Highgate West Cemetery is probably the most famous of London’s ‘Magnificent Seven’ burial grounds, with the cemetery split into an eastern and western portion. The earliest part of the cemetery, the north-western wooded area, opened in 1839 and was designed by architect and entrepreneur Stephen Geary. Geary had applied to design Kensal Green Cemetery 8 years earlier but was unsuccessful. Like other cemeteries at the time much of the space was reserved for use by the Church of England and other space set aside of Dissenters or those of other faiths. The cemetery is home to a wealth of elaborate Gothic tombs and buildings which it owes to the Victorian fascination and fixation on death ritual. Like Kensal Green the cemetery’s grounds are a haven for birds, animals like foxes and many wildflowers, trees and shrubbery. One of the most well-known features of the west cemetery is the fantastic Egyptian Avenue and the Circle of Lebanon, both Grade I listed buildings. The western cemetery is characterised by tombs and winding paths cut into the hillside and at its highest point the Terrace Catacombs and the Tomb of Julius Beer, banker and owner of the Observer Newspaper, take pride of place. The entrance to the cemetery is flanked by two symmetrical small mortuary chapels designed by Stephen Geary in a Tudor Gothic style, one Anglican and one for Dissenters.
The Egyptian Avenue was created at a time when there was a fascination with the Egyptian Style. The Egyptian Hall, designed by Peter Frederick Robinson in Piccadilly was a very popular venue, museum and held art exhibitions, magic shows and even Victorian ‘freak shows’ between 1812 and 1904 when it was demolished. The avenue is set between a pair of obelisks, with an Egyptian archway flanked by pairs of lotus-bud columns, at its centre was the familiar Egyptian motif of a winged disc. Originally beyond the gates the tombs would have been roofed, and this tunnel would have given the impression of walking deep into an Egyptian tomb. The Egyptian Avenue leads to the Circle of Lebanon at the centre of which was a Cedar of Lebanon. The tree was thought to be well over 100 years at the time of the layout of the cemetery but was found to be diseased and was removed in August 2019, then replaced with a new tree. The tree is surrounded by twenty vaults, the ones facing outwards from the tree are Egyptian revival style while the newer circle of inward facing tombs are classical style as the Egyptian revival had gone out of fashion by the time of their construction.
One of the more unusual stories connected to the west cemetery is around the burial of Elizabeth Siddal, the wife of the artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti who died from a laudanum overdose in 1862. Her husband in the height of grief buried a book of poems he had written in her grave however by 1869 he deeply regretted this and applied to have her grave exhumed so he could retrieve the book. He was not present at the exhumation but did appear disturbed by what he had enacted and wrote, “Let me not on any account be buried at Highgate’! Dantes’s sister Christina is also buried at Highgate, she was a poet of note and was involved in a charity called the ‘House of Mercy’ for women and girls who worked as prostitutes in the area around Highgate, many of whom are buried in an unmarked grave.
Of course, no article on Highgate Cemetery can fail to mention the infamous Highgate ‘Vampire’. This unusual case happened in 1970 in the wake of several ‘vampire scares’ including one in Tottenham Park Graveyard. In February 1970 a letter by a David Farrant an author with an interest in the occult, was published in the Hampstead and Highgate Express who said that when passing Highgate Cemetery on the 24th of December 1969 that he had glimpsed a ‘grey figure’ he deemed to be supernatural. A week later several people replied saying they had seen a variety of ghosts at Highgate, these ghosts were described as a tall man in a hat, a cyclist ghost, a woman in white, a face glaring through the bars of a gate, a figure wading into a pond, a pale gliding form, bells ringing, and voices calling. Another author and self-proclaimed exorcist named Sean Manchester claimed that the figure was a vampire or indeed the king of the vampires. A rivalry developed between the two men, each claiming they would destroy the vampire. On Friday 13th March ITV interviewed the two men and within two hours of transmission a mob of ‘vampire hunters’ had swarmed over the locked gates of the cemetery despite police presence. On 1st August 1970 the charred and headless remains of a woman was found not far from the catacombs and the police feared it has been used for black magic purposes. Later that same moth Farrant was arrested for entering the locked cemetery one night carrying a crucifix and wooden stake. The Horror Film starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee Dracula AD 1972 was said to have been inspired by the ‘Vampire’. Footage of Highgate appears in numerous British horror films, including Taste the Blood of Dracula starring Christopher Lee (1970), Tales from the Crypt (1972) starring Joan Collins and From Beyond the Grave (1974) starring Peter Cushing.
There are hundreds of notable burials at Highgate West including the parents, wife, brother and sister of Charles Dickens. The Painter Lucien Freud. John William Griffith, architect of Kensal Green cemetery, who seemingly preferred to be buried in the more prestigious Highgate! Stephen Geary, the architect of Highgate. Henry Gray, anatomist and surgeon, George Michael (singer) and Tom Smith, the creator the Christmas Cracker. I highly recommend a visit to Highgate Cemetery if visiting London, it’s a world away from the hustle and bustle of the city and a lovely area to spend a few hours.
GPS: 51.56714, -0.14702