Friday, January 6, 2023

Highgate Cemetery West


Reading "The Ink Black Heart" late yesterday morning, I kept coming across mentions of Highgate, the wealthy neighborhood on the other side of Hampstead Heath. One of the book's pivotal events occurs in Highgate Cemetery, a Victorian graveyard known for being the resting place of several famous people.

It occurred to me that I'd visited the east side of Highgate Cemetery, which I wrote about here. But back then, you couldn't enter the west side without being part of a tour group, so I never saw it. That rule changed not too long ago, and now it's possible to take a self-guided walk through Highgate Cemetery West.

So I immediately put the book down and hoofed it over to the cemetery. There's no time like the present, right?

The cemetery is densely packed with ornate and unusual graves, much like the ones I see when I walk Olga in Hampstead Cemetery. But it has several outstanding features, such as its Egyptian Avenue (above), which leads to the so-called Circle of Lebanon. The Egyptian Avenue is a tunnel with a grand entrance built in an Egyptian architectural style, flanked by two obelisks, with doorways to tombs along its walls.


The Circle of Lebanon is a round, sunken path with tombs on both sides; the ones on the inner wall date from the 1830s and are built in an Egyptian style.


Here's another view, looking down into the circle. An old Lebanese cedar tree once stood in the center, but in 2019 it was found to be at risk of collapse and was cut down. There's a new one there now, which you can barely see in front of a larger tree at the left side of the photo above, but it's still tiny and will take a long time to grow to the size of its predecessor. There are some historic images of the Egyptian Avenue and Circle of Lebanon on the cemetery's home page.


Among the unusual graves at Highgate West are this one, known as the "Horse Grave." I thought it might mark the resting place of a famous horseman, but no -- it's the burial spot of the family of Queen Victoria's horse slaughterer!


Thomas Sayers was a well-known prize fighter in his day. Although his dog, Lion, is depicted faithfully resting on his grave, apparently it's not buried there.
 

Alexander Litvinenko was a former Russian FSB officer and dissident who was famously poisoned with Polonium in London in 2006.


Jean Simmons was a well-known film actress who's been in about a million movies, perhaps most memorably "Elmer Gantry" from 1960.


Lucian Freud was a famous painter and grandson of Sigmund.


And, of course, there's George Michael. I was a fan of Wham! when I was just starting college, and if you'd told me back then that almost 40 years later I'd be standing at his grave, I'd never have believed it. He's on the right, buried with his mother and sister.

By the way, although it's interesting to focus on the graves of the famous, it's worth checking out other markers as well. Some people are blessed and/or cursed with the most unusual names. My favorite: Fanny Puzey.


After walking around the west side of the cemetery I made a quick trip to the east side, mainly to check in on Karl Marx. That's him above, with a member of the proletariat working hard behind him.

With that, I wrapped up my tour and headed back home. Another item off my checklist -- seeing all of Highgate Cemetery.

28 comments:

  1. I would be back there again and again. Wow!

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  2. Thanks for taking us to Highgate Cemetery Steve. I have often wanted to go there just to see Karl Marx's resting place. It is nice to see that his grave was not plastered with right wing graffiti.

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  3. What an amazing place. I wonder how you qualify to be buried there? Aside from being dead, I mean. I like the animal motif.

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  4. I too was interested in Karl Marx's grave in that he died almost a pauper and lived in dire straights in London wiht his family of which I have read much about his life and the vast monument did not exactly fit. I now know the history of the headstone and his grave which I looked up after reading your post, moved in the 1950s and the monument commissioned and paid for by the Communist Party. Thanks for.

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  5. I think the circle of Lebanon was a feature in quite a few horror films, Dracula in particular. Great photos.

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  6. I always enjoy reading your blog. It gives me an insight into what it is like living in London. Thank you.

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  7. I do love a cemetery and, while this may not be the best word, that one is fantastic.

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  8. I don't think I've ever paid attention to mentions of Highgate. Of course I've probably read the name a hundred times but it never tripped any switches in my psyche. But now it will!
    So odd to compare that cemetery with some of the very, very small and plain ones here in poor communities. The thing is- Karl Marx is now in the exact same situation as someone buried in the dirt, his grave possibly outlined in rocks.

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  9. I was also wondering how one qualifies to be buried there.
    I do not want to be buried anywhere - my kids can just scatter my ashes - maybe at my favorite hiking spot. Then, they can hike there too and remember me (fondly, I hope)!

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  10. I am so glad you took this walk, Steve. That is quite a gathering of very famous people there. Reading some of those names and seeing their graves really surprised me... Karl Marx and George Michael.

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  11. One of my favorite things to do is to walk around cemeteries seeing the remains of what people left behind to honor their dead. I would have walked right past George Michael and not known it was him. I would have been naïve that his surname wasn't Michael.

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  12. Really interesting stuff, thanks Steve.

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  13. This brought back lots of memories. I've been on the tour of the west side twice in the past, the last time in 2013. It was a late November and it was very cold. So cold that I had to sit in the little office for a while after to the tour until I could feel my feet again. It never occurred to me that George Michael might have been buried there. I forget that there are newer graves there along with the old ones. I'm also glad to hear that you don't need a reservation to walk among the graves. But, I'm sad to hear that the old cedar tree is gone. I'm glad I have a photo of it.

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  14. I enjoy browsing(is that the right word?) in cemeteries and looking over the gravestones and the information or even images of the deceased. Loved visiting Pere la Chaise in Paris for the same reason.

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  15. That's a great cemetery. Now I wish my parents had named me Fanny Puzey -- NOT! My favorite cemetery is in Springfield, Illinois, where Lincoln rests along with his wife and children.

    Love,
    Janie

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  16. I can not believe that cemetery. Those are incredible structures. Glad you got to see it, and so we did, too.

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  17. What a marvelous cemetery! Good for you for abandoning the book and taking that walk while it was on your mind. I love that you enthusiastically share all this with us! Was Olga upset you went without her?

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  18. This looks like an interesting one and quite beautiful. I know what you mean -- the famous are fun to see but some of the other graves are either as intersting, unusual or -- as you discovered -- interestingly named!

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  19. Oooo, I do love the gate, the tunnel, and the Circle of Lebanon.

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  20. What a great visit. George Michael had quite a complex moniker. Perhaps not if you are Greek.

    "the wealthy neighborhood on the other side of Hampstead Heath". Ah, so your side is a slum area. I think not.

    It always strikes me as odd that people spend so much money on dead people who will receive no pleasure from the largess. I like Michael's grave, simple and understated for someone who was world famous.

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  21. I love wandering around cemeteries so this post was right up my alley. I'm with Andrew, though, I just don't get the money spent on monuments. Even simple graves stones cost a bucket. Captive market I guess.

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  22. That's a fascinating tour of a very odd place.

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  23. I enjoy all your posts although rarely comment. This one though deserves a thank you for the absolutely beautiful and interesting photographs. The gate - stunning. I am a person who loves roaming around a cemetery, the older the better, so this is a personal favorite post and will be looking back at some of your linked older visits. Rosemary

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  24. How did I not know that George Michael had died?

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  25. Okay, Steve, I love your blog, but I think this is my favorite post ever!!!! Great pictures.

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  26. I'm so glad you went, that cemetery is AMAZING and so beautiful. That's it! I have to get to London and see it for myself. Probably in my NEXT life, but I'll get there. I didn't know George Michael had died. Or maybe I forgot.

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  27. Mitchell: There's a lot to see!

    YP: Yeah, it's suffered some vandalism in recent years but it didn't seem to be permanently harmed.

    Boud: I'm not sure! It might just be a matter of paying for the privilege. I focused on the famous people in this post, but there are plenty of others recently buried there who are unknown to me.

    Rachel: Interesting! I didn't realize the party paid for the monument, though that's not a surprise, given its appearance!

    Northsider: Makes sense! It certainly looks like a worthy horror movie scene.

    Dov: Glad you enjoy it! :)

    Bob: It IS fantastic. You could spend days there. (Maybe not overnight, though.)

    Ms Moon: We all wind up in the same place, more or less, as has often been said. I thought the same about Jean Simmons, who was known for her beauty and lived a glamorous life, and now here she is.

    Ellen D: I'm with you. Burial does not appeal to me at all.

    Robin: And there are many, many other well-known people there too.

    Ed: George Michael's grave has a sign on it (just out of the frame of my photo) telling people not to leave items or they will be removed. I guess his family doesn't want it to become a pile of teddy bears!

    Sabine: Glad you liked it!

    Sharon: I remember you saying you'd visited. I wish I'd seen the big cedar while it was still alive. London has lost several historic trees in recent years. The Hardy Tree in the Old St Pancras Burial Ground recently collapsed, too.

    Margaret: Yes! Pere Lachaise is fascinating, and about the same vintage as Highgate, I think.

    Janie: Interesting! I've never been to Springfield. Isn't Fanny Puzey a hilarious name?!

    Allison: And part of what gives the place its appeal is how weathered and aged everything has become.

    Kelly: She was off with her dog-walker, so I didn't tell her. :)

    Jeanie: Yeah, it's easy to focus on the famous people but you don't want to JUST look at them.

    Ellen: That tunnel was pretty creepy to walk through!

    Andrew: I think he was a Greek Cypriot. We ARE on the poor side of Hampstead Heath, but of course everything is relative! Highgate is much fancier than West Hampstead.

    Caro: And people have an idea that they'll last forever or be more or less permanent, and in fact they degrade and become illegible over time. I just don't see the point.

    Catalyst: It was pretty amazing! But yes, also odd in places.

    Rosemary: I'm glad you liked it! I always feel like I spend an inordinate amount of time blogging about cemeteries, given how much I walk the dog in one, so I'm glad you don't mind that. :)

    Pixie: You probably just forgot. I do that with famous deaths sometimes. It made a lot of news at the time.

    Debby: Excellent! Glad you liked it. I worried I was using too many photos. I usually try to limit myself to about eight!

    River: Yeah, like Pixie, I expect you forgot. It was a big deal when it happened -- especially here in London, where he had a house in Highgate.

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  28. what an interesting cemetery! thanks for the tour!

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