Inventory Site Record

* on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens

West London Crematorium is part of the Kensal Green Cemetery, which was founded in 1830. A further 9 hectares were added at the western end of the site in the late C19th, and it is here that the Crematorium was built in 1939. It has a circular bed in front and the gardens of rest are laid out as groups of rose beds surrounded by hedges.

Site location:

Harrow Road, Kensal Green

Postcode:

NW10

What 3 Words:

vital.liability.banks

Type of site:

Cemetery

Borough:

Hammersmith & Fulham

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

Weekdays: 9am - 5pm (1/10-31/3) or 6pm (1/4-30/9); Suns: 10 am - 5pm (1/10-31/3) or 6pm (1/4-30/9); BHols: 10am-1.30pm

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Open days

Public transport:

London Overground/Tube (Bakerloo): Kensal Green. Tube: Ladbroke Grove (Hammersmith & City) then bus. Bus: 18, 23, 52, 70, 295, 316

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/10/2008

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news.

Kensal Green Cemetery: Site on The National Heritage List for England, Parks & Gardens, for Register Entry see https://www.historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list. The Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England was established in 1984 and was commonly called English Heritage. In April 2015 it split into 2 separate entities, Historic England (HE), which continues to champion and protect the historic environment, and the English Heritage Trust, whose role is to look after the 400+ historic sites and monuments owned by the state. HE manages the National Heritage List for England (NHLE) that includes over 400,000 items ranging from prehistoric monuments to office blocks, battlefields and parks, which benefit from legal protection.

The Crematorium is part of the Kensal Green Cemetery (q.v), which was founded as a result of a successful long campaign to establish new cemeteries in London to replace the overcrowded churchyards throughout the capital, many of which were in a parlous state. London's population had increased, particularly as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Founded in 1830, the General Cemetery Company purchased a 22-hectare site bounded by Harrow Road to the north and the Grand Union Canal to the south. Established by Act of Parliament in 1832, Kensal Green Cemetery was London's first necropolis and remains in private ownership today, still administered by the General Cemetery Company who from the first wanted to create the cemetery as a park, 'a place of recreation that would be morally uplifting and edifying to the general populace'. The cemetery was consecrated in 1833 and by March 1834 the wall, gateway, lodges and Nonconformist chapel in the south-east corner had been completed. The Church of England chapel was built in 1836-7 and forms the central architectural feature in the cemetery. Catacombs were built along the north boundary wall.

Sources consulted:

See NHLE Register. John Archer, Daniel Keech 'Nature Conservation in Hammersmith & Fulham', Ecology Handbook 25, London Ecology Unit, 1993

Grid ref:

TQ228824 (522808,182483)

Size in hectares:

Site ownership:

General Cemetery Co.

Site management:

General Cemetery Co.

Date(s):

1939

Designer(s):

building by G Berkley Willis, garden and fountain court by Edward White

Listed structures:

None

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

Yes

NHLE grade:

Grade II*

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

CA

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Metropolitan Importance

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

Yes

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

None