Identification and description | |||||||
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Name | WEST NORWOOD CEMETERY AND CREMATORIUM | ||||||
Location |
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Localisation | Latitude: 51.432754 Longitude: -0.098911130 National Grid Reference: TQ 32249 72131 Map: Download a full scale map (PDF) |
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Overview | Heritage Category: Park and Garden Grade: II* List Entry Number: 1000851 Date first listed: 01-Oct-1987 |
An early C19 cemetery founded in 1837 and originally known as South Metropolitan Cemetery,
laid out to the design of William Tite.
HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT
Seven years after the formation in 1830 of the successful London Cemetery Company,
(owners of Kensal Green Cemetery (qv), which opened in 1832), an Act of Parliament
was passed, the purpose of which was to establish 'a cemetery for the interment of
the dead, southward of the Metropolis' (quoted in Curl 1980). In the same year (1837)
the South Metropolitan Cemetery Company was formed and this purchased land from the
executors of Lord Chancellor Thurlow in what was then rural Norwood (Rocque, 1746).
The cemetery, the second of the eight large London cemeteries established between
1832 and 1847, was designed by the architect William Tite (1798-1873). Tite was also
the architect in 1854 for Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey (qv). The cemetery was laid
out in the garden or pleasure ground style, and was the subject of criticism on these
grounds from the influential cemetery theorist J C Loudon (Gardener's Magazine (1843);
On the Laying Out, Planting and Managing of Cemeteries (1843)). Some of this C19 planting
appears to survive in the southern part of the site.
The original design included two chapels, Anglican and Nonconformist. The latter was
later adapted when, in 1915, the South Metropolitan Cemetery became one of the first
to install a crematorium. Built by the French firm Toisai Fraudet of Paris, the first
cremations using the gas furnaces took place in May 1915. By 1927 the success of the
cemetery was recorded in an aerial photograph which shows the lawns covered in memorials
(Brixton Illustrated). In 1936 the South Metropolitan Cemetery Company, having purchased
additional ground adjoining the cemetery's main entrance, moved their offices from
the City to the enlarged lodge house inside the entrance.
The Cemetery suffered extensive damage in the Second World War: both chapels were
damaged and later demolished, the Nonconformist chapel in 1955 and the Anglican chapel
in 1960. A new crematorium designed by A Underdown in 1960 replaced the original.
The South Metropolitan Cemetery at Norwood was purchased by the London Borough of
Lambeth in 1966 and renamed West Norwood Cemetery. In 1977 the Local Authority Cemetery
Order waived the right of burial in perpetuity enabling a considerable number of the
older graves at Norwood to be re-used.
DESCRIPTION
LOCATION, AREA, BOUNDARIES, LANDFORM, SETTING West Norwood Memorial Park (formerly
South Metropolitan Cemetery) is situated in densely populated West Norwood. Tulse
Hill lies c 2km to the north-west and Streatham c 2km to the south. Dulwich Park (qv)
lies c 1.5km to the north-east and Brockwell Park (qv) c 1.5km to the north-west.The
walled and railed enclosure is bounded by Robson Road to the north, Norwood High Street
to the west, by buildings along Martell and Romany Roads to the east, and by the buildings
along Dunbar Street, Dunbar Road, Auckland Street, and Durban Road to the south-west,
and Pilgrim Hill to the south. At the High Street end of the boundary a low brick
plinth supports tall, cast-iron, mid C19 railings in Gothic style. At the end of the
wall are tall brick piers with stone battlemented tops. Further lengths of mid C19
iron fencing in Gothic style are to be seen along Robson Road. All are listed grade
II. The main body of the site is enclosed within high brick walls built to a height
of c 3.5m, originally as a safeguard against body snatchers. The c 16ha site rises
steadily to the east. The bell tower of the neighbouring St Luke's Anglican church
to the south-west provides an interesting eyecatcher from points around the site.
ENTRANCES AND APPROACHES The cemetery is approached from Norwood High Street where
the brick-paved entrance forecourt is now (1999) enclosed with C20 iron railings and
gates. An engraving of 1853 (LAD) shows the entrance leading directly from the road,
but by 1890 (photograph, LAD) low iron railings had been introduced, and by 1938 (photograph,
LAD) the forecourt was fully enclosed by the current c 1m high iron railings. In 1853
the forecourt was screened from the cemetery by shrubs and, with the introduction
of railings around the forecourt, the shrubbery was extended along the boundary with
Robson Road. The tradition of forecourt planting continues today (1999). A stone war
memorial stands to the north of the forecourt.
Beyond the forecourt is an entrance (listed grade II) made in 1837 by William Tite.
Designed in Tudor Gothic style and built from pale bricks with stone dressings, the
entrance has a high central arch, originally hung with cast-iron double carriage gates
(removed by 1999), with a low side arch for pedestrians. The main arch is decorated
with a cornice which rises to a central peak above an estcutecheon with South Metropolitan
Cemetery in riband with the date. There is a smaller pedestrian entrance to the south.
In addition to the main gateway there is a second pair of iron gates (listed grade
II) c 20m to the south. West Norwood Library (c 1970), built on the site of three
C19 houses, separates the two gateways. An additional gateway leading out on to Pilgrim
Hill in the south-west corner no longer functions.
PRINCIPAL BUILDING The crematorium is situated on the highest point of the site. The
building, designed by A Underdown and built on the site of the original crematorium,
was constructed in 1960 from pink bricks with ironwork decorations, and replaces Tite's
Nonconformist chapel, itself having been adapted as a crematorium in 1915 and demolished
in 1955. Grilles at the base of the walls, the only remaining evidence of the old
chapel, secure the catacombs where Tite himself is buried.
GARDENS AND PLEASURE GROUNDS The grounds are traversed by serpentine paths most of
which are tarmacked. The lawns are planted with a mixture of deciduous and evergreen
trees, the more mature of which are to be found to the south.
From the entrance arch the brick road passes, to the south, the superintendent's office.
Rebuilt in 1950, the office is the second building on this site. The original, a gothic
lodge by Tite which was enlarged in 1936 when the Cemetery Company relocated their
offices from the City to Norwood, was demolished after suffering severe damage as
the result of enemy action in the Second World War. The wide brick carriage drive
continues for c 100m south-east before dividing. A brick road turns west to provide
a drive to the iron gates in Norwood High Street, while a second serpentine path rises
steadily to the south-east to become, after c 50m, the western and southern perimeter
path. Some 5m to the north of the division the brick paving is discontinued and from
that point all roads and paths are tarmacked. The main path continues to the north-east
as a curving perimeter path. The ground between the northern perimeter path and the
north boundary wall was cleared of some of the older monuments in the mid C20 and
is currently (1999) used for new burials. Lesser paths lead south and provide a network
of paths around monuments situated on the northern slopes of the site. As the northern
perimeter path approaches the north-east corner it passes to the north a garden of
remembrance, a rectangular lawn planted out with roses and enclosed within a screen
of evergreens. The groundsmen's yard is situated in the far north-east corner, where
for the first half of the C20 a glasshouse stood. South of the yard the path curves
sharply passing, enclosed within iron railings, the Greek burial ground which was
reserved in 1842 for the Brotherhood of the Greek Community in London. The mortuary
chapel associated with this part of the cemetery was built in 1872 by a wealthy Greek
merchant, Stephen Ralli, in memory of his younger son Augustus. The chapel, built
in the Greek Revival style, is thought to have been designed by John Oldrid Scott
(1842-1913, son of architect Sir Gilbert Scott (1811-78)). The path continues, rising
steeply to the south, with views back to the Greek burial ground and southwards to
the crematorium. After c 100m the path divides, the western branch encircling the
new crematorium. At the top of the hill the main path follows the eastern boundary
for c 200m, passing to the west the small plot reserved for the parishioners of Sir
Christopher Wren's city church, St Mary at Hill. Enclosed within iron railings, the
ground was used as an annex to St Mary's churchyard when it became overcrowded in
the mid C19 (Wilson 1973). Some 20m south of the burial ground the path curves west
and, following the line of the south boundary wall, continues for c 350m where it
turns north-west and, after a further c 300m, joins up with the brick path leading
to the iron gates in Norwood High Street.
The path system which encircles the crematorium passes between it and the catacombs
to the south. Constructed under Tite's Anglican chapel, the catacombs had space for
2000 coffins. The coffins were slowly and quietly lowered from the chapel into the
vaults below by the use of an hydraulic pump manufactured by the engineering firm
of Bramah, Prestage and Ball of London (Curl 1980). After the chapel was demolished
in 1960 the catacombs were sealed and the site is today (1999) marked by brick walls
enclosing a second garden of remembrance with lawns and rose beds. A path to the west
of the crematorium curves for 200m down the hill to join up with the southern perimeter
path. Occasional grass paths provide access to graves.
The cemetery contains a number of notable memorials, of which seven are listed grade
II* and thirty-seven are listed grade II (for further details see Meller 1991).
REFERENCES
J Curl, A Celebration of Death (1980), pp 223-4, 244-63 B Cherry and N Pevsner, The
Buildings of England: London 2 South (1983), pp 340-2 J C Loudon, Gardener's Magazine
(1843) J C Loudon, On the Laying Out, Planting and Managing of Cemeteries (1843),
p 69 and figs 42, 43 London Borough of Lambeth, West Norwood Cemetery, Conservation
and Landscape Improvement (1971) H Meller, London Cemeteries (1991), pp 218-31 J B
Wilson, The Story of Norwood (1973), pp 17-19
Maps J Rocque, Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster and Borough of Southwark,
published 1746
OS 25" to 1 mile: 1st edition published 1868 3rd edition published 1901 OS 6" to 1
mile: 1932-41
Illustrations Collection of sketches by Sargent, a local artist (Lambeth Archives
Department) Engraving showing the site from a high point to the west, 1853 (Lambeth
Archives Department) Collection of photographs, 1890(1960 (Lambeth Archives Department)
Aerial photograph, Brixton Illustrated Press, 1927, p 11 (Lambeth Archives Department)
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION
West Norwood Cemetery is included on the Register of Parks and Gardens of Special
Historic Interest at Grade II* for the following principal reasons: * West Norwood
was the second commercial cemetery opened to serve London. * The cemetery is a good
example of an early Victorian cemetery laid out in the garden or pleasure ground style.
* The original structures, of which only the entrance arch survives, were designed
by William Tite (1798-1873) who was also architect for Brookwood Cemetery (qv). *
The cemetery contains an outstanding collection of C19 and early C20 funerary monuments.
* The cemetery was the site of an early crematorium (1915), which was replaced in
1960.
Description written: April 1999 Register Inspector: LCH Edited: July 2001 Upgraded:
2009
This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Online. This
source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide
for further reading, 11 July 2017.
This garden or other land is registered under the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 within the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens by Historic England for its special historic interest.
Websites
War Memorials Online, accessed 11 July 2017 from https://www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk/memorial/132964