Kensal Green Cemetery

During the early 19th century burial conditions in London had become deplorable and Parliament authorised the opening for seven private cemeteries that would be situated in inner London, one of these was Kensal Green Cemetery.

Kensal Green Cemetery was opened in 1833 and continues to be a working cemetery today. Throughout its 72-acres people of an array of faiths and buried within its walls and surprisingly the cemetery is still owned and managed by the same company since its inception, the General Cemetery Company.

Kensal Green was the site for London's first garden cemetery and was inspired by Paris' Pere-Lachaise and was designed in the spirit of the English country park. Today the cemetery enjoys a wealth of mature trees, wildflowers, insect life, birds and even foxes, some of which reside in the two conservation areas and adjoining canal. The piece de resistance of the cemetery's gardens however are the carefully laid out rose gardens that features row after row of rose trees, all individually accessible.

The cemetery features over 100 Grade I and Grade II listed buildings and monuments. Among the impressive building on view there is a number of chapels for a variety of denominations including an Anglican chapel, Non-conformist mortuary chapel, All Souls Chapel as well as a colonnade/catacomb. The monuments include a great many dedicated to members of the royal family, including Princess Sophie who passed away in 1848, the Duke of Cambridge (1902) and a cross designed by Princess Louise for her late nurse Mary Ann Thurston who died in 1896, the last Royal funeral took place in 1904.

Famous people who have been laid to rest at the Kensal Green Cemetery include Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Babbage, Howard Staunton, Ossie Clarke, Owen Jones, WH Smoith, Anthony Trollope, William Makepeace Thackeray, Leslie Ward and Fanny Kemble.

The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery organise tours every Sunday at 2pm meeting at the Anglican Chapel in the middle of the cemetery, those joining the tours will be expected to pay a donation. Find out more about Kensal Green Cemetery.

How to get there

If travelling by tube the closest underground stations are at Kensal Green and Ladbroke Grove.

If on the bus the 18, 23, 52, 70, 295 and 316 all serve the area. There is limited parking available in front of the main gate on Harrow Road.