Having so recently talked about my bucket list it’s nice to report that I have ticked another one off the list (actually it was two but that’s a story for another day). This time it was Highgate Cemetery, somewhere that has long been on the list.
Margaret Makes It
Highgate was opened 1837 when the cholera epidemic was killing countless people in Central London and there were so many to bury. It seems to have had a period of popularity before falling into disrepair brought about by vandals, vampire hunters and others. In 1980 the site was bought by Friends of Highgate for £1 but the work required to restore it and the ongoing maintenance was substantial. This is why you pay to go around.
As is so often the case with guided tours it is the guide that makes the difference between a good and a great visit. We were lucky to have Margaret as our guide who was knowledgeable but not overbearing leaving us plenty of time to explore and take pictures.
West Side
The cemetery has two sides separated by a road. The west side is the older but the east has the more famous occupant, well probably the one most people could name.
There’s a small church at entrance to the west part of the cemetery with two halves separated by an arch. The right hand side is for Church of England services and to the left everyone else!
As we went round Margaret took us to some interesting residents such as James William Selby who holds the record for the fastest London to Brighton coach run. He completed it in 7hrs 50mins winning £1,000 but the effort of it also killed him.
Sadly, Highgate is also the resting place of Alexander Litvinenko, killed by Putin. Realising that he’d been poisoned with what turned out to be polonium-210 Litvinenko called the police and reported his own murder. He’s buried 30 foot down in a lead lined box.
Fear of being buried alive while in a Cholera induced coma led people in the 1800s to take measures to ensure that if they awoke they might be discovered. For example, they might have a string tied to finger and then to ring outside. This was clearly not always a successful tactic as scratches have been found on the inside of coffins (insert your own shudder here).
The largest mausoleum on this side cost £5,000 (about £40m in today’s money) bought by Julius Beer to stick two fingers up at the establishment. Beer was a German immigrant and Jewish. When the Friends of Highgate came to restore it the cost was £43,000. At first the door into it was jammed shut and so someone was lowered down from the roof to find a ton of dead pigeons and poo holding the door closed. A new mausolean today would cost between £2-3m and there is one at the entrance just recently opened so there is some space left for those with big money.
Towards the back of the site are the catacombs – 850 spots, basically shelves, available for the more modest sum of £10 a spot. Laid to rest here is Robert Listen, a Scottish surgeon noted for his skill and speed. This was important in the times when he operated before anaesthesia as it increased your chances of survival – although there was still a high probability of dying of septicaemia.
The final stop on our tour was Michael Faraday who belonged to a strict religious sect called the Sandemanians. Their, and presumably his too, beliefs shunned state churches which is why Faraday is buried in the non-conformist section of Highgate with only a plaque in Westminster Abbey.
That was the end of the excellent formal tour and so we moved on to the…
East Side
This is, perhaps, the side with the more famous residents, with the exception, perhaps, of George Michael who is in the West Side. However, if you mention Highgate Cemetery to anyone the one person that they will probably know resides here is Karl Marx.
Marx wasn’t well known when he died and there were only a handful of people at his funeral unlike Tom Sayers, someone you’ve probably never heard of, for whom 100,000 turned out.
The east side is much more open and bright than the west and has a different vibe. On this side you will alongside Marx find an eclectic mix of people including Elgar and Douglas Adams. In front of the latter people have turned it into a shrine by forcing pens into the ground.
All and all it was an excellent trip and I would throughly recommend it.
