Highgate Cemetery : It is a cemetery considered part of the cultural and historical heritage of London in England . It is located in the district of Highgate, it is of special historical interest for England due to its antiquity, the majesty of the construction of its mausoleums, pantheons and its gardens. In addition to continuing to provide obituary service in the city .
Summary
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- 1 Antecedents
- 2 History
- 3 Inauguration
- 4 Buried celebrities
- 5 Leyendas
- 6 Fountains
Background
In the first decades of the 19th century , London was facing a great crisis. Inadequate burial space coupled with a high mortality rate led to a serious problem, there simply was not enough room for the dead. The cause of this situation was that at the beginning of the 19th century, London had a population of only one million people. In the years that followed, the population had increased rapidly and the number of deaths along with it. Very little new burial space had been set aside to cater to the growing number, and by the early 1830s authorities were stating that, for public health reasons , something had to be done. parliament _it passed a statute to the effect that seven new private cemeteries should be opened in the countryside around the capital for the burial of the London dead . These cemeteries were Kensal Green 1833, West Norwood 1836, Highgate 1839, Abney Park 1840, Brompton 1840, Nunhead 1840, and Tower Hamlets 1841.
History
In 1836 an Act of Parliament was passed creating The London Cemetery Company. Stephen Geary, architect and company founder, appointed James Bunstone Bunning as surveyor and David Ramsey, renowned landscape designer, as landscape architect. A head office was opened at 22 Moorgate Street, London]]. The sum of £3,500 was paid for seventeen acres of land which had been the grounds of the Ashurst Estate, descending the steep hillside from Highgate Village. For the next three years, the cemeteryit was brilliantly designed by Ramsey with exotic formal plantings, complemented by Geary and Bunning’s stunning and unique architecture. These constructions are accessed through an arch flanked by Egyptian columns and obelisks, known as the Egyptian Avenue. It was this combination that secured Highgate as the capital’s main cemetery. The ornamental gardens of Highgate Cemetery, located in North London, have been described as the most magical place in the capital.
opening
Graves in Highgate Cemetery
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On Monday May 20 , 1839, the Reverend Charles James Blomfield, Lord Bishop of London, dedicated the churchyard to St. James. Fifteen acres were consecrated for the use of members of the Church of England and two acres set aside for Dissenters (non-Church of England people). Burial rights were granted for a limited period or in perpetuity. The first burial, on May 26, 1839, was Elizabeth Jackson, aged thirty-six, of Little Windmill Street, Soho. The incomparable elevation that dominates London, rising to 375 feet above sea level at its highest point, coupled with its unique architecture, encouraged the wealthy to invest. The millionaire owner of a newspaper, Julius Beer, was one of those investors who built the most impressive monument in the cemetery, to his eight-year-old daughter Ada.
In the 20th century and especially after the war, the cemetery fell into decline; the Tudor-style chapels were closed in 1956 and by 1975 the site was in ruins, a situation that led to the founding of the Society of Friends of Highgate Cemetery, which has managed and maintained it since 1981. In 1987 Highgate Cemetery was first listed on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest, and in 2009 that register was upgraded to Category 1 status. As well as being a beautiful and intriguing site, rich in history, architecture, scenery and romance, Highgate remains a working cemetery, with as many as seventy interments and between thirty and thirty-five plots sold each year.
buried celebrities
Karl Marx’s grave in Highgate Cemetery
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The complex attracts many tourists, especially the western and oldest part, also because many mausoleums house the remains of famous people, artists and notorious politicians of the Victorian era. Some of these personalities:
- The writer George Eliot. (Died 1880)
- The philosopher Herbert Spencer. (Died 1903)
- Michael Faraday. (physical and chemical)
- Lucian Freud.
- At the Rosetti family.
- The Family of Charles Dickens.
- Alexander Litvinenko
- Karl Marx.
legends
This is a place where there are stories and legends that have been woven for a long time. The cemetery has become famous as the “Abode of the Vampire of Highgate”. In 1967, occultist and vampire hunter Sean Manchester investigated visions of bodies floating from their graves, and claimed that a vampire was active in the area. In 1970, a hundred people went out to hunt the vampire, led by “vampirologist” David Jarrant, who ended up behind bars. And in 1974, Sean Manchester believes that the vampire has already been killed. But there is also talk of two major demons, with everything and their courts, one who would have established his residence in the catacombs and the other who they say lives in the tomb of Julius Beer who was the owner of the newspaper “the observer” and who being Jewish he renounced his religion in order to be buried there, and that since then bad luck accompanied him, his daughter and wife dying before him, rumors that he had murdered them;
The legend has spread that he is a vampire but what is supposed to be the reality is that he is just a soul that wanders hiding his corpse and those of his family so that they are not desecrated by vampire hunters. In addition to numerous stories and characters that roam the Highgate nights and that have inspired stories such as Bran Stoker’s Dracula, which, although with another name, was set in this place. The legend has spread that he is a vampire but what is supposed to be the reality is that he is just a soul that wanders hiding his corpse and those of his family so that they are not desecrated by vampire hunters. In addition to numerous stories and characters that roam the Highgate nights and that have inspired stories such as Bran Stoker’s Dracula, which, although with another name, was set in this place. The legend has spread that he is a vampire, but what is supposed to be the reality is that he is just a soul that wanders, hiding his corpse and those of his family so that they are not desecrated by vampire hunters. In addition to numerous stories and characters that roam the Highgate nights and that have inspired stories such as Bran Stoker’s Dracula, which, although with another name, was set in this place.
