Source: Speak Up
Speaker: Justin Ratcliffe
Standard: Advanced
Highgate Cemetery is one of London's more original tourist attractions. First opened in 1839, it is probably most famous for housing the grave of Karl Marx, but he is only one of the cemetery's celebrity residents. Others include George Eliot the novelist and Michael Faraday the scientist. Yet more remarkable than the individual people who are buried here is the impressive nature of the graves.
John Shepperd is a member of the Friends of Highgate Cemetery. As he explains, the cemetery reflects the Victorian view of death:
John Shepperd
(Standard British accent):
The average life expectancy of someone born in London in the 1830s was only 35; there were obviously many more deaths of children. So, in many ways, to the Victorians, death was more part of life, in a bizarre way, and obviously with a very heavy religious influence. The Victorians seemed to embrace death and celebrate death in a way which seems perhaps somewhat odd to a more modern audience. And certainly, also for the Victorians, funeral arrangements and burial arrangements were a sign of social status and social prestige. And so the funerals themselves were very elaborate affairs. And then the monuments in which the people were buried, themselves were, in many cases, very elaborate, very ornate and indeed very expensive at the time. And this was a sign of social prestige. The Victorians knew that their neighbours would come and walk places like Highgate Cemetery of a weekend, as a form of recreation, and these large, grandiose monuments would be seen by your neighbours and your social peers. And so it was very much a sign of social status: if you were an eminent middle-class Victorian you buried your family in style and you had monuments which reflected your own social prestige.
A FORGOTTEN CELEBRITY
The graves at Highgate include those of people were ocne famous, but who have now been forgotten. One of the most curious examples is that of Tom Sayers, the champion boxer:
John Shepperd:
Tom Sayers was born in Brighton and was a bricklayer - a tough little man, only a small man, apparently - and he came to London wehn he was 13. Started fighting other bricklayer and became by the 1950s, the champion English boxer; bare-knucle boxing, illegal, but still very popular, a lot of betting took place. And he was famous in 1860; he fought an American called John Heenan, who came over from New Jersey to fight Sayers for what was effectively the first world championship boxing match. This lasted for 42 rounds, lasted for two-and-a-half hours, and finally, in chaotic scenes, was broken up by the police and the fight was declared a draw. Sayers retire from boxing after that time, that was in 1860, but, unfortunately, was nevr a well man, and died 1865, aged 39. But he was a very famous sportsman, and his funeral in 1865, the route was lined by 100,000 people, lining the way between Camden, where he lived, not far from the cemetery, up to the cemetery itself. So he was a very well-known sportsman and his funeral was said to be the largest in London since the time of Wellington. And on his tomb you see his faithful dog Lion, asleep on his master's grave.
VISITING THE CEMETERY
The West cemetery is open for guided tours. Tours take place everyday from March - November and weekends only from December - February - tickets 7 pounds for adults and 3 for children aged 8-16.
The East Cemetery can be explored on your own - tickets 3 pounds, under -16s free it accompanied by an adult. To get there, take the Northern Line to Archway or Highgate stations. For full directions and details, visit http://www.highgate-cemetery.org/ .
HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY
Audrey Niffenegger's best seller, The time Traveler's Wife, was made into a film in 2009; The follow up, Her Fearful Symmetry, for which she was paid a 5 million dollars advance, is set in and around Highgate Cemetery. Although Niffernegger is from Chicago, she spent so much time doing research at Highgate Cemetery that she became a tour guide here!
Other books have also been set in the cemetery, notably Failing Angles by Tracy Chevalier.
VISITING THE CEMETERY
The West cemetery is open for guided tours. Tours take place everyday from March - November and weekends only from December - February - tickets 7 pounds for adults and 3 for children aged 8-16.
The East Cemetery can be explored on your own - tickets 3 pounds, under -16s free it accompanied by an adult. To get there, take the Northern Line to Archway or Highgate stations. For full directions and details, visit http://www.highgate-cemetery.org/ .
HER FEARFUL SYMMETRY
Audrey Niffenegger's best seller, The time Traveler's Wife, was made into a film in 2009; The follow up, Her Fearful Symmetry, for which she was paid a 5 million dollars advance, is set in and around Highgate Cemetery. Although Niffernegger is from Chicago, she spent so much time doing research at Highgate Cemetery that she became a tour guide here!
Other books have also been set in the cemetery, notably Failing Angles by Tracy Chevalier.
