St John’s School were delighted to host another of the successful London walks on Thursday 19 September, welcoming parents and OJs alike, to a guided tour of Highgate Cemetery in London.
Visiting a cemetery may seem like an odd choice for a sunny September afternoon, but Highgate cemetery in North London, proved to be a fascinating addition to our series of guided London walks.
Divided over two sites, the tour began with the West Cemetery, which is only accessible with a guide and the group were very fortunate to be shown around by the Director of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust whose knowledge and passion for his subject made the tour even more interesting.
Development Officer, Mrs Naia Edwards said: ‘It was hard to believe we were in London, as we walked through the beautiful and serene cemetery filled with astonishing works of Victorian funerary architecture and surrounded by ivy-clad trees and wild flowers.’
The group learned about the history of burial sites in Victorian London with some memorable anecdotes of body snatchers and profiteering, as well as hearing some moving stories of the lives of people who are buried here.
The East Cemetery is where the graves of a number of well-known individuals are to be found, including the philosopher and revolutionary, Karl Marx and the Victorian writer, George Eliot, amongst many others.
