Trip to London Cemeteries Part One - Kensal Green

I had a really interesting day visiting a couple of London cemeteries yesterday, the first one being Kensal Green Cemetery.

This was my first visit and I wasn't disappointed by the wealth of angel statues and ornate gothic mausalea, which I just adore,

but the amount of neglect, vandalism and litter really saddened me. The above must once have been a fabulous angel in a very unusual pose but she was such a sorry sight.

This cemetery is hailed as one of the big seven around London and whilst I can see that efforts are being made to perserve and maintain this large site it looks like a lot more work is to be done.

This horse statue must once have been a very impressive sight and indeed still had the power to move me.

This is the grave of Emile Blondin, the man who walked over the Niagara Falls on a tightrope.




The overall atmosphere, with it's litter, lack of respect and regard for the dead, left me feeling very uneasy walking around the site. I would go as far as to say I didn't feel safe. It was a dull, misty, damp day and my friend and I wondered if that was contributing to our general feeling of disquiet so we decided to visit Brompton Road Cemetery, where we enjoyed a great visit back in July, to see if it was the season and the weather affecting our mood. I'll post about that tomorrow but in short, no it was not the weather so I'm not sure if I'll return to Kensal Green, maybe in a few years, maybe never.....