of the cemetery gate In 1849
William J. Haywood,
Chief Engineer of the
City of London Commissioners of Sewers, reported on the condition of the city's churchyards and their health risks. The Commissioners were responsible for public hygiene and sanitation and were in effect also the burial board for the City of London, due to an
act of Parliament in 1852. The commissioners directed that a cemetery be built for the city's 106 parishes, to replace intramural interment (burial within the confines of a parish). The task was taken up by William Haywood and Dr
John Simon. In 1853 this led to the purchase of land owned by
the 2nd Duke of Wellington, forming most of the
Manor of Aldersbrook. The of land suited the construction of the cemetery because it was accessible—only from the City of London—and had attractive planting and porous, gravelly, well-drained soil. This former farm land was sold to the Corporation for £30,721 and the cemetery was founded in 1854. It was laid out in 1855 by William Haywood, who designated for burial but also reserved land for plots sold in perpetuity, buildings, landscaping and roads. He was helped by
landscape gardener Robert Davidson. In selecting planting, Haywood and Simon were guided by
John Claudius Loudon's
On the Laying Out, Planting, and Managing of Cemeteries (1843). The total cost is estimated at over £45,000, which is approximately £26,000 more than originally planned. The first
interment was on 24 June 1856, although the cemetery was not
consecrated until November 1857, due to legal difficulties (which were solved in the
Burial Act 1857). It is estimated that in 1858 around 2,700 interments took place. Approximately 600,000 people have been interred here and with the remains from over 30 London churchyards also placed on the site, the figure is approaching 1 million. At the beginning of the 20th century a crematorium was built (designed by D. J. Ross), at a cost of around £7,000 and was opened on 25 October 1904 in the presence of
Sir Henry Thompson. In 1937 a garden of rest was constructed, followed by a series of memorial gardens, today with an estimated 20,000 rose bushes. A new crematorium was built in 1971 to a design by E. G. Chandler. It is a modern, symmetrical building containing two chapels and a basement crematory. The cemetery has been in continuous use since its opening. Many of the churches that were demolished in London had their dead reinterred in the City of London Cemetery (
see § Reburial and memorials).
Importance The cemetery grounds have been listed Grade I on the
Historic England National Register of Parks and Gardens. Eight Grade II listed buildings on the
National Heritage List for England are also associated with the cemetery, these are the Main Entrance Screen and Lodges, the Non Conformist Mortuary Chapel, the
Columbarium, the Monument at the South End of the Columbarium and Non Conformist Chapel, the monument to William Haywood, the cottage, and the Central Avenue chapel and the South Chapel ==Facilities==