# Catacombs, West Norwood Cemetery, April 2010



## godzilla73

Warning - this one may not be for people of a nervous disposition or those with strong beliefs about Christian Burial. You have been warned!

When I put some photos up last year of West Norwood, I said that I thought that it was probably the 3rd most interesting cemetery in London after Highgate and Kensal Rise. I stand by that, though at the time I didn't think that it could really get up there unless you could see the catacombs, which at that point were firmly inaccessible. Anyway, time moved on, and an opportunity came up that couldn't be missed - namely a chance to get down under the ground.

West Norwood is one of what have come to be known as "The Magnificent Seven" (Abney, Nunhead, Kensal Rise, Highgate, Brompton and Tower Hamlets being the others) - the metropolitan cemeteries built in Greater London during the Victorian era when churchyards became too full of graves to accommodate either the bodies or the increasingly ornate architecture.

To my knowledge, all of the magnificent seven either have or had catacombs - underground burial chambers for the extremely wealthy. West Norwood originally had two sets, one under its Anglican Chapel and one under its Dissenters (Non-Conformist) Chapel. Each was laid out as a set of bays arranged along a number of aisles, all meeting in a central chamber occupied by a hydraulic coffin lift (or catafalque) . This was used to lower coffins from the chapel above into the catacombs below.

The original Anglican chapel was pretty much destroyed by a V1 during WWII, but the catacombs have remained. No coffins have been interred there since the 1930's and many have been moved at the requests of families, but some remain, untouched and unclaimed.

This is the central chamber with the coffin lift in it.










These are the aisles running off the central chamber









The individual vaults frequently had tremendously detailed stone or ironwork on the front of them to let you know who was interred there. A lot of this is seriously rusted and decaying but there is still some interesting stuff here.

















On the Western side of the Catacombs there are still a lot of coffins just stacked in bays. Here the ironwork was either removed or has just collapsed completely. The coffins are lead lined - just as well, as some of the residents died of smallpox!





















There are also a lot of bays that are just empty (either unsold or the remains have been removed). These are now full of all sorts of things from all over the cemetery, but they all still have their numbers on them, so that the relatives of the deceased could find them:






















We thought this last one might have been part of the coffin lift machinery at one time





A really fascinating trip. Not for everyone, admittedly, but a real insight into how the Victorians treated their dead.
For those that are interested you can see more photos at http://s336.photobucket.com/albums/n353/mechagodzilla73/Catacombs%20West%20Norwood/

Cheers
GDZ


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## ThenewMendoza

Brilliant. I'd love to visit a place like that.

M


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## Foxylady

Amazing stuff. I didn't realise there were still remains like that...no pun intended, honest! 
Very interesting explore.


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## professor frink

Now THAT is seriously good.

Great report and good write up.


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## Seahorse

Absolutely amazed that even in the catacombs, they still bothered with gravestones.

By the way, nothing unChristian about the practice. Once your gone, it doesn't matter what you do with the remains. Burial is for the living, if you catch my drift.


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## Faing

Like you say, not for everyone but a really cool place to visit. I am surpiesed at the lack of vandalism. Are they lit or is it a opticl illuson? are they still available or are they deemed full? so many questons....edit: just reread it and see they are unused sinc 1930's


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## lost

Jaw-dropping, it's good to see photos from here again.


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## RichardB

Did the coffins go down there never to be seen again or would the families be allowed to visit?


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## godzilla73

Thanks for your comments guys. There is some lighting down there which has been recently installed by the friends of the cemetery, Faing, though it is pretty dark in places. Families would be allowed down there to visit (RichardB, Seahorse) hence the name plates and stones. I know what you mean now about burial being for the living Seahorse - its clear from West Norwood that for Victorians a lot of it was about showing off!
GDZ


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## CitadelMonkey

Rather than start a complete new thread, i'd like to tag a few extra pics on the end of Godzilla's report.

We were supposed to spend an hour underground on yesterdays visit but it ended up only being about 40 mins so didn't spend as long as we wanted down here. It truly was a bizarre feeling being so close to people who died 100-200 years ago...!!!

I'd also like to make one slight correction to Godzilla's report re no one being interred since the 1930's. I found one coffin down there that had a date of death on it(on a brass plaque) from 1985. There was also a wreath on it from a relative dated 1987. I reckon they must have been related to other burials in there.

The hydraulic catafalque





19 coffins





3 of a kind





Decaying coffins


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## godzilla73

CitadelMonkey said:


> I'd also like to make one slight correction to Godzilla's report re no one being interred since the 1930's. I found one coffin down there that had a date of death on it(on a brass plaque) from 1985. There was also a wreath on it from a relative dated 1987. I reckon they must have been related to other burials in there.
> 
> ]



Thanks for that - I thought the fella showing us around had come up with the 1930s date, but I must have misheard. He did say that you could only be buried in there now if you had relatives who had been interred previously, so this would account for an interrment from the '80s
Thanks again
GDZ


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## night crawler

Great stuff I never knew places like that exsited in this country, did not think it was that bad from a squeamish point of view The lead coffins are some thing I have never seen. Good job the pikeys don't get down there.


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## mcspringzy

Excellent report! Thats amazing to see unburied coffins like that! Really strange to think someones in there.


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## RichardH

I have a strong Christian faith and am not at all upset about these photos.  On the contrary, I think they are perfectly respectful and a valuable insight into the burial customs of a society which seems so remote and yet is only just beginning to slip out of living memory.

This is a nice complement to the SubBrit gallery.

godzilla73:


> ...its clear from West Norwood that for Victorians a lot of it was about showing off!


You can trace it back to the Reformation. Prior to that, the dead would have Masses said for their souls, would be commemorated in chantries, and the richest families would even endow a priest for the principal purpose of praying for the souls of deceased relatives. Along comes the Reformation and sweeps away most of the mystical side of Western Christianity. Suddenly people realise that if they are to be remembered by anyone, they had best make a statement with their death.

It's well worth a tour of the great British Mausoleums with that thought in mind. If you're at a loss for something to do, this website is a dangerous time-sink.


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## godzilla73

Thankyou for that - I am sympathetic to a broad range of religious views myself and I don't find anything upsetting about it either, but it seems to me to be the case that these days people use their religious beliefs as a basis for protesting about anything that they don't like, from what kids watch on TV to the price of petrol.
I can see the reformation origins of the Victorian Cemetery craze as it were, but it also seems to me to be a particular convergence of need, art, architecture, income and raw materials amongst other things


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## RichardH

godzilla73 said:


> I can see the reformation origins of the Victorian Cemetery craze as it were, but it also seems to me to be a particular convergence of need, art, architecture, income and raw materials amongst other things



I have a book, somewhere in the recently-packed stack of boxes, which discusses the post-Reformation religion of "Monumentism". I have a feeling that it is by Eamonn Duffy, but I have another, smaller, feeling which says it isn't. When I unpack after the move, I'll dig it out and post the details. It's a cracking good read for taphophiles: mentions quite a few out-of-the-way church crypts, forgotten graveyards, and the like, some of which have truly grotesque monuments in them.



godzilla73 said:


> but it seems to me to be the case that these days people use their religious beliefs as a basis for protesting about anything that they don't like, from what kids watch on TV to the price of petrol



Largely agree. :no:


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## muppix

Nice post Godzilla, been trying to get down there for ages but never managed it. Yesterday I had to console myself with a visit to the chapel, which turned out to be quite interesting in itself; one side had a room with brass plaques bearing the names of the interrred, the other contained a neat system of shelves bearing urns. One of them looked very much like a Canon lens box from the 80s ... photographer maybe?


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## godzilla73

Thats really funny and fascinating! You can't imagine such an interesting thing being in such a dull looking building! Seriouslythat chapel, (puts on Comic book guy voice) drabbest piece of cemetery architecture ever!


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## fluffy5518

Crackin' post Godzy !! Really interesting write up !! Cant wait for my visit-assuming NC hasn't forgot me !!


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## godzilla73

No problem Fluffster - I should imagine you'll be able to take some really good phots! I couldn't get the exposure quite right a lot of the time. It wasn't really dark enough for long exposure or light enough for flash!!!


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## Jessamine

Wow ! Fantastic pictures is all I can say  !! Well done! Would love to visit a place like this!

Think I would freak myself out a little though with all the coffins 

Awesome 

x


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## chaoticreason

WOW! These are truly amazing shots.I remember seeing a documetry some years back about catacombs,which included some around the London area.It never ceases to amaze me just how many interesting things lay unkown to us right upon our own doorsteps.
I think I would be somewhat hesitant of going to any catacombs by myself,though I'm sure your far less likely to get mugged down there than by all the scary people alive above ground.
Enjoyed.


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## chris

> found one coffin down there that had a date of death on it(on a brass plaque) from 1985. There was also a wreath on it from a relative dated 1987.



I thought I remembered hearing that the story was that the coffin had been put there temporarily for some reason and then got forgotten about.

The Friends of West Norwood Cemetery have occasional open days. Worth joining them as they do heroic work fighting Lambeth Council :icon_evil who seem to want to trash the site.

Nice set of pictures – my one of the roof above the coffin lift didn’t come out unfortunately


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## fuzzfacejack

Great post guys


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## SparkUK

That's brilliant..... I can almost taste the dust..... Love it!!


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## Newage

*More from West Norwood*

Just to add a few more pictures to Godzilla73 thread.

First off the coffin lift, tis a work of art.


















Looking up at one of the air vents, there is one at the end of each passage way.






There`s still a bit of space down there and if you`v got 5 grand floating about well........






OK thats enough, I`v added 2 new sets to my FlickR account one is full of pictures from inside the crypt and
the other is photos from the above ground cemetery.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/newage2/

Cheers Newage


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## godzilla73

Good to see you managed to get one of the coffin lift without the lights causing lots of problems or people walking in front of it! It is an amazing thing....Great pics Newage, thanks


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## swanseamale47

Great explores and pics, wonderfull to see places like that.
Wayne


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