Highgate Cemetery is London’s best-known cemetery. Why? Because everywhere you turn, there is a famous dead writer, in gravestone form. The cemetery was created in 1839. The rapid growth of London in the late 18th and early 19th century was due to the industrial revolution. Rapid influxes of people mean great piles of bodies that need burying. So Highgate Cemetry was born.
The architect was Stephen Geary, who created the first gin palace, and was buried in Highgate in 1854. There is something very satisfying about this fact.
In the 1970s, the cemetery was no longer financially viable. As a result, a non-profit organisation called "Freinds of Highgate", financed the restoration efforts. It worked out well. By the 2000s it could legitimately claim to be one of the best-kept cemeteries in the UK.
One of the interesting things about Highgate is the sheer variety of graves. Some graves from the 1840s and later take a lot of inspiration from styles found all over the British Empire. A lot of Mughal-style graves can be seen. Some graves opt for a more (very fittingly) gothic style with chains wrapped around gravestones. Eerie indeed. I can't imagine how it would feel to be in the cemetery at night.
There are also some more classical gravestones with columns, stone statues and mausoleums. Angels looking mournfully into the abyss and cherubs bearing crosses can also be found around the cemetery. There are also Celtic crosses and Dara knots to be found around the cemetery. Somewhat randomly, some gravestones are modelled after Ancient Egyptian obelisks. Newer gravestones seem to be made out of black granite and certainly pop out.
While death in itself is the Great Equalizer, some gravestones are indeed more equal than others. This (well over) century-and-a-half-long tussle for the best gravestone, along with many random gravestone styles, has helped create a very varied and rather odd cemetery.
So why is Highgate so famous? Sure it is good-looking, Victorian and well-maintained, but what makes it so special? There are a lot of famous dead people there. Here is a small list:
George Eliot (A.K.A Mary Ann Evans), writer.
Micheal Faraday, scientist.
Douglas Adams, writer.
Catherine Dickens, writer and wife of Charles Dickens.
Ernestine Rose: A Jewish Feminist in the Suffragette Movement in the USA
The most famous figure in the cemetery is, of course, Karl Marx. While his grave is actually in the East part of the cemetery, his famous bust is in the West part. Most people go to the West because entry is easier.
So what do you think? Worth taking a look? All I can say is this, while I have never been that interested in exploring cemeteries, this one is certainly an exception.
Fun fact: you have to pay to see the bust of Karl Marx, I just love the irony.
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