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Highgate Cemetery

Opened in 1839 when London was in a panic about overflowing church burial grounds, Highgate Cemetery is one of London's most intriguing sites. Of the 167,000 people buried there, many are well-known names like Michael Faraday, George Eliot and Sir Ralph Richardson. The first burial was on 26th May 1839 when Elizabeth Jackson, a 36-year-old spinster of Golden Square, Soho was laid to rest.

Other less well-known but notable characters buried in Highgate include Baron Dalziel of Wooler who introduced motor cabs to London in 1907, C. Chubb of lock fame, dog show supreme founder C.Cruft, kinemaphotography pioneer William Friese-Green and last but certainly not least, inimitable comic Max Wall.

But easily the best-known grave is inhabited by one Karl Marx, whose ideas have arguably been the most influential in the world over the last 150 years. Mr Marx, who wrote a few books including Das Kapital and the Communist manifesto, moved to England 1849 and was buried in Highgate when he died in 1883. Interestingly, the plot where he now lies under the instantly recognisable bust, was not his original resting place. He was moved there after the Second World War when funds were raised by communist sympathisers to buy a plot and erect the statue.

Though it was the fashionable place to be buried during the nineteenth century, through the twentieth century the cemetery became increasingly run down and some of its land was even sold to build housing. After years of neglect, the rot was stopped in 1975 when charitable organisation Friends of Highgate Cemetery was formed. Volunteer members of the organisation worked to maintain and improve the cemetery - as they do to this day.

Their hard work paid off in 1983 when the Cemetery was declared a place of outstanding historic and architectural interest. Financial support for restoration came from a variety of sources and since 1985 English Heritage has assisted FOHC in a continuing programme of repairs. Burials, which had ceased for a period, started again in 1981 and income from that, plus donations and other fund-raising activities, support the maintenance and restoration of the Cemetery.

The Cemetery is also a real city haven for many types of flora and fauna including foxes, frogs and butterflies as well as a huge variety of wild flowers. To find out more about Highgate Cemetery, click here