List of cemeteries, crematoria and memorials in Richmond upon Thames

This is a list of cemeteries, crematoria and memorials in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It includes two cemeteries – Mortlake Cemetery and North Sheen Cemetery – that are managed by Hammersmith and Fulham London Borough Council.

Mortlake Crematorium

Cemeteries and burial grounds

East Sheen Cemetery and chapel
  • Barnes Cemetery, also known as Barnes Old Cemetery, is a disused cemetery in Barnes. It was established in 1854 and functioned as an additional burial ground to the local parish churchyard.[1] A number of distinguished Victorians were buried there, with a variety of monuments and statues erected to their memory. At the centre of the cemetery is a large memorial to the Hedgman family, who were local benefactors in Barnes.[2] The cemetery was claimed to be haunted by a ghostly nun that would hover over the grave of Julia Martha Thomas, the victim of an infamous murder in 1879.[1] In 1966 the cemetery was acquired by Richmond upon Thames Council with the intention of turning it into a lawn cemetery. The council demolished the chapel and lodge and removed the boundary railings to prepare the cemetery for its new role. However, it then dropped the plans and effectively abandoned the cemetery.[2]
  • East Sheen Cemetery, in East Sheen, opened in 1906 and is now contiguous with Richmond Cemetery, though the original boundary is marked by a hedge. The cemetery's chapel, now used for services by both sites, was built in 1906 in the Gothic Revival style by local architect Reginald Rowell, who was himself later buried in the cemetery. The cemetery contains several particularly noticeable memorials. The most important monument in the cemetery is the memorial to coal mining industrialist George William Lancaster and his wife by Sydney March (1876–1968) – a bronze sculpture of an angel weeping over a stone sarcophagus dating from the 1920s. It was designated a Grade II* listed building in 1992, and according to Historic England is "considered one of the most significant 20th-century examples of funerary sculpture".[1][3] The cemetery also contains over 70 war graves, cared for by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
  • Hampton Cemetery, in Hampton, was opened in 1879.[4] Fourteen Commonwealth servicemen and servicewomen of World War I and seven of World War II are buried in the cemetery.[5]
  • Mortlake Cemetery is a cemetery in Kew.[6] It is also known as Hammersmith New Cemetery as it provided burials for the then Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith when Margravine Cemetery was full.[7] The cemetery opened in 1926 and is still in use.[8] It is now managed by Hammersmith and Fulham Council.[8] The cemetery includes the Commonwealth war graves of 109 service personnel of World War II, some of them in a special services plot in the south-eastern corner of the cemetery. Seventy-seven Commonwealth servicemen of World War II who were cremated at Mortlake Crematorium, which adjoins the cemetery, are listed on a screen wall memorial erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in the cemetery.[9] They include England rugby international Vivian Davies (1899–1941) who was a captain in the Royal Artillery.[10] The memorial is listed Grade II by Historic England.[11]
North Sheen Cemetery

Crematoria

  • Mortlake Crematorium in Kew[30] was licensed in 1936 under the Mortlake Crematorium Act 1936, thereby becoming the first crematorium in England to be established under its own Act of Parliament.[31] It opened in 1939 and has been a Grade II listed building since 2011, being assessed by Historic England as having "a distinctive Art Deco design that survives little altered in a compact and practical composition".[32]

Mausoleums

Comte de Vezlo Mausoleum

War memorials

Other listed war memorials include:

  • The Kew War Memorial, near St Anne's Church, unveiled in 1921 and Grade II listed since 2015.[41]
  • The Mortlake and East Sheen War Memorial, in East Sheen, unveiled in 1925 and Grade II listed since 2017.[42]
  • The Petersham War Memorial, in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, unveiled in 1920 and Grade II listed since 2017.[43]
  • The Teddington War Memorial, in Teddington, unveiled in 1921 and Grade II listed since 2017.[44]
  • The Twickenham War Memorial in Radnor Gardens, designed by Mortimer Brown and erected in 1921. It has been Grade II* listed since 2017.[45]

Other memorials

Bromhead Memorial
Bolan's shrine, on what would have been his 60th birthday, 30 September 2007
  • The Bromhead Memorial is a Grade II listed memorial in Richmond Cemetery to deceased residents of the nearby Royal Star and Garter Home.[46][47] It was commissioned as a gift from the Bromhead family in the name of Lieutenant Colonel Alfred Bromhead – who served as a governor of the Star and Garter Home – and his wife Margaret, who was also a governor and the home's matron. The memorial was designed by Cecil Thomas (1885–1976) and has been described by historian Darren Beach as "probably the finest sight at Richmond Cemetery".[48]
  • Marc Bolan's Rock Shrine is a memorial to Marc Bolan, of glam-rock band T-Rex, on the site where he died in a car crash in Barnes on 16 September 1977. It is recognised by the English Tourist Board in its guide England Rocks as a "Site of Rock 'n' Roll Importance" in England.[49][50]
  • There are several memorials in Richmond Park:
    • Trees: The Jubilee Plantation, commemorating the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, was established in 1887.[51] Prince Charles' Spinney was planted out in 1951[52] with trees protected from the deer by fences, to preserve a natural habitat. The bluebell glade is managed to encourage native British bluebells. Teck Plantation, established in 1905,[53] commemorates the Duke and Duchess of Teck, who lived at White Lodge. Their daughter Mary married George V.[54] Tercentenary Plantation, in 1937,[53] marked the 300th anniversary of the enclosure of the park. Victory Plantation was established in 1946[53] to mark the end of the Second World War. Queen Mother's Copse, a small triangular enclosure on the woodland hill halfway between Robin Hood Gate and Ham Gate, was established in 1980[53] to commemorate the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The park lost over 1000 mature trees during the Great Storm of 1987 and the Burns' Day storm of 1990. The subsequent replanting included a new plantation, Two Storms Wood, a short distance into the park from Sheen Gate. Some extremely old trees can also be seen inside this enclosure.[35]
    • James Thomson: A bench sculpted by Richard Farrington[55] and known as "Poet's seat" is located at the north end of Pembroke Lodge Gardens, in a spot called Poet's Corner, which also has three curved benches inscribed with a couplet by the Welsh poet W. H. Davies (1871–1940), "A poor life this, if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare".[56] The seat is inscribed with lines by the poet James Thomson (1700–1748)[57] who is also commemorated by a wooden memorial plaque with an ode to Thomson by the writer and historian John Heneage Jesse (1809–1874).[57] King Henry's Mound, also in Pembroke Lodge Gardens, is inscribed with a few lines from Thomson's poem "The Seasons".[57]
    • Ian Dury: In 2002 a "musical bench", designed by Mil Stricevic,[58] was placed in a favoured viewing spot of rock singer and lyricist Ian Dury (1942–2000) near Poet's Corner. On the back of the bench are the words "Reasons to be cheerful", the title of one of Dury's songs.[57] In 2015 the bench was refurbished, and now includes a QR code which, when scanned with a smartphone, gives access to nine Ian Dury and the Blockheads songs and Dury's Desert Island Discs interview with Sue Lawley, first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 15 December 1996.[59]

References

Sources


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