West Norwood Cemetery tour

A tour of the first Gothic-revival cemetery with your expert guide from the Friends of West Norwood Cemetery charity.

West Norwood Cemetery was the second of the Magnificent Seven: early Victorian cemeteries set up by private companies between 1833-1841 to provide for London’s expanding population. Your guide is an expert on the Victorian era.

West Norwood was the first Gothic-Revival cemetery, the buildings and landscaping designed by William Tite (who was himself interred in the catacombs). In addition to original features like the entrance arch, and iron railings made by Bramah & Robinson (the two Gothic chapels, Anglican and Nonconformist, have not survived), a key feature of the cemetery is its ornate Gothic monuments and mausolea. Known as the Millionaires’ Cemetery, West Norwood is predominantly the resting place of self-made industrialists (often inventors) and manufacturers. The sheer variety of stylised grave stones and monuments (Gothic, Classical, Italianate, Egyptian) is a testament to the commercial expansion of nineteenth-century memorial masonry which, crucially, enabled the self-fashioning of new identities.

Please meet by the entrance archway.