Many private tours of London can focus on places associated with some very famous individuals. This is certainly true when visiting royal palaces, the Houses of Parliament and sporting venues, not to mention the many statues of famous people themselves.
However, while many people associated with London in some way found fame (or were born into it), they all, like everyone else, ended up shuffling off this mortal coil (to quote former London resident William Shakespeare).
And while Shakespeare himself isn’t buried in London, a great many famous people are.
That means you can spend some fascinating time looking around London’s cemeteries, many of which are peaceful and often very attractive places, discovering a multitude of resting places of those who made a big mark during their lifetimes.
Which London Cemeteries Have Famous Graves?
London has several particularly notable cemeteries where some famous people rest. They include:
· Highgate Cemetery
· Brompton Cemetery
· West Norwood Cemetery
· Golders Green Crematorium
· Bunhill Fields
These graveyards are mostly quite near the heart of London, apart from Golder’s Green Crematorium. While the nature of the disposal of remains there means there are no full-size graves, there are extensive memorial gardens and a columbarium, where famous names range from psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud to Who drummer Keith Moon.
Highgate Cemetery is open until 17:00 each day and its most famous ‘resident’, complete with a bust displaying his unmistakable bearded features, is Karl Marx. You should not miss the ‘Egyptian Avenue’, a spectacular ivy-covered stone mausoleum.
Which London Cemetery Is A Royal Park?
Brompton Cemetery in west London not only rivals the grandeur of Highgate, but is unique in being the only London cemetery to be designated as one of the city’s royal parks.
Among the 200,000 people buried there are Emmeline Pankhurst, who campaigned for women to get the vote in the early 20th century, as well as Dr John Snow, the man who discovered that cholera was spread in water.
John Wisden, after whom a famous yearbook on the sport of cricket is named, also lies here.
The architectural and sculptural elements of these cemeteries are almost as fascinating as the roll-call of people buried there. South of the Thames, West Norwood has the claim to fame of being the world’s first Gothic Revival cemetery.
Among the most notable graves here is that of sugar merchant Henry Tate, founder of the Tate Gallery.
Back in central London, many people would miss the rather more modest little cemetery at Bunhill Fields near the ‘Silicon Roundabout’ of Old Street.
But it is here that some major figures in 17th and 18th-century English literature were laid to rest, including John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and William Blake.
Also in central London, St Pancras Old Churchyard contains the graves of architect Sir John Soane and writer Mary Wollstonecraft. This graveyard has its own curious sculpture, a cluster of very thin gravestones surrounding the Hardy Tree.
What Famous People Are Buried At Westminster Abbey?
Of course, to see the final resting places of some famous people in London, you won’t be visiting a graveyard at all.
Westminster Abbey has many of the most famous figures in British history entombed within its walls. The list includes more than 3.000 people, among them are the following:
· Politicians such as British prime minister from 1945-51, Clement Attlee, his foreign secretary Ernest Bevin, plus John Bradshaw (the judge who signed the King’s Death warrant at the end of the English Civil War),
· Famous scientists including Sir Isaac Newton, Ernest Rutherford, Charles Darwin, Stephen Hawking and William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered the planet Uranus, along with his son and fellow astronomer John.
· Actors such as Sir Henry Irving and Laurence Olivier
· Composer George Frederic Handel
· The engineer Thomas Telford, famous for his bridges
· The author Charles Dickens
· Explorer David Livingstone
Who Was Laid To Rest In St Paul’s Cathedral?
Westminster Abbey is not the only cathedral you can visit to see famous tombs, as St Paul’s Cathedral has its own list of very notable people. These include:
· Ethelred the Unready, the 11th-century Saxon King
· Poet John Donne
· Christopher Wren, the architect who designed the modern St Paul’s, which, like much of the City of London, was rebuilt to Wren’s design after the Great Fire of 1666
· Horatio Nelson
· The Duke of Wellington (prime minister and victor at the Battle of Waterloo)
· Alexander Fleming, who discovered penicillin
· Artist Joseph Turner
The array of different famous people who are buried (or have their ashes interred) in London is huge. Alongside the fascination of seeing their resting places is the chance to see some extraordinary architecture and fascinating sculpture.
The combination of these three elements makes a tour to see the graves of the famous in London a memorable experience.
