Inventory Site Record

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

Nunhead Cemetery was one of the 7 great Victorian cemeteries established on the outskirts of London. It was laid out on former farmland, with curving paths and planting that made good use of its hilly site. The path layout and some of the trees from the original planting survive. It had matching entrance lodges and two gothic chapels, only one of which remains and now restored. Although it became fashionable to be buried here, the cemetery suffered when the new Crystal Palace railway blocked the cemetery approach and the company secretary embezzled company funds. Over the C20th the once well-kept cemetery deteriorated and it closed in 1969, badly neglected and subject to attacks by vandals. Purchased by Southwark Council in 1975, it was later restored with the active participation of the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery, and re-opened in 2001, part now a nature reserve.

Previous / Other name:

All Saints' Cemetery

Site location:

Linden Grove/ Limesford Road

Postcode:

SE15 3LP

What 3 Words:

yoga.nerve.arch

Type of site:

Cemetery

Borough:

Southwark

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

Opens: 8.30am. Closes: 4pm (November-February); 5pm (March/October); 7pm (April - September)

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Toilet/Rangers office at Limesford Road entrance

Events:

Guided tours last Sunday of month; Open Day 3rd Saturday in May; nature walks.

Public transport:

Rail: Nunhead. Bus: 78, 343, 484, P12

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/04/2012

Last minor changes:

14/07/2022

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.fonc.org.uk; www.southwark.gov.uk

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.

Nunhead Cemetery, originally called All Saints' Cemetery was the second cemetery opened by the London Cemetery Company, which had been established in 1836 and opened Highgate Cemetery (q.v.) in 1839. Its grounds were laid out on Nunhead Hill by James Bunstone Bunning who also designed the gates and lodges c.1840; he was later appointed architect to the City of London. From the entrance gates on the north-west boundary the main drive leads to the Decorated Gothic Anglican Chapel, built in 1844 to designs by Thomas Little, who designed Paddington Cemetery (q.v.). Little also designed a Nonconformist chapel on the west of the cemetery, but this was demolished in the 1960s. The Catacombs, now sealed, are to the north-east of the entrance drive. Bunning was influenced by J C Loudon in his layout of the cemetery, which had a linked scheme of gently curving paths and much planting, allowing considerable variety of scene within the cemetery. On hilly ground with fine views over London from the upper slopes, the new cemetery was entirely surrounded by fields and market gardens. Some of the trees from the original planting survive such as holm oak, lime, plane, yew, ginkgo and swamp cypress. Most of the site was consecrated on 29 July 1840 by the Bishop of Winchester, with the north-west corner reserved for dissenters. The area is called Nunhead after the Old Nun's Head Tavern, beneath which are reputedly the foundations of a convent established after the execution at Tyburn of Elizabeth Barton, the 'Holy Maid of Kent'. She was condemned to death in 1534 for criticising the Henry VIII and was buried at Greyfriars graveyard in the City of London.

Although burial here became fashionable among the wealthy of the surrounding area, the cemetery began to decline somewhat after 1865 when it was discovered that the late first superintendent, Edward Buxton, had defrauded the company of £18,000, although he was then buried here. The building of the new Crystal Palace railway also caused problems of access to Nunhead Cemetery until a new entrance was built in 1870. The 1870s saw much attention paid to the cemetery's grounds and greenhouses were built to supply plants. In the early years of the C20th its income gradually dropped as a result of economic recession, high maintenance costs, and also lessening demand for burials due to greater longevity of the population. Despite this, a new south entrance was built and plans were made in 1911 for building a crematorium, although this was unrealised. As the C20th progressed the cemetery was increasingly neglected; it suffered bomb damage in WWII and the railings were removed at that time for scrap metal, leaving the cemetery open to vandalism.

In 1960 United Cemeteries Ltd purchased the cemetery and had plans to build on part of it, but local protest led to this proposal being rejected. Over the next 10 years the cemetery was unmaintained and deteriorated rapidly. It was eventually closed in 1969 by which time it was losing £5,000 a year despite being only two-thirds full. The nonconformist chapel had been demolished, other buildings were in ruins, the catacombs had been raided for lead and jewellery, and a number of fine monuments stolen. The once carefully kept grounds had become densely overgrown and it suffered vandalism throughout, with the Anglican chapel set on fire in the early 1970s.

In 1975/6 LB Southwark purchased the site for £1 by special Act of Parliament with the intention of retaining c.8 hectares as a cemetery and developing the remainder as public open space, part a nature reserve. In 1981 the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery was founded and in 1986 were granted licence by LB Southwark to undertake restoration works at the north end of the cemetery. A successful HLF bid submitted by LB Southwark and the Friends to restore the cemetery led to the award of a grant of £1.2m in 1998. As a result the cemetery has undergone extensive renovation with the ruined chapel, together with some 50 memorials, restored, the landscape cleared and new paths laid. Nunhead Cemetery re-opened in May 2001, with part of the cemetery now maintained as a nature reserve. The cemetery is almost full and burials are generally only carried out in family plots.

Among the monuments is the Martyrs' Memorial, an obelisk erected in 1851 to commemorate the five Scottish nationalists who campaigned for Parliamentary Reform and were transported to Australia in 1793. Many notable people are buried at Nunhead including Sir George Livesey (d.1908), local philanthropist who provided Camberwell with its first free library; water-colourist John Arthur Poulter, born in Deptford, who painted in the local area; and Thomas Tilling whose omnibus firm was set up in Peckham in 1851, running from Rye Lane to Oxford Circus. Among the fine listed monuments are those of Henry Daniel (d.1867); John Allan (d.1865); Maria Proom (d.1872); Oppenheim & Shroeter monument of 1849; Sophia Kempton (d.1849); Thomas Humphreys (d.1868); Vincent Figgins (d.1844); and the Stearns Mausoleum of c.1900.

Sources consulted:

EH Register: Country Life, 17 July 1975, p146-148; J S Curl, 'A Celebration of Death', 1980 p227-238; J S Curl, 'Nunhead Cemetery, London' in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society N.S. 22, 1977, p28-29; Hugh Meller & Brian Parsons, 'London Cemeteries, An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer', 4th edition (The History Press, 2008); Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner, The Buildings of England: London 2: South (Penguin) 1999; Peter de Loriol, 'Not a grave post-mortem' in Southwest Magazine, issue 105, March 1998; John Archer, Bob Britton, Robert Burley, Tony Hare, Ian Yarham, 'Nature Conservation in Southwark' Ecology Handbook 12, London Ecology Unit, 1989; John Beasley, 'Southwark Remembered', Tempus Publishing 2001; Southwark Listed Buildings data

Grid ref:

TQ354755 (535450,175550)

Size in hectares:

20.126

Site ownership:

LB Southwark

Site management:

Cemeteries and Crematorium; Friends of Nunhead Cemetery

Date(s):

1840

Designer(s):

J.B. Bunning

Listed structures:

LBII: Chapel on Linden Grove; East Lodge; West Lodge; Entrance gate piers, gates and railings on Linden Grove; monuments to Henry Daniel, John Allan, Maria Proom, Oppenheim & Shroeter; Sophia Kempton; Thomas Humphreys; Vincent Figgins; Stearns Mausoleum; Scottish Martyrs Memorial.

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:

Nunhead Cemetery

Tree Preservation Order:

Not known

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Metropolitan Importance

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

Yes

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

Cemeteries, Tier Two. Green Chain Walk

Nunhead Cemetery - Photo: Colin Wing
Date taken: 16/03/10 10:47

Click a photo to enlarge.

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