Highgate Cemetery

Highgate Cemetery is one of the older existing Victorian cemeteries in London. Although this is, for a lot of people, one of the last places they want to go to this cemetery is certainly worth paying a visit to. (Point of fact, for all those Hammer horror film buffs, this cemetery was used for most of these films before the Friends of Highgate restored the cemetery.)

The guides are of a kind you really would expect in a place like that. What I noticed during the tour is that the cemetery is their life. They try to restore the graves back into their original state, they provide tours and explain a lot about the customs of death and burials in London during the last centuries.

You will find really beautiful graves and tombs, from the plain paupers grave to the intrecate architectural Victorian splender of symbolic wealth can be seen within the grounds of this cemetery. In other words, it tells you a lot about the financial and economical status of the people buried there. Several well-known people are buried at Highgate Cemetery, for example Charles Dickens and his family.

During the tour you will also be told the tale about the Highgate Vampire, by whom the cemetery seems to be haunted. According to the guides several people have seen him somewhere on the premises. See the website of the Highgate Vampire Society for more information.

As already mentioned, this place is worth a visit, not only because you can learn a lot about the history of London, but also because the money coming in from the entrance fees and donations are mainly being spent on the restoration of the cemetery, which in my eyes is money well spent.

For more information visit this website about the Highgate Cemetery.