One of the 'Magnificent Seven', West Norwood Cemetery was founded by its own act of Parliament of 1836 and consecrated for its first burials in 1837. It sits in 40 acres of land and has hosted around 200,000 interments.
Its grounds are a mixture of historic monumental cemetery and modern lawn cemetery, but it also has catacombs, cremation plots and a columbarium for cinerary ashes. The cemetery's crematorium still operates, but all the conventional and cremated remains burial plots have been allocated and hence it is closed to new burials pending further agreement under current burial legislation.
West Norwood Cemetery is particularly well-known for its fabulous tombs and monuments, many or them listed. It's also the final resting place for many prominent public figures, partularly artists and engineers. We will explore as many of these as possible in our 90 minute (approx) tour. We particularly look forward to seeing inside the newly restored St Stephen’s Chapel in the Hellenic Enclosure.
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