London’s Pocket Parks: Oak Lane Cemetery, TW1

Surrounded by high walls, this small cemetery is also a delightful old park to wander around as well.

It’s said that Queen Victoria granted the land for the cemetery in 1838, although desk-based research couldn’t find any corroborating details to confirm that. There are references to Twickenham New Cemetery, but not before the 1870s. The name likely changed to Oak Lane Cemetery when Oak Lane was built, as prior to that, the area was mainly rural with few roads or houses. Today, it’s surrounded by plenty of both.

The cemetery closed to burials in 1955 and was later opened as a public park. Although still owned by the Diocese of London and St Mary’s parish, the Friends of Oak Lane Cemetery also care for it.

There was a dispute in the early 1980s, when plans were shown off to turn part of the cemetery into a children’s playground for a local school. Twickenham’s residents hoped the local vicar would support their opposition to the plans until it turned out the vicar was the school governor who wanted it built.

In the end, the playground wasn’t built.

In recent years, they have cleared and restored some of the overgrown paths, and in 2000 raised funds for an information plaque. In 2003, the Bridge House Trust funded the new gates into the cemetery.

Going in through those new gates, there’s a long straight path running the full length of the cemetery park, with the gravestones poking out of a deep sea of rough grasses.

Away from the very ordered Victorian path, there’s a load of more naturalistic paths that weave their way around the pocket park, letting you get deeper into the undergrowth and, at times, underneath the ancient trees around the edges.

The high walls create a bit of a micro-climate in the space, very much like a classic kitchen garden, and while a walk around won’t take that long, being somewhat hidden away makes it a delightful little space to discover.