11am-12.30pm
The Friends of West Norwood Cemetery are experts on the cemetery, with research continued over thirty years into its social history, and the characters buried here.
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Advance booking is by donation (minimum £1 + 2% EVB fee) and essential due to limited places HERE
The definitive guide books were researched and published by the Friends, and form the basis of general knowledge of this cemetery. Our specialist guides have access to both our published and unpublished research, giving you the widest and deepest understanding of the significance of this cemetery.
West Norwood Cemetery was the second of the Magnificent Seven: early Victorian cemeteries set up by private companies between 1833-1841 to provide for London’s expanding population. Your guide is an expert on the Victorian era.
West Norwood was the first Gothic-Revival cemetery, the buildings and landscaping designed by William Tite (who was himself interred in the catacombs). In addition to original features like the entrance arch, and iron railings made by Bramah & Robinson (the two Gothic chapels, Anglican and Nonconformist, have not survived), a key feature of the cemetery is its ornate Gothic monuments and mausolea. Known as the Millionaires’ Cemetery, West Norwood is predominantly the resting place of self-made industrialists (often inventors) and manufacturers. The sheer variety of stylised grave stones and monuments (Gothic, Classical, Italianate, Egyptian) is a testament to the commercial expansion of nineteenth-century memorial masonry which, crucially, enabled the self-fashioning of new identities.
Please meet at the arched main entrance on the corner of Norwood Road and Robson Road.
How to get here:
West Norwood Cemetery and Crematorium SE27 9JU is next to St Luke's Church and West Norwood Library
Buses: 2, 68, 196, 315, 322, 432 and 468 (several of these routes go via Brixton Tube Station: 2, 196, 322, 432). Robson Road stop
Train: West Norwood Station (trains to and from London Bridge/Victoria)
Find out more about the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery here
