Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
Easter Day and despite the weather forecast we decided to go up to London, wander around a few canals around the East End, grab some lunch and look at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. The last part of that might seems a bit strange but I had come across an article about spring-time walks around the country and this had been recommended as a short stroll for those stuck in, or near to, central London. Also, despite being nominally a Londoner, I am still finding new things around the to do around the capital.
Things didn’t start as planned; the trains were a bit different on their time table so we ended up in London Bridge rather than Stratford. No problem, tide was out so a few shots of Tower Bridge from the south side beach before leaving the crowd of tourists for the quieter delights of Wapping. A good Sunday roast in The Town of Ramsgate (an often overlooked pub), and then along to Limehouse Basin, along the Regents Canal and a cut through to the cemetery park.
The origins of what is now Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park go back to the period 1832-1841. Until then all of London’s dead had been interred in small urban churchyards which, due to London’s rapid expansion, had become overcrowded and too close to areas where people were now living causing disease and ground water contamination. An Act of Parliament allowed for companies to purchase land outside of the boundaries of the City of London and set up large cemeteries. In total there were seven, the most famous being Highgate Cemetery and the others being Nunhead, Kensal Green, Brompton, West Norwood, Abney Park, and The City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery.
The City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery opened in 1841, set up for the purpose of profit-making as well as the sanitation and health of the City. The cemetery originally included a number of chapels but these and other parts suffered damage during WW2 and eventually were demolished. The cemetery closed in 1966 after the cemetery company ran into financial difficulties, and returned to nature. Later plans to remove the headstones and memorials and bring the land into recreational use were opposed and the park as seen today was founded, managed by a team of Friends and volunteers.
The site contains over 350,000 burials and around 47,000 monuments and headstones including 7 that are designated as Grade II listed by Historic England.
Photographs taken with a Fujifilm X-T5 and XF16-55mm lens