The Magnificent Seven: London’s Victorian Cemeteries

By the early nineteenth century, London’s ( link England DG) ancient cemeteries were severely overcrowded and in the 1839’s and 1840’s seven private cemeteries were opened in what was still open countryside outside the city boundaries.

These cemeteries, known as the Magnificent Seven , are stil open to visit. The cemeteries were beautifully landscaped and as well as having five architecture , splendid monuments and many famous graves, they are also havens for wildlife and provide opportunities for quiet contemplation in their now urban environments.

The Magnificent Seven include Kensal Green Cemetery which was the first of the Seven to be opened- in 1833. It’s reputation was established by the burial here of the Duke of Sussex in 1843.

Highgate Cemetery, covering 36 acres, contains the graves of 170,000 people including Karl Marx.

The other cemeteries are Brompton Cemetery, Abney Park, West Norwood, Nunhead  and Tower Hamlets, which is by the River Thames and contains the graves of 350,000 people.