Tower Hamlets Cemetery

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Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
Details
Gravestones in Tower Hamlets Cemetery
Year established	1841
Location	Tower Hamlets, London
Country	England
Coordinates	51°31′25″N 0°01′50″W / 51.52367°N 0.03042°W / 51.52367; -0.03042
Type	Public
Owned by	Tower Hamlets London Borough Council
Size	10.93 hectares (27.0 acres)^[1]
Number of interments	350,000
Website	Official website

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is a closed, historic cemetery located in the East End of London. The cemetery opened in 1841 and closed for burials in 1966. It is now a nature reserve, and other land has been added to the park, including "Scrapyard Meadow". It was originally named The City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery but was called Bow Cemetery by locals.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery was formally consecrated by the Bishop of London prior to being opened for the reception of bodies.

Location

The Main Gate is on Southern Grove (on the crossing with Hamlets Way) in the Bow area of London, E3 and is in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. There are also small gates on Hamlet Way and Cantrell Road. The nearest tube station is Mile End.

History

Before the Victorian Era, all of London's dead were buried in small urban churchyards, which were so overcrowded and so close to where people lived, worked and worshipped that they were causing disease and ground water contamination.

An Act of Parliament was passed which allowed joint-stock companies to purchase land and set up large cemeteries outside the boundaries of the City of London. There were seven great cemeteries (the "Magnificent Seven") laid out about the same time (1832-1841). Highgate Cemetery, where lots of famous dignitaries are buried, is the most well known: the others are Nunhead, West Norwood, Kensal Green, Brompton, Abney Park.

The City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery Company was made up of eleven wealthy directors whose occupations reflect the industries of the day: corn merchant, merchant ship broker and ship owner, timber merchant, and Lord Mayor of the City of London. The company bought 27 acres (109,265 m²) of land and the cemetery was divided into a consecrated part for Anglican burials and an unconsecrated part for all other denominations.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery was very popular with people from the East End and by 1889 247,000 bodies had been interred (the cemetery remained open for another 77 years). In the first two years 60% of the burials were in public graves and by 1851 this had increased to 80%. Public graves were the property of the company and were used to bury those whose families could not afford to buy a plot. Several persons, entirely unrelated to each other, could be buried in the same grave within the space of a few weeks. There are stories of some graves being dug 40 feet deep and containing up to 30 bodies.

Walking in the Park

The cemetery itself did not remain in a tidy and elegant state for long. Only 55 years after it was opened it was reported to be in a neglected state. During the Second World War the cemetery was bombed five times during raids on the City of London; both cemetery chapels were damaged^[2] and shrapnel damage can be seen on the graves by the 1994 Soanes Centre in the north-west corner of the park. Burials continued taking place until 1966, when the Greater London Council (G.L.C.) bought the company for £100,000 under the G.L.C.(General Powers) Act and the ground was closed for burials. The intention was to create an open space for the public and relevant parts of the cemetery were freed from the effects of consecration. In October 1967 a further £125,000 was spent clearing the chapels and 0.68 acres (2,752 m²) of graves. Strong local opposition and problems of funding stopped the clearance.

Tower Hamlets London Borough Council took over its ownership in 1986. It was declared a Local Nature Reserve in May 2000 along with adjacent open land on Cantrell Road and Ackroyd Drive. It is also been designated as Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature Conservation and a Conservation area. The high brick walls which surround it are on the national register of listed buildings as are 7 individual memorials (all Grade II).

Discussion on Reopening

An article in the East End Advertiser made it appear that Tower Hamlets Council planned to reopen the cemetery and make it a 21st-century 'multi-faith' burial site. This was also picked up by the Daily Mail in October 2007.^[3] This created upset in the local community. At the following council meeting to discuss cemetery policy, the council stated that it did not intend to reopen Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park as a cemetery.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park are a group of locals who came together in 1990 because they were concerned over the increasing neglect by successive owners. Their main objectives are to encourage greater use of this inner urban green space as a sanctuary for people and a place of biodiversity. The park has been designated a Local Nature Reserve.^[4]^[5]

The cemetery now resembles natural woodland, with many bird and insect species making it their home.

Notable burials

Those who are buried or have memorials here include:

Dr Rees Ralph Llewellyn — Performed autopsy on Mary Ann Nichols, generally considered the first victim of Jack the Ripper
Alexander Hurley — Singer and comedian, second husband of Marie Lloyd
John "White Hat" Willis — Original owner of the Cutty Sark
Alfred Linnel — Trampled by a police horse during a demonstration in Trafalgar Square. His funeral was organised by Annie Besant and William Morris
Will Crooks — Trade unionist and first Labour Mayor of Poplar
Hannah Maria Purcell — Widow of William Purcell, carpenter of HMS Bounty
Some victims of the Bethnal Green Disaster
Charles Jamrach — Animal supplier to P. T. Barnum and others.
Henry Norris — Civil Engineer of lighthouses for Trinity House

War Graves

There are 279 Commonwealth service personnel of both World Wars buried here, the names of all being listed on bronze panels on a Screen Wall memorial, as are those of four Dutch merchant seamen. Nine British merchant seamen are buried here who were killed when their ship, SS Bennevis, was hit by a bomb while berthed in the Pool of London during an air raid in World War II.^[2]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tower Hamlets Cemetery.

References

↑ "Tower Hamlets A - Z of Parks". Tower Hamlets Council. no date. Retrieved 29 September 2013. Check date values in: |date= (help)
↑ 2.0 2.1 CWGC Cemetery Report.
↑ Anger over plan to dig up 350,000 bodies in historic London cemetery for Muslim burial
↑ "Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
↑ "Map of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park". Local Nature Reserves. Natural England. Retrieved 23 January 2014.

External links

Coordinates: 51°31′24″N 0°01′36″W / 51.5232°N 0.0267°W / 51.5232; -0.0267

v t e Cemeteries in London

Cemeteries	Beckenham Bell's Hill Burial Ground Brockley and Ladywell Brookwood Bunhill Fields Charlton City of London Croydon East Finchley East London Golders Green Jewish Great Northern Gunnersbury Hampstead Hanwell Hither Green Isleworth Kensington Hanwell Lambeth New Southgate Paddington Putney Vale Queen's Road Richmond St Mary's Roman Catholic St Pancras and Islington West Ham Jewish Willesden Jewish

The Magnificent Seven	Abney Park Brompton Highgate East and West Kensal Green Nunhead Tower Hamlets West Norwood

Former cemeteries	All Hallows Bread Street All Hallows Lombard Street All Hallows Staining Cross Bones East Greenwich Pleasaunce Enon Chapel Holy Trinity the Less Holy Trinity, Minories St Alban, Wood Street St Alphage London Wall St Andrew St Antholin St Botolph's Aldgate St Dionis Backchurch St Matthew Friday Street St Helen's Bishopsgate St James Duke's Place St John the Evangelist St John Zachary St Katherine St Leonard, Eastcheap St Martin Outwich St Martin Pomary St Martin Vintry St Mary Aldermanbury St Mary Colechurch St Mary Magdalen St Mary Somerset St Mary Woolchurch Haw St Mary Woolnoth St Michael Queenhithe St Michael, Cornhill St Mildred, Poultry St Olave St Peter le Poer St Peter, Paul's Wharf St Sepulchre

Crematoria	City of London Croydon Golders Green West London West Norwood

v t e Local Nature Reserves in Greater London

Barking & Dagenham	Beam Valley Beam Valley (Environment Agency) Dagenham Village Churchyard Eastbrookend Country Park Mayesbrook Park South Parsloes Park Squatts Ripple Nature Reserve Scrattons Ecopark and extension The Chase - Barking

Barnet	Big Wood & Little Wood Brent Reservoir/Welsh Harp Coppetts Wood Glebelands Moat Mount Open Space Oak Hill Wood Rowley Green Common Scratchwood Totteridge Fields

Bexley	Crossness Danson Park Bog Garden, Welling Foots Cray Meadows Lesnes Abbey Woods

Brent	Brent Reservoir/Welsh Harp Fryent Country Park

Bromley	High Elms Jubilee Country Park Scadbury Park

Camden	Adelaide Belsize Wood Camley Street Nature Park Westbere Copse

Croydon	Bramley Bank Foxley Wood Hutchinson's Bank Selsdon Wood South Norwood Country Park

Ealing	Blondin Park, Northfields Fox Wood Grove Farm Gunnersbury Triangle Islip Manor Meadows Litten Long Wood (and Hounslow) Northolt Manor Perivale Wood Yeading Brook Meadows

Enfield	Covert Way

Greenwich	Gilbert's Pit Maryon Park Maryon Wilson Park Oxleas/Shooters Hill Woodlands Sutcliffe Park

Hackney	Abney Park Cemetery Springfield Park

Hammersmith & Fulham	Wormwood Scrubs

Haringey	Parkland Walk Queen's Wood Railway Fields

Harrow	Bentley Priory Stanmore Common Stanmore Country Park

Havering	Bedford's Park Cranham Brickfields Cranham Marsh Ingrebourne Valley Rainham Marshes The Chase - Havering The Manor

Hillingdon	Denham Country Park Frays Valley Gutteridge Wood Ruislip Local Nature Reserve Ten Acre Woods and Meadows Yeading Brook Meadows Yeading Woods

Hounslow	Bedfont Lakes Country Park Chiswick Eyot Cranebank Duke's Hollow Gunnersbury Triangle Hounslow Heath Isleworth Ait Kempton Pevensey Road

Islington	Barnsbury Wood Gillespie Park Parkland Walk

Kingston	Bonesgate Open Space Castle Hill Coombe Hill Wood Edith Gardens Elmbridge Open Space Ham Lands Hogsmill River Park Jubilee Wood Raeburn Open Space Rose Walk Southwood Open Space The Wood and Richard Jefferies Bird Sanctuary

Lambeth	Streatham Common

Lewisham	Beckenham Place Park Brookmill Road Burnt Ash Pond Dacres Wood Downham Woodland Walk Sue Godfrey Nature Park

Merton	Bennett's Hole Cannon Hill Common Cherry Wood Cranmer Green Derwent Floodwash Fishpond Wood and Beverley Meads Lower Wandle Merton Park Green Walks Morden Park Myrna Close Oakleigh Way Pyl Brook Ravensbury Park Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Wood Wandle Meadow Nature Park

Redbridge	Hainault Lodge

Richmond	Barnes Common Crane Park Island Ham Common Ham Lands Lonsdale Road Reservoir (Leg of Mutton Reservoir) Oak Avenue Hampton

Southwark	Dulwich Upper Wood Lavender Pond Nunhead Cemetery One Tree Hill Sydenham Hill Wood and Fern Bank

Sutton	Anton Crescent Wetland Belmont Pastures Cuddington Meadows Devonshire Avenue Nature Area Roundshaw Downs Ruffett and Big Woods Spencer Road Wetlands Sutton Ecology Centre Grounds The Spinney, Carshalton Wandle Valley Wetland Wilderness Island

Tower Hamlets	Ackroyd Drive Greenlink Mudchute Park and Farm Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

Waltham Forest	Ainslie Wood

Wandsworth	Battersea Park Nature Areas

Westminster	St. John's Wood Church Grounds

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