St. Pancras and Islington Cemetery
Islington Chapel, English Heritage Listed Building Grade II
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1854 |
| Location | East Finchley, London |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°35′52″N 0°10′06″W / 51.5979°N 0.1683°W |
| Type | Public |
| Size | 190 acres (77 ha) |
| No. of interments | around 1 million |
| Website | Official website |
St Pancras and Islington Cemetery in East Finchley, North London while situated in the London Borough of Barnet is actually two cemeteries, owned by two other London Boroughs, Camden (formerly St Pancras) and Islington. The fence along the boundary which runs west to east between the two parts of the cemetery has been removed, although the line of it is still marked.
Although Brookwood Cemetery in Woking, Surrey, is the country's biggest cemetery by area with over 2,000 acres, the St Pancras and Islington Cemetery in North London accommodates over three times the number interred at Brookwood and more than any other cemetery in the UK. Two conjoined cemeteries, St Pancras and Islington, form the third largest single cemetery serving London after Brookwood Cemetery and City of London Cemetery and Crematorium and in burial numbers, the largest in the UK with around one million interments and cremations. St Pancras and Islington Cemetery is designated Grade II* on the English Heritage Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.
St Pancras and Islington, located in Finchley, is also one of London's historically most interesting cemeteries. Following the Metropolitan Burials Act 1852 and later acts which were designed to alleviate serious health and other problems caused by over-crowded burial grounds and lack of management and accountability, the cemetery was established in 1854 as the first municipally owned cemetery in London when the St Pancras Burial Board bought 88 acres (360,000 m2) of the former Horseshoe Farm on Finchley Common. A further 94 acres (380,000 m2) were annexed in 1877 and the total area was divided between Islington and Camden, the former having two areas to the north-west and east, the latter having the remainder. A bank and ditch along the eastern edge marks the parish boundary between Finchley and Hornsey. To the south the cemetery is bordered by the ancient woodland of Coldfall Wood, to the north the North Circular road and to the west by the A1000 Great North Road. The cemetery features several chapels and a large crematorium built by Albert Freeman in 1937.
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Wikipedia