Brompton Cemetery (The “Magnificent Seven” Tour)

2015_0524Brompton49
Looking south towards the chapel

My attempt to visit each one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries continued with a trip to Brompton Cemetery. This is the most central of the seven and the easiest one for me to reach, located in west London. However, it is also positioned right next to Stamford Bridge, and the day of my trip coincided with a football match between Chelsea and Sunderland – considering I am a Sunderland supporter I should have probably been aware of this, but I was taken by surprise to find hordes of people clad in blue getting off at Fulham Broadway station. Eventually I managed to disentangle myself from them and made my way over to the cemetery. Many supporters clad in football shirts and scarves were wandering through the cemetery, but the rush of people eventually petered out, to be replaced by cheers and roars from the football ground which punctuated the quiet during the tour.

2015_0524Brompton42
Stamford Bridge stadium, viewed from Brompton Cemetery

Getting There

The cemetery lies between Old Brompton and Fulham Roads, on the western border of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The postal address is Old Brompton Road, London, SW10 9UG and the nearest tube station to the main entrance (the North Gate) is West Brompton, with Earls Court a little further off. However, the tour was scheduled to begin at the South Lodge, so I got off at Fulham Broadway instead.

2015_0524Brompton03
The South Gate

History

Brompton Cemetery, which is Grade I Listed on the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens, was originally consecrated by the Bishop of London in June 1840. The cemetery occupies a rectangular site, and comprises 39-acres (16 hectares) which were purchased from Lord Kensington in 1838.

2015_0524Brompton05
Map showing the layout of Brompton Cemetery

The cemetery was founded by the architect, inventor and entrepreneur Stephen Geary (1797-1854), who was also responsible for Highgate and Nunhead cemeteries. However, when the company directors held a competition for the cemetery’s design, the lead judge Sir Jeffry Wyatville (1766–1840), a distinguished architect, chose a design by his assistant Benjamin Baud (c.1807-1875), forcing Geary’s resignation.

Baud’s design incorporates neoclassical elements but is chiefly notable for its resemblance to a cathedral. The central avenue, or “nave”, leads to the domed chapel, or “high altar”, while a circle of arcades with catacombs below is said to have been inspired by the piazza of St. Peter’s in Rome. The North Gatehouse was designed to represent the “great west door”; it suffered bomb damage during World War II and has since been restored.

2015_0524Brompton45
The chapel

The cemetery was purchased under the short-lived Metropolitan Interments Act of 1850, which prohibited burial in overcrowded crypts and urban churchyards, and gave the state the power to purchase commercial cemeteries. It was the first cemetery to be nationalised, and remains Britain’s only crown cemetery, currently in the care of the Royal Parks Agency. Closed to burials between 1952 and 1996, it is now once again a working cemetery, restored, maintained and preserved by The Friends of Brompton Cemetery.

Tour

2015_0524Brompton02
Notice at the South Gate

I attended a tour run by the Friends. These take place on Sunday afternoons and I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a crowd waiting at the gate. Our guide was incredibly knowledgeable and I am sure he could have told us much more about the cemetery than he was able to impart during the two hours of the walk.

2015_0524Brompton07
Exploring the cemetery

2015_0524Brompton15 2015_0524Brompton16Brompton doesn’t have the number of famous people that the likes of Highgate and Kensal Green possess within their walls, but there are still several notable individuals buried here. George Salting was an art collector who left considerable legacies to the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert and the National Gallery.

2015_0524Brompton21
The grave of George Salting and his parents

Pioneer of the women’s suffrage movement Emmeline Pankhurst is also buried here, though we didn’t get to see her grave.

2015_0524Brompton20
The chapel

We stopped off by the chapel, which was open for us to take a look around. It is possible to buy drinks and snacks here too.

2015_0524Brompton27

I was advised that the best way to take pictures of the chapel’s ceiling was to lie down, so that’s what I did – on a row of chairs rather than the floor.

2015_0524Brompton28
The chapel ceiling

2015_0524Brompton29

2015_0524Brompton30

2015_0524Brompton32
Looking north from the chapel

Just beyond the chapel, two arcades flank more sets of gravestones.

2015_0524Brompton31

2015_0524Brompton39

Gilbert Laye was an actor, composer and theatrical manager. I particularly liked his headstone, with the comedy and tragedy masks on either side.

2015_0524Brompton33
Grave of Gilbert Laye

Continuing the theatrical theme, Walter Brandon Thomas was an actor and playwright best known today for his (genuinely funny) farce Charley’s Aunt.

2015_0524Brompton37
Burial place of Walter Brandon Thomas

Blanche Roosevelt Macchetta was the first American woman to sing at Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House. After an accident, she died at the age of 45. The statue on her grave is of her.

2015_0524Brompton36
Tomb of Blanche Roosevelt Macchetta

Below the arcades, catacombs are located. We weren’t able to look inside on this occasion but we were able to admire the gates, with their ornate design heavy with symbolism, including the two serpents.

2015_0524Brompton40
Entrance to the catacombs

2015_0524Brompton41

The interesting gravestone with the image of a wolf marks the former burial place of the Native American Sioux chief, Long Wolf, who died of pneumonia while touring with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. In 1997 his remains were returned to his home in South Dakota.

2015_0524Brompton43
Long Wolf’s former burial place
2015_0524Brompton44
Ornate plaque displayed on the wall of the arcade

Queen Victoria had the body of a favourite servant, her courier Joseph Julius Kanné, buried here.

2015_0524Brompton47
Grave of Joseph Julius Kanné

Brompton Cemetery has memorials to the Brigade of Guards and the Chelsea Pensioners, as well as the graves of several Victoria Cross holders. One of these is Reginald Warneford, who was awarded the medal for downing an airship but who sadly died just over a week later during a non-combative flight.

2015_0524Brompton50
Tomb of Reginald Warneford

The cemetery has an interesting connection with the author Beatrix Potter, who lived nearby as a child and who is thought to have walked in the cemetery frequently. It has been suggested that the names of several individuals buried here influenced the names of some of her best-loved characters.

2015_0524Brompton51
The Nutkins family – inspiration for Squirrel Nutkins?

An interesting-looking sarcophagus on “legs” was bought by the painter Valentine Princep as a 13th-century original. Many years after his death, however, it was found to be fake.

2015_0524Brompton58

One of the most impressive monuments in the cemetery is the burial place of Frederick Richards Leyland, an art collector from Liverpool. His tomb was designed by the Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones, and is Grade II-listed.

2015_0524Brompton55
Leyland’s beautiful tomb

Richard Tauber was an acclaimed Austrian tenor who settled in Britain after the German annexation of Austria just before the Second World War.

2015_0524Brompton62
Richard Tauber’s grave

John Snow – not that John Snow, not that one either – was a physician who famously proved that cholera was not, as was commonly supposed, spread in the air but was ingested by mouth: he traced an outbreak of the disease in Soho to a particular pump on Broad Street, showing that the disease was transported via the water. I remember learning about him in history lessons at school, so I was rather excited to see his grave.

2015_0524Brompton63
Grave of John Snow, rebuilt after being destroyed during World War II

The cemetery is something of a haven for wildlife.

2015_0524Brompton64

2015_0524Brompton65

2015_0524Brompton66

Architecture

Like the other cemeteries I’ve visited, Brompton Cemetery has some beautiful architecture to admire, including some impressive gravestones as well as the cemetery design as a whole. Familiar symbols of death, such as urns and broken columns, sit alongside ornate Art Nouveau designs.

2015_0524Brompton06
Sadly, these impressive statues have lost their heads
2015_0524Brompton09
Beautiful weeping willows
2015_0524Brompton24
The broken column represents a life cut short

2015_0524Brompton25

2015_0524Brompton26

2015_0524Brompton48
Lovely “Art Nouveau” tomb

2015_0524Brompton52

2015_0524Brompton53
A draped urn, another common symbol

2015_0524Brompton59

2015_0524Brompton61
One of the most ornate and magnificent tombs in Brompton Cemetery

2015_0524Brompton67

The central path ran the length of the cemetery, leading towards the North Gate.

2015_0524Brompton54

2015_0524Brompton68
Approaching the North Gate
2015_0524Brompton70
The North Gate, seen from outside the cemetery

Brompton’s central location makes it an ideal place for a leisurely walk. I would definitely recommend a tour, too, so that you can discover more about the cemetery.

Would I go back?

Yes – I wasn’t able to see Emmeline Pankhurst’s grave and because of the rain I wasn’t able to wander about as much as I would have liked. I’d love to have the chance to explore the cemetery at my leisure, and to visit the catacombs, too.

FACTS

Address: Old Brompton Road, London, SW10 9UG
Founded: 1840
Size: 39 acres
Still in operation?: Yes
Official website: https://www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/brompton-cemetery
Owners: Crown Estates, managed by The Royal Parks
Friends group: Friends of Brompton Cemetery (http://brompton-cemetery.org.uk/)
Tours: These cost £6 and take place at 2pm every Sunday from May to August, and on two Sundays a month from September to April. Meet at the South Lodge, at the Fulham Road entrance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *