Lavender Hill Cemetery

The Lavender Hill Cemetery Anglican chapel, one of two chapels in the grounds.
Lavender Hill Cemetery graves.
Grave of Neil Goodall who died on HMS Sheffield in 1982.

Lavender Hill Cemetery is a cemetery in Cedar Road, Enfield, London, administered by the London Borough of Enfield. The cemetery opened in 1872 and has two facing chapels inside the entrance, one for Anglicans and another for non-conformists. The gates to the cemetery featured in all but the final episode of British sitcom On the Buses as the terminus of Stan and Jack's bus route: 'Cemetery Gates'.

Creation and design

The Lavender Hill Burial Board was created in 1871 and the cemetery was opened in 1872. The site includes a sandstone lodge and gateway and two facing gothic chapels designed by Thomas J. Hill,[1] one for Anglicans and another for non-conformists, the latter subsequently turned into a store. The grounds were laid out on a serpentine scheme with many trees near the entrance on the south side.[2][3] Today the grounds total 28 acres (11.3 ha) plus a 12-acre (4.8 ha) extension known as the Strayfield Road Cemetery which opened in 1997.[1]

Management

The cemetery is administered by the London Borough of Enfield.[4] It has experienced difficulties due to poor ground conditions[5] and in 2013, subsidence was blamed by Enfield borough on water saturation.[6]

Notable interments

  • James Whatman Bosanquet of Claysmore (d. 1877) Large chest tomb. Instrumental in the building of St John the Baptist Church at Clay Hill.
  • Heinrich Faulenbach[7]
  • Joy Gardner (1953–1993) Jamaican student.
  • Neil Goodall (d. 1982) Cook on HMS Sheffield who died during the Falklands War following an Argentine attack.
  • Kimble Mathews (d. 1985) Only British victim of the Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crash.[8]
  • Georgina Twells (d. 1898)[9] and Philip Twells, M.P. (d. 1880)
  • William Watson (1868–1917) of Rowanburn, Dumfries. Freeman of the City of London, along with his widow, Harriet Watson (d. 1918) – both of Spanish Flu.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission record 92 men as buried at Lavender Hill, 33 from the First World War and 57 from the Second World War. A group of twelve exist in section Z with the rest located throughout the cemetery.[10]

  • Entrance lodge.
    Entrance lodge.
  • Disused non-conformist chapel.
    Disused non-conformist chapel.
  • War graves, section Z.
    War graves, section Z.
  • Memorial garden.
    Memorial garden.
  • Recent graves.
    Recent graves.

References

  1. ^ a b Meller, Hugh & Brian Parsons (2013). London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide and Gazetteer (5th ed.). Stroud: History Press. pp. 383–384. ISBN 978-0-7524-9690-0.
  2. ^ Cherry, Bridget; Nikolaus Pevsner (2002). The Buildings of England. London 4: North. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-300-09653-8.
  3. ^ Lavender Hill Cemetery. London Gardens Online. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  4. ^ Cemetery Opening Times. Archived 2015-04-13 at the Wayback Machine Enfield Council. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  5. ^ Wienrich, Stephanie & Josefine Speyer (Eds.) (2003). The Natural Death Handbook (4th ed.). Rider. p. 199. ISBN 978-1-84413-226-3.
  6. ^ Mysterious sinking graves at an Enfield cemetery has left some 'baffled'. Enfield Independent, 1 October 2013. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  7. ^ Pat Keeble, Robert Musgrove. (2007) Who was Heinrich Faulenbach? A case study in family and local history research. Edmonton Hundred Historical Society.
  8. ^ Hood, Christopher P. (2014). Osutaka: A Chronicle of Loss In the World’s Largest Single Plane Crash. Christopher Hood. p. 247. ISBN 978-1-291-97620-5.
  9. ^ History, Art and Heritage. St Mary Magdalene's Church, Enfield. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  10. ^ Enfield (Lavender Hill) Cemetery Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
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51°40′01″N 0°5′42″W / 51.66694°N 0.09500°W / 51.66694; -0.09500