Highgate Cemetery

Christina Mackin
May 4
2 min read

Updated: May 5

Hello my rays of sunshine,

Happy May! I took the bus to Highgate Cemetery today. Admission included access to the east and west sides of the cemetery, a highlights tour of the west side, and a guidebook (they gave me two -- who wants the other one?!). After the highlights tour, I walked around on my own, favoring the unpaved paths and secluded trails. It was a peaceful, beautiful, and interesting excursion.

Highgate Cemetery: Map | Architecture | History | Nature | People

A few highlights:

Fluffy cemetery cat!
The cemetery opened in 1839, but went into decline before being rescued in 1975 by the charity, "Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust."
The catacombs were really cool. Warning: There is a photo where you can see a skull & some bones in one of the coffins.
Look for the Goldhammer mausoleum towards the end of the grid — guess who had this built this for his family? The Dunkin' Donuts founder (a wealthy American). Ha!
George Michael is buried here but photos are not allowed. His grave was kept a secret for a long time but is now on the map. His name is engraved in Greek.
Thomas "Tom" Sayers had over 10,000 people attend his funeral. He was a very famous bare-knuckle prizefighter. His grave has the sculpture of his dog in front of it.
There are tens of thousands of unmarked and unknown people buried here, many of whom could not afford a gravestone and/or were not deemed worthy of one. Record keeping wasn't a priority for a long time.
I sat at every bench that I walked by as a small way of giving thanks.