I read Audrey Niffinger’s book “Her Fearful Symmetry” which was set mainly in and around Highgate Cemetery, a working Victorian high Anglican cemetery. It took a bit of a while to get there–I live in west London and the cemetery is far North–and to actually find the cemetery I had to walk out of the tube, up two streets, left, another left, and down Swains Lane (which is not easy to find). It was completely worth the visit however. I took a guided tour of the west cemetery, and saw some beautiful statues and mausoleums and learned a lot about Victorian life by observing how they remembered their dead. It was painfully obvious who was wealthy or who wasn’t in death, some of the graves said where the people lived as evidence of how rich they were. Some also built giant mausoleums to house their families, but those who were poor just had small grave markers.
Here are some of the pictures I took there:
A Sleeping Angel over a grave.
They built some graves in the shape of pyramids because they believed it made it harder for the devil to lie on top of the graves.
Alexander Litvinenko, the poisoned ex-KGB agent is buried here. It’s still a working cemetery.
So tragic, this grave is of a 19 year old burned to death, and it took her ten days to die. At the bottom, it says, In the bloom of youth, I prayed amid agonies for death.
A catacomb of a well-to-do-man.
I highly recommend visiting Highgate if you have a chance! The village Highgate is also quite beautiful, and has a wonderful quiet charm. It’s high up on a hill, and it has some gorgeous views of London if you look from the right spots.
Cheers!
Sarah
