Gothic Literature Final Essay
History of the Victorian Cemeteries
How did the Victorians construct the architecture of their gardens of the dead? What does it suggest about Victorian memorializing? Refer to one cemetery in detail.
Not only can cemeteries be a place to reflect on life and death, they can also act as a historical record revealing a component of the society when they were first opened. The architectural choices, the kinds of people who were allowed to be buried there and their hierarchy of burial placement maintain a piece of a past time. London is home to several cemeteries also known as ‘gardens of the dead’, including the historic and infamous ‘Magnificent Seven’. Though many are no longer used for new burials, each is beautiful in its own way and each has its own unique history. In a city as busy and industrialized as London is today, these cemeteries provide a historical border to which the city of London once occupied. Over the past 20-30 years, local trusts and charities have been founded to protect these astonishing places from disrepair, and to restore them to their former glories.
In the early 19th century, London’s rapid expansion and growth in population resulted a number of problems one of which was burial practices. Before the 19th century, the deceased were buried in small parish churchyard but this became unsanitary as well as overcrowded resulting in health issues and epidemics for the living. The dense population surrounding the parish churches contracted killer diseases such as cholera, tuberculosis, diphtheria and thus from breathing in the odor of the dead. It was so contagious that gravediggers could contract typhus or smallpox just from handling the corpses of the infected. The National History museum states that “the foul state of burial grounds was highlight by some public health advocates, but the government did not take any action until the cholera epidemic of 1848 that killed 60,000 people in the UK”. This resulted in acts of change for how London was going to go about burying the dead.
Architects lobbied for the creation of suburban cemeteries, but it wasn’t until inspiration from Paris’ Père Lachaise cemetery that reform came about in 1832 when Parliament passed a bill encouraging the establishment of private cemeteries outside London known as The London Cemetery Company(4). Over the next decade, the ‘Magnificent Seven’ were established which include: Kensal Green Cemetery (1832), West Norwood Cemetery (1836), Highgate Cemetery (1839), Abney Park Cemetery (1840), Nunhead Cemetery (1840), Brompton Cemetery (1840) and Tower Hamlets Cemetery (1841). Burial grounds within the city began to close, and many remains were relocated to growing private grounds that had been established outside the city. The ‘Magnificent Seven’ began to enjoy great popularity following the Burial Acts, specifically for the newly emerging middle class. With the opening of the Magnificent Seven, graves were seen as public extensions of a family’s property and provided a place for families to establish permanent monuments of themselves to be visited and maintained even after their existence.
A key characteristic associated with Victorian England is a fascination with death and mourning. The origins of the Victorian cemetery were based on the notion of regulation and structure. Sarah Rutherford, author of The Victorian Cemetery, describes the Victorian characteristics as a “matter of real civic pride… the ultimate expression of the ‘cult of the dead’ that gripped every Victorian”. With the closure of overcrowded city centered burial grounds, the new ‘garden cemeteries’ provided a space which appealed to the era and changed the notion of what a cemetery was. Though cemeteries began to commercialize and cater to the rich, the idea of social mobility and self- aggrandizement in death was beginning to develop. The Victorian cemetery was a new way of burying people that was innovative in landscape design and in architecture. Though many of the graves are now overgrown and damaged by vandals, the original cemetery plan is still clear and the diversity of tombs provide an example of the predominantly Classical and Gothic architecture of the period.
The most famous necropolis of Victorian London is Highgate Cemetery. Highgate Cemetery is spread out over thirty-seven acres on the southern slop of Highgate Hill and lies on the west and east of Swain’s Lane. The land was previously the grounds of William Ashurst, MP and Lord Mayor of London. The western cemetery opened in 1839 as a part of the movement to provide seven large, modern cemeteries surrounding London. Its location, which is between Highgate and Hampstead, meant that many of London’s wealthy inhabitants were buried there. The initial design was by architecture and entrepreneur Stephen Geary. He appointed architect James Bunstone Bunning and renowned gardener David Ramsey. The building of Highgate took almost three years and the cemetery was officially opened in devotion to St James by Lord Ship of London, Reverend Charles James Blomfield, on May 26, 1839. The first burial was Elizabeth Jackson of Little Windmill Street, Soho who was only 36 when she passed away. She was buried on the opening day of the cemetery. Shortly after, millionaire newspaper owner Julius Beer built a colossal mausoleum for his eight year old daughter which remains in the cemetery to this day and as the cemetery’s most impressive monument.
Over the next twenty years, Highgate Cemetery saw a huge profit and “housed” over 10,000 individuals. In 1854, in addition to the seventeen acres of land on which it was first built, the burial ground saw an expansion of twenty additional acres on the other side of Swain Lane. This extension is now known as the East Cemetery, resulting in the original land to be referred to as the West Cemetery. When the East Cemetery opened in 1856 and a tunnel was also created beneath Swain’s Lane which connects the two sides of the cemetery to allow for coffins to travel from one side to the other using a hydraulic life.
The entrance to the cemetery has two chapels — one for the Anglicans and the other for the nonconformists. Both chapels have a large arch in the center which separates them and previously housed the office of the cemetery keeper giving him a full view of the both sides of the cemetery. Upon entering through the arch, there is a long horizontal arched tunnel to separate the living from the dead. The Victorian attitude towards death is predominantly concerned with presentation which led to the creation of a wealth of Gothic tombs and buildings. The immense and elaborate monuments of Highgate were designed by some of the finest architects of the age and the original landscaping of this cemetery was one of the most elaborate plans ever conceived. During the period, Classical style was being challenged by the Gothic revival which explains the mixture of the two types of architecture seen at Highgate.
Egyptian Avenue was built in the 1830s when Egyptian Revival was enjoying a great deal of popularity with Egyptian inspired designs appearing on almost everything. It holds the unmarked graves. There are two circles of tombs – the older tombs facing outwards from the tree are in the Egyptian Revival style while the newer circle of inward facing tombs are in the Classical style. Egyptian Avenue leads to the Circle of Lebanon which was added in the 1870s and created in the Classical style. The circle was named the Circle of Lebanon because the tombs were cut into the hillside with a cedar Lebanon crowning the scene. The cedar tree is older than the cemetery and is believed that the tombs around it have restored and prolonged the trees longevity. Above this is a separate Gothic style catacomb named the Terrace Catacombs which was completed in 1842. According to Highgate Cemetery’s website, it was “built with an impressive eighty yard frontage and room for a total of eight hundred and twenty-five people in fifty-five vaults of fifteen loculi each, each loculus being sold individually to house one coffin”. There is also range of catacombs with Gothic doorways and ornamented with buttresses.
In “The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction”, a compilation of essays and historic narratives, a visitor from the early 1870s describes "the solemn grandeur of this portion of the cemetery is much heightened by the gloomy appearance of the avenue, which is one hundred feet long; but, as the road leading through it is a gentle ascent, the perspective effect makes it appear a much greater length. There are numerous square apartments, lined with stone, on each side of the avenue; these sepulchres are furnished with stone shelves, rising one above the other on three sides of the sepulchre, capable of containing twelve coffins, in addition to those which could be placed upon the floor. The doors of the sepulchres are of cast iron; they are ornamented with a funeral device of an inverted torch" (290).
The Victorian sculptors were given remarkable rein in their cemetery commissions. Memorialization takes place through gravestones and statues but also through mourning customs and rituals. There is a notable and eclectic sequence of angels and mournful meditate women, some clearly representing individuals whereas others are more generalized in features. Victorian cemetery’s are much more elaborate than modern graves and it was expected that a middle class family would spend as much as it could afford on a monument appropriate to the deceased’s class status. Monuments were symbolic and this can be seen in the form of either religious cross or angel, symbols of profession, or symbols of death. The most common of symbols were the following: urns which are the classical symbol of Roman cremation and were often half covered to allow the spirits to leave the encasement, broken columns a symbol of life cutting short, upside-down torches to symbolize death and the flame to symbolize eternal life and belief in resurrection, and the grieving woman often dressed in loose Roman drapery who is physically exhausted from weeping and is shown leaning on her hand or a cross. Grave markers range from simple headstones to large, elaborate tombs which house entire families. Tombstones were taken more seriously and became considered works of art and the garden cemeteries were seen as a space for not only those mourning but also for visitors to appreciate.
With the previously overcrowded unsanitary graveyards, the graveyard was seen as a place of disposal rather than a sacred place to memorialize. The Victorian Gardens of the Dead introduced this notion of respecting and sanctifying the dead using elaborate catacombs and symbolic gravestones which are believed to provide a peaceful slumber and journey to heaven. These gardens of the dead individualized the lost ones rather than forgetting them. Although the idea had been to separate the dead from the living, spacious cemetery gardens transformed burial places into recreational spaces.
Highgate’s pinnacle ended at the turn of the 19th century when the cemetery slowly began to decline. It is arguably due to society’s desire for extensive funerals, elegant parades and well dressed mourners as well as lack of interest in Victorian traditions and treatment of the dead. By the mid 50s it had come to be completely neglected, partly due to the increased interest in cremation which was much cheaper. Highgate cemetery, in particular, slowly fell into decay. Overtime, foliage grew over the tombs however in 1975 a group called The Friends of Highgate Cemetery took over the maintenance. They aimed to “promote the conservation of the cemetery, its monuments, and buildings, flora, and fauna, for the benefit of the public as an environmental amenity.” Because of The Friends of Highgate maintenance over the cemetery, the Victorian era of architecture has maintained an integral part of London’s history.
According to Historic UK, there are more than 850 notable people among the 170,000 buried at Highgate. The resting places of 18 Royal Academics, 6 Lord Mayors of London, and 48 Fellows of the Royal Society can also be found there. Not only is Highgate known for its uncanny architecture and famous burials, but also was featured in popular media from the 1960s to the late 1980s for its so called ‘occult’ past particularly as being the alleged site of the Highgate vampire. Many popular books on ghosts such as the book called the highgate vampire mention a vampire which reportedly haunted Highgate Cemetery in the early 1970s. The publicity began when a group of young people interested in the supernaturally of the cemetery began roaming the overgrown and run-down cemetery in the late 1960s, a period when it was also being heavily vandalized by intruders and thieves. The cemetery’s gothic, overgrown look all made it an ideal location for honor films including the Horror film Taste the Blood of Dracula, starring Christopher Lee.
The Victorian traditions and approach to burials is one that has ultimately changed the way people should be put to rest. The mixture of religion and grander has altered cemeteries from an eerie approach into beautiful gardens which allow for memorialization and respect. Today, Highgate serves as a glimpse into the past with unparalleled gravestones which give insight to the wealth and accomplishments of those buried so that they cannot be forgotten.
Works cited:
Banerjee, Jacqueline. “The History of Highgate Cemetery, London N6.” The Victorian Web, www.victorianweb.org/art/parks/highgate/1.html.
“Cemetery Records – London Metropolitan Archives Information Leaflet Number 5.” Https://Www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Things-to-Do/London-Metropolitan-Archives/Visitor-Information/Documents/05-Cemetery-Records.pdf, City of London Government, www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/london-metropolitan-archives/visitor-information/Documents/05-cemetery-records.pdf.
“English Heritage.” History of Hadrian's Wall | English Heritage, www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/story-of-england/victorian/architecture/.
“Highgate Cemetery East, London.” Humanist Heritage RSS, humanistheritage.org.uk/articles/highgate-cemetery-east-london/.
“History.” Highgate Cemetery, highgatecemetery.org/about/history.
“A History of Burial in London.” Natural History Museum, Natural History Museum, www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/a-history-of-burial-in-london.html.
Jackson, Lee. “Death in the City: the Grisly Secrets of Dealing with Victorian London's Dead.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 22 Jan. 2015, www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jan/22/death-city-grisly-secrets-victorian-london-dead.
“London's Burial Ground Gardens.” A Brief History of Regent's Park, www.londongardenstrust.org/features/burial.htm.
“London – History – Magnificent Seven.” BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/05/10/magnificent_seven_feature.shtml.
“London – History – Victorian Memorial Symbols.” BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2005/05/10/victorian_memorial_symbols_feature.shtml.
“One of the Creepiest Cemeteries in London, the Highgate Cemetery.” The Vintage News, 15 Feb. 2018, www.thevintagenews.com/2018/01/27/the-highgate-cemetery-london/.
“The Friends.” History – Highgate Cemetery, highgatecemetery.org/about/the-friends.
“Victorian Monument Symbolism.” Explore Victorian Mourning Culture through Monument Symbolism at Woodland, www.bing.com/cr?IG=B3076EFE87404EE488C4D941ED7FFDEC&CID=090907E1B6096CD0341B0C09B7A66D38&rd=1&h=d8FEiwBInt9Vs6n4sB0NcQjMuu8BIexErSLNVuqi5cI&v=1&r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.woodlandcemetery.ca%2fuploads%2fvictorian_monument_symbolism.pdf&p=DevEx.LB.1,5524.1.