Tower Hamlets Cemetery
Tower Hamlets Cemetery
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Seen on a walk through the cemetery.

Overview

Tower Hamlets Cemetery is thirty-three sprawling acres of consecrated ground in the heart of London’s East End. Closed for burials in 1966, the land has since been reclaimed by nature, and now resembles natural English woodland: a peaceful, if dark, resting place for the three hundred and fifty thousand souls interred there. Sycamore trees and ivy dominate the cemetery, but in areas where their coverage is thin, yews and oaks let in enough light for wildflowers to bloom during their season. At the right time of year, visitors can stroll through the grounds, sidestepping the bluebells and nettles that grow off the beaten paths, or head deeper into the forest to seek out graves that date back to the cemetery’s opening in 1841.

There is an abundance of local wildlife in the cemetery, making it a popular spot for London’s birdwatchers and butterfly enthusiasts. Foxes and badgers make their homes under the sanctuary’s crumbling mausoleums, and duck outside the park’s perimeter after dark to scavenge nearby rubbish bins and dumpsters when rabbits and other small vertebrates plucked from the woods fail to satisfy their appetites.

Directly across the street from the cemetery sit its administration offices.


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