runs the West London Crematorium within the grounds of Kensal Green Cemetery. More cremations than earth interments take place these days.

Whilst borrowing from the ideals established at Père Lachaise in Paris some years before, the Kensal Green Cemetery contributed to the design and management basis for many cemetery projects throughout the British Empire of the time. In Australia for example The Necropolis at Rookwood 1868 and Picturesque Waverley Cemetery 1877 both in Sydney are noted for their use of the "Gardenesque" landscape qualities and importantly self-sustaining management structures championed by The General Cemetery Company.

The cemetery is the burial site of approximately 250,000 individuals in 65,000 graves, including upwards of 500 members of the British nobility and 550 people listed in the Dictionary of National Biography. A garden style cemetery, Kensal Green is the oldest of seven private Victorian cemeteries located in the outskirts of London. Adjacent to Kensal Green is St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery.

Notable structures

Many buildings and structures within Kensal Green are listed. The Anglican Chapel is listed grade I, while the non-conformist Mortuary Chapel, main entrance, Wakeman Road gateway, colonnade/catacomb and perimeter walls and railings are listed grade II or II*. Of the many tombs, memorials and mausoleums, eight are listed grade II*.

Notable burials

Interred at Kensal Green is Marigold Frances Churchill, the daughter of Winston Churchill and Lady Clementine who died from a fever in 1921 at age three. Also interred are two children of King George III of the United Kingdom, who desired to be buried at Kensal Green instead of Windsor Castle: Princess Sophia and her brother, Prince Augustus Frederick.

Monuments and chapel at Kensal Green Cemetery

Other burials include:

At the centre is All Souls' Chapel, containing several tombs as well. There is also a catacomb currently not maintained.

See also

References

External links

Search Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kensal Green Cemetery

Coordinates: 51°31′43″N 0°13′27″W / 51.5286°N 0.2241°W / 51.5286; -0.2241

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensal_Green_Cemetery"

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