Gunnersbury Cemetery
Gunnersbury Cemetery, also known as (New) Kensington Cemetery, is a cemetery opened in 1929, located in the London's Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, 143 Gunnersbury Avenue Acton. It is owned and managed by the Royal Borough.[1]
History
A triangle of land between the Gunnersbury Avenue and the Great West Road, part of the Gunnersbury Park, was bought in 1925 from the Rothschild family by the borough. The cemetery was founded soon afterwards, in 1929, on the former parkland.[2]
Location and facilities
The cemetery is situated adjacent to Gunnersbury Park. It covers about 8.9 hectares. It has numerous floral displays and shrubberies, and a chapel.[1] Cemetery's buildings, chapel included, are simple brick structures.[3] There used to be a notable sculpture by Nereo Cescott but it was destroyed by vandals prior to 1994.[2][3] 'Garden of Remembrance serves as the place for the interment of cremated remains.[2] There is also a Book of Remembrance for memorial inscriptions.[2] Gunnersbury Cemetery is the location of the main office for both the Borough's cemeteries (the other being the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery, Hanwell).[1]
A notable landmark at the cemetery is a monument, in the form of a black obelisk, dedicated to the Polish victims of the Katyn massacre.[3] It was designed by Louis Fitzgibbon and Count Stefan Zamoyski.[3] The monument was unveiled on 18 September 1976. amid a controversy.[3][4] Soviet Union did not want the Katyn massacre to be remembered, and demanded that the British government prevents the erection of the monument.[5][4] The British government did want to antagonize the Soviet one, and the construction of the monument was delayed by many years.[6][7] When the local community secured the right for the monument to be put there, no government representative was present at the ceremony (although representative of the British Conservative Party opposition were present).[6][7][4]
Visiting
January/November/December: 9:00am - 4:30pm
February/March/October: 9:00am - 5:30pm
April/May/September:
- Monday to Saturday: 9:00am - 7:00pm
- Sundays: 9:00am - 6:00pm
June/July/August:
- Monday to Saturday: 9:00am - 8:00pm
- Sundays: 9:00am - 7:00pm
Burials
As of January 2010 Find a Grave describes this cemetery as having "49 famous interments."[8] They include:
- A plot dedicated to the 24th Polish Lancers Regiment and their families[9]
- Denzil Batchelor, British journalist, writer, playwright and broadcaster.[10]
- Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski, Polish general, during World War II, commander of the Warsaw Uprising and Polish Commander-in-Chief[11]
- Hugh Burden, British actor and playwright[12]
- William Davison, 1st Baron Broughshane[13]
- Charles Benjamin Dowse, 8th Bishop of Killaloe[14]
- Matila Costiesco Ghyka, Romanian prince, novelist, mathematician, historian, philosopher and diplomat[15]
- George Humphreys, British civil engineer [16]
- Harold Brownlow Martin, Australian pilot[17]
- Charles Langbridge Morgan, British playwright and novelist[18]
- John Ogdon, English pianist and composer[19]
- Vera Page, victim of an unresolved murder[20]
- Carol Reed, English film director[21]
- Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich of Russia[22]
- Kazimierz Sabbat, Prime Minister and President of Poland in Exile[23]
- Matthew Smith, English painter[24]
- Marda Vanne, South African actress[25]
- Aston Webb, English architect[26]
References
- ^ a b c Official entry on the Royal Borough's Libraries
- ^ a b c d Cemeteries services, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
- ^ a b c d e Hugh Meller (10 March 1994). London cemeteries: an illustrated guide and gazetteer. Scolar Press. p. 139. ISBN 9780859679978. http://books.google.com/books?id=8-ROAAAAMAAJ. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
- ^ a b c Anna M. Cienciala; Wojciech Materski (2007). Katyn: a crime without punishment. Yale University Press. pp. 243–245. ISBN 9780300108514. http://books.google.com/books?id=SyimWfkx0-MC&pg=PA244. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
- ^ George Sanford (2005). Katyn and the Soviet massacre of 1940: truth, justice and memory. Psychology Press. pp. 195–. ISBN 9780415338738. http://books.google.com/books?id=ayq3CpH69HMC&pg=PA195. Retrieved 16 February 2011.
- ^ a b Katyn in the Cold War, Foreign and Commonwealth Office
- ^ a b Brian Crozier, The Katyn Massacre and Beyond, National Observer, No. 44, Autumn 2000 >
- ^ Find a Grave, Gunnersbury Cemetery
- ^ Find a Grave, Lancers & families, 24th
- ^ Find a Grave, Denzil Batchelor
- ^ Find a Grave, Bor-Komorowski, Tadeusz
- ^ Find a Grave, Hugh Burden
- ^ Find a Grave, William Davison
- ^ Find a Grave, Charles Benjamin Dowse
- ^ Find a Grave, Matila Ghyka
- ^ Find a Grave, George Humphreys
- ^ Find a Grave, Harold Brownlow Martin
- ^ Find a Grave, Charles Langbridge Morgan
- ^ Find a Grave, John Ogdon
- ^ Find a Grave, Vera Page
- ^ Find a Grave, Carol Reed
- ^ Find a Grave, Prince Vsevolod Ivanovich
- ^ Find a Grave, Kazimierz Sabbat
- ^ Find a Grave, Matthew Smith
- ^ Find a Grave, Marda Vanne
- ^ Find a Grave, Aston Webb
External links