Cemetery | Guy Portman's Blog

My Tour of Highgate Cemetery

Nov 06 2015

I am fascinated by cemeteries. The protagonist in my 2nd novel, Necropolis, works for the burials and cemeteries department in his local council. I have also written blog posts about the Old Brompton Cemetery in London, Recoleta in Buenos Aires and Zentralfriedhof in Vienna. This week I visited Highgate Cemetery in London. It is home to many famous people including a number of authors.

Highgate Cemetery is divided into 2 sections – East and West. To view the West one has to pre-book. Tour groups are admitted once a day. As for the East it is open to the public – admission £4. And it is the East side that I visited on a grey, wet but mild November afternoon. Below is Douglas Adams grave. Adams wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. (Note the pens in the pot).

Jim Horn was an avid reader.

Below is Mary Ann Cross’s (pen name – George Eliot) grave. Eliot was one of the leading novelists of the Victorian era. She used a male pen name so that she would be taken seriously in a male-dominated society.

Karl Marx is the most famous resident of Highgate Cemetery.

Much of the cemetery has a rural feel (see below).

This lady evidently really loved her dog.

The multi-cultural nature of the area is reflected in the style of graves (see below).

No prizes for guessing what Harry Thornton did for a living. He perished in the 1918 flu pandemic.

Malcolm McClaren (1946-2010) was an impresario, rock-artist, clothes designer and boutique owner. His epitaph reads – ‘Better a spectacular failure, than a benign success.’

Below is TV presenter Jeremy Beadle’s grave. The diminutive star was adored by the nation’s TV watchers.

Some of the graves have seen better days. I was trying to locate Anthony Shaffer’s resting place (author of 1970 bestseller Sleuth) when I came across this grave. I never did find Shaffer’s.

Bruce Reynolds was the mastermind of the Great Train Robbery in 1963.

Below is a resident of the cemetery.

I would highly recommend Highgate Cemetery.

My Tour of Zentralfriedhof

Jul 03 2015

I am fascinated by cemeteries. Previously on this blog I have written posts about the Brompton Cemetery in London and Recoleta in Buenos Aires.

The protagonist in my second novel, the satirical black comedy Necropolis, works for the burials and cemeteries department in his local council. Necropolis features a number of fictional cemeteries.

This week’s blog post is dedicated to my recent trip to Zentralfriedhof (Central Cemetery) in Vienna. At 620 acres (2.5 km sq) Zentralfriedhof is one of the World’s largest cemeteries. I was unaware how large the cemetery was when I entered the facility through one of its side entrances. The plan of the cemetery below gives some indication of its size. Zentralfriedhof is a multi-faith facility that caters for a range of Christian denominations, as well as those of a Jewish and Muslim persuasion.

Here are some graves.

This was the first time that I had come across deaths pending (see below). Rather macabre perhaps, but there’s nothing like being prepared.

Nikolic really liked his Mercedes.

It was beginning to dawn on me just how large Zentralfriedhof is. The below photo is of one of the cemetery’s many avenues.

I was nearing exhaustion by the time I made it to the main entrance, where I came across the cemetery’s primary mode of transport (see below). Warning: Don’t touch, they bite.

A horse-drawn carriage proved to be an excellent way to view the burial facility, if not a particularly economical one. Below is the cemetery’s church, St. Charles Borromeo.

Zentralfriedhof contains a diverse range of burial receptacles (see below).

Unlike the other Austrians I had the privilege to converse with, my carriage driver, who appeared to have the personality of a corpse, spoke virtually no English. The linguistic barrier made me concerned that I was going to miss out on the cemetery’s Musiker (musician) section. I contemplated how I was going to utilise my 40-50 words of German to express this concern. The plan was to go with – ‘Halten Beethoven grab bitte’. I was poised to utter this when the carriage drew to a halt in the Musiker section. The below is a picture of the ‘Holy Trinity’ of Austrian composers.

This is Schubert’s grave.

And Mozart’s.

Here is Beethoven’s.

I forgot all about Johann Strauss. He is also interred here.

The newly deceased continue to be tempted to Zentralfriedhof on a daily basis. And for good reason. But at 300 – 1,500 Euros per annum (standard grave site), they’ll need more than a Co-operative funeral care plan to cover the cost.

I would highly recommend Zentralfriedhof to anyone planning to visit Vienna. Below is a memorial plinth at its main entrance commemorating Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I.

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My Visit to Recoleta Cemetery

Oct 24 2014

I have always been fascinated by cemeteries. Not only have I visited countless burial grounds, but the protagonist in my second novel, the satirical black comedy Necropolis, works for the burials and cemeteries department in his local council. Necropolis features a number of fictional cemeteries.

During my trip to Argentina earlier this month I had the opportunity to visit the world famous Recoleta cemetery in Buenos Aires.

Recoleta is filled with a dizzying array of monuments, mausoleums, statues, columns, tombstones and obelisks. On entering the burial ground visitors are greeted by the sight of this towering arch (see below), commemorating General Alvear, hero of the Argentine War of Independence.

Iconic former First Lady of Argentina, Eva Peron, is buried five metres underground in her family crypt at Recoleta. This is her plaque:

Unlike the sombre and dark traditional family crypts/mausoleums I have seen in the UK, Recoleta’s are often inviting, glass fronted structures brimming with flowers (see below). A flight of stairs leads down to the death chamber below.

Having shooed one of Recoleta’s numerous feline inhabitants away with my foot, I took this picture (see below). Note the palm tree and the pining angels clasping onto the mausoleum on the left.

Below is a picture of your esteemed author posing outside a family crypt, adorned with angels in a variety of poses.

Below is an austere, angel-free mausoleum that particularly appealed to me. I wonder if my monthly Co-operative Funeralcare plan will cover me for one of these in marble or black granite.

Another interesting burial receptacle.

Señor Donovan seemed very confident in which direction he was heading (see below).

Recoleta abounds with monuments commemorating the Generals from Argentina’s proud military past – a proud military past I was not even aware of. I made the decision it was probably advisable as an Englishman not to question the authenticity of this claim whilst in the cemetery.

Recolata is a truly remarkable and unique cemetery that I would highly recommend to anyone visiting Buenos Aires. Below is an aerial shot of Recoleta, which shows the sheer scale of the facility and the diverse nature of its monuments and numerous burial receptacles.

The Brompton Cemetery

Feb 28 2014

My second book, Necropolis ~~(Release Date: April 24th)~~, is a humorous plot driven work of dark fiction about a psychopath, who works for the Burials and Cemeteries department in his local council. Due to the cemetery theme I am dedicating this blog post to the cemetery closest to my own heart, the Brompton Cemetery. I was born in a hospital adjoining the cemetery, spent countless hours of my childhood there – walking, skateboarding, feeding its many squirrels and inspecting its grave sites. To this day I continue to live in the vicinity and regularly visit this remarkable sanctuary. Perhaps one day I will find a permanent residence here. Below is the Old Brompton Road entrance to the Brompton Cemetery.

Consecrated in June 1840, the cemetery covers 16.5 hectares (39 acres). This necropolis is one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’ set of cemeteries that were built during this era, others include Kensal Green and Highgate Cemetery. The Brompton Cemetery (originally called The West of London and Westminster Cemetery) came into existence due to concerns that churchyards in central London were getting too full and that they posed a health hazard (London’s population doubled to 2.3m in the first half of the 19th Century). Since 1840 over 205,000 people have been interred in the Brompton Cemetery.

Taking an opportunity to visit during a lull in the relentless rain this week, I came across this fox (see above). The lustre coat of this specimen bears testimony to the fact that it is not only the dead that thrive here.

I am not the only writer to have sought inspiration in the Brompton Cemetery. Beatrix Potter lived close to the burial ground and would often take walks here. She named many of the characters in Peter Rabbit after those buried in the cemetery, including Nutkins, McGregor, Jeremiah Fisher and Peter Rabbett.

Amongst the many famous people interred here is Dr John Snow (see picture above). Snow was a pioneering anaesthetist and the discoverer of the cause of cholera. In 1887 two Oglala Sioux Native Americans, Surrounded By the Enemy and Red Penny, died whilst on tour with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. They were both buried in the cemetery. To date I have been unable to locate the site of their graves.

The Brompton Cemetery abounds with magnificent architecture including a number of family crypts or mausoleums (see below).

The main character in my ~~forthcoming~~ book Necropolis wishes to be interred in a mausoleum and I think I would too. Seclusion is a wonderful thing in life and one can only assume it is also in death. The Brompton Cemetery’s gravestones, tombs, plinths and mausoleums embrace a blend of grandeur, sombreness and good taste (see below). This is not always the case in modern burial facilities, much to the chagrin of the main character Dyson in Necropolis.

Many soldiers are buried in the cemetery. Below is the memorial to the Brigade of Guards.

The catacombs were originally added to the Brompton Cemetery as a cheaper alternative to burial. However of the thousands of spaces available, only about 500 were ever filled. Below is one of the catacombs as observed from ground level.