West Norwood Cemetery (South Metropolitan Cemetery)

The South Metropolitan Cemetery was the second of the eight private garden cemeteries and was opened in 1837, in the London Borough of Lambeth.

The main buildings were designed in the Gothic style, by Sir William Tite, and the cemetery covers an area of 40 acres. The crematorium opened in 1915.

In 1966 it was purchased by Lambeth Council who run it with the Diocese of Southwark.

It is home to over 65 listed monuments and is still in operation, partially.

When West Norwood Cemetery was built, in 1837, London faced a crisis. Her churchyards and burial grounds were full, so garden cemeteries, like this one, were created. The South Metropolitan Cemetery, as it was originally known, was the second of eight cemeteries opened between 1833 and 1845.

There are over 250,000 people buried in over 45,000 graves.

The River Effra still flows beneath the cemetery.

The Chapels and Catacombs

When the cemetery opened it had two chapels, both designed in the Tudor Gothic style. 

The main chapel was Church of England and had turrets, arched arcades, and catacombs, while the second chapel was for Christians not part of the Church of England. Following extensive bombing, during World War II, the chapels were severely damaged and ended up being knocked down. The Catacombs remained, but were heavily damaged.

The Catacombs were the most expensive place to be buried, in the cemetery, and were a key selling point when the cemetery first opened. The Catacombs also had a hydraulic lift to carry coffins from the chapel above.

Today, the Catacombs are closed to the public and are going through extensive renovation.

Notable graves and memorials

• Charles Alcock - English sportsman and creator of the FA Cup
• James Baldwin Brown - Minister
• Hannah and Florence Barlow - Pottery artists for Doulton & Company
• Isabella Mary Beeton - Journalist and editor
• Sir Henry Bessemer - Inventor
• Paul Cinquevalli - Music Hall entertainer
• Oswald Denniston -  The first African Caribbean trader in Brixton Market
• Sir Henry Doulton - Founder of the Doulton Company
• James William Gilbart - English banker and author
• Alma Jean Henry - Opera singer from Trinidad
• Eliza James - English watercress grower and entrepreneur
• John Lawson Johnston - Inventor of 'Bovril'
• Dr Gideon Algernon Mantell - An English obstetrician, geologist and palaeontologist
• Sir Hiram Maxim - Inventor
• Sister Eliza Roberts - Worked with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War
• Sir Henry Tate - British sugar merchant, established the Tate Gallery and Henry Tate & Sons which would become Tate & Lyle

Timeline

• 1836 - The South Metropolitan Cemetery Company is founded
• 1837 - The South Metropolitan Cemetery opens
• 1842 - Refugees from the island of Chios lease a small plot of land within the cemetery, now called the Hellenic Enclosure
• 1872 - St Stephen's Chapel is built in the Hellenic Enclosure
• 1915 - A crematorium is added, the first in South London, to the original Non-conformist Chapel
• 1940-44 - Bombs damage the cemetery and its buildings
• 1955 - The crematorium is rebuilt
• 1960 - The Anglican Chapel is knocked down
• 1965-66 - The cemetery company falls into financial trouble, so Lambeth Council buys the site
• 1967 - Lambeth starts their 'lawn conversion' of the cemetery, clearing memorials
• 1978-80 - The cemetery is included in the new West Norwood Conservation Area
• 1980 - Bereaved families campaign to stop the destruction of their memorials
• 1987-90 - Lambeth continues to clear memorials
• 1989 - The 'Friends of West Norwood Cemetery' is formed
• 1994- Lambeth is ordered by a court to halt mass clearance, restore certain monuments, and stop re-selling graves
• 2018 - The 'National Lottery Heritage Fund' awards a grant to restore the cemetery's heritage and welcome more visitors

Gallery