Special opening of Highgate West Cemetery

Highgate’s West Cemetery is the famous half of the cemetery and for the first time since the 1970s, they are going to open it up to people – without going on a tour.

Normally, access is only possible by guided tour, but what they will experiment with next weekend is letting people in to wander around freely at will – so long as you stick the paths that is.

The West Cemetery is home to the most impressive architectural features of Highgate Cemetery — the Chapel, Colonnade, Egyptian Avenue, Circle of Lebanon, Terrace Catacombs and the mausoleum of Julius Beer.

This is still an operational cemetery and they ask that visitors respect the privacy of those visiting graves by moving away from the area and keeping noise to a minimum. They also ask that you don’t take photographs of recent graves, or of anyone visiting them, which is perfectly sensible advice when visiting any cemetery.