The City of London Cemetery is unique in the national and
worldwide context due to the nature and quality of its landscape,
and it is exceptional in the range and continuity of its burial
provision, which represents all of the main trends in British
funerary culture over the past 150 years.
The land was purchased by the City Corporation in 1853 to
provide space to alleviate the problem of overcrowded burial
grounds in the City.
Laid out to the designs of William Haywood, the accomplished
City Surveyor, the Cemetery was opened in 1856 as a sophisticated
landscape that successfully combined beauty with functionality, and
contained a range of structures and buildings of high architectural
quality. Haywood managed to provide both a work for posterity and
an eminently practical working environment, whilst balancing the
conflicting interests and demands of the different denominations
which were to use it.
The Cemetery has been of significance to many generations of
Londoners, especially from the East End, as the final resting place
of their loved ones. In addition to its importance to relatives as
a place of remembrance, the Cemetery is a public space of some
dignity even for those who have no personal connection to it.
Its historical significance is also
noteworthy, as one of the largest Victorian cemeteries, that
unlike many others has always offered plots to the full
spectrum of society, and which remains well tended by a
dedicated staff. The sensitivity of the management to the
changing needs of society, combined with the Cemetery’s
unusually large size, has led to the creation of new and
interesting types of landscape with each successive expansion
of burial land. These landscapes have come to reflect the
evolution of taste through the intervening ages without
destroying the legacy of former generations. There are at
present eight buildings listed Grade II, and the grounds
themselves are Grade II* registered as a Park and Garden of
Historic Special Interest in recognition of their unique
quality and size.
More information about the Cemetery and crematorium
Conservation Management Plan
The Cemetery is a working environment, in which the management
of burials and cremations, and caring for the bereaved, are of
pre-eminent importance. The needs of conservation policies have to
be reconciled with service management and financial requirements,
as well as public aspirations, to give a coordinated strategy. The
City of London commissioned a Conservation Management Plan in
September 2003, to act as a tool to help give an understanding of
both the fabric of the Cemetery and the issues surrounding its use,
and to inform the production of a ten-year service management plan.
It is intended that this plan will be adopted by the City of
London, the Cemetery management, the London Borough of Newham,
English Heritage, and other interested parties. It will guide the
future management and development of the site, including all its
physical elements of landscape, architecture, roads, traffic and
ecology.
The preparation of this report has been generously supported by
the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Plan has been drafted in two parts. The first part,
comprising chapters 2-5, gives an account of the history and
importance of the Cemetery and its various constituent buildings
and landscapes. It also discusses the issues affecting their
conservation, and presents policies which will help address those
issues. The second part, contained in chapters 6-9, offers a
specific strategy for the future management of the Cemetery that
seeks to balance the various issues, and presents priorities for
its conservation over a ten-year period.
A significant amount of supporting information, of peripheral
importance to the central narrative, has been placed apart from the
main text in order to make it more navigable. These include a
bibliography, details of the planning context, archaeology, and
official building and landscape listings. They also provide more
detail on the individual buildings and landscapes, including their
present condition, their design and arrangement, the nature of any
previous alterations, and issues regarding mechanical and
electrical services, roads and maintenance.
Following consultation, the plan is currently being finalised
and will be available shortly.