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Brompton Cemetery review

Craig Sat 29th July, 2017

Address:
Brompton Cemetery, Fulham Road, West Brompton
Opening times:
7 AM to 4 PM (Nov-Jan); 7 AM to 5 PM (Feb, 2nd half of Oct); 7 AM to 6 PM (Mar, mid-Sep to mid-Oct); 7 AM to 7 PM (Apr, 1st half of Sep); 7 AM to 8 PM (May-Aug)
Cost:
Free
Time required:
1 hour (approx)
Brompton CemeteryCraigEasy to get to? ★ ★ ★ Good for kids? ★ ★ ★ Value for money? free Worth a visit? ★ ★ ★103

Craigs London blogImageMr Chambers is a very quiet today, and that's not like him -- on his epitaph it says he's the liveliest guy in the room. I've been standing at the foot of his bed for two minutes and he hasn't made a peep so either he's asleep or he's ignoring me. I know you're down there somewhere, mate. You can't ignore me forever. But that's how it is at Brompton Cemetery: you come here for a bit of company and all you get is the cold shoulder.

ImageAs soon as people die they don't want to know you anymore. Have you noticed that? Family, friends, neighbours, people you went to school with, people you've known for years and years -- they move on and it's as if you don't exist all of a sudden. They have their exciting new lives to lead while you're still stuck in a rut in yours.

ImageA large part of the cemetery is rather beautiful with tombs the size of houses, some the size of sheds, and some with concrete columns and crosses on top. A lot of the family crypts have got full-sized front doors with windows round the side, but they're all trapped behind chainlink fences to stop the public peering in. Other parts of the cemetery have just been abandoned to nature, the anarchic kind of nature that advances over everything it sees, and that's where I am right now: trapped under a canopy of dripping trees.
ImageI can't move until the rain eases off so I'm just staring out over a battlefield of headless statues, smashed stones and tumbled tombs, angels with amputated arms, and rows of crucifixes and crosses where they've buried the dead. My shoes are covered in cut grass and mud where I've been traipsing my way through the mess of nettles, black berries and barbed wire branches. It really is like a no-man's land: when you put your foot down the vines snap around and grab at you. They cling to your clothes and sink their sharp little teeth into your trousers.

ImageThe inscriptions on the gravestones are rather unadventurous (we Brits don't have much imagination when it comes to death). Everyone has either departed or died or simply fallen asleep. All of their beloved mothers, loving husbands, darling little daughters... always in their hearts, in their thoughts, their memories, forever missed, blah blah blah... but it's the flowers that tell the true story. If they've got a vase of plants on top then they're still being loved by someone. If they're disappearing under a spreading mess of weeds then let's be honest: they're forgotten.

ImageWhen you come to a place like this you realise that it's all totally pointless in the end. Your tomb will eventually get weathered, your name will flake away and the people who knew you will find better things to do. Then you'll spend your days cupping your ear in your coffin as a jogger pants past, or a mother pushes her tandem pram whilst babbling on her phone. Who's that? What are you saying? But you can't hear anything through six feet of mud.

Okay... so this has been a rather downbeat review, but I do actually like this place. I don't mind walking around the weeds and fallen trees. But there's nothing here for a tourist. If you want to visit a truly beautiful cemetery then read my review of Highgate.

London visitors blogWhat do you think?Please leave a comment

I’ve been here more than once…
Brompton Cemetery  (4 Nov '13)

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