Abney Park Cemetery

Sherry Felix

My husband, Marc, and I stayed near Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, London UK late December 2015 and the first week of January 2016 while in London visiting my grandson and family. On several mornings we walked through the charming cemetery. We looked at the old graves in the damp and gloom and I photographed a few birds.

In the late 1800s London needed more cemeteries away from the inner city. Abney Park Cemetery is one of them. “The site of Abney Park was formed from the estates of Fleetwood House and Abney House, the latter of which had been the home of renowned non-conformist and hymn writer Isaac Watts. This association quickly made Abney the foremost burial ground for Dissenters – those practicing their religion outside the established church. It was founded on these principles, with a nondenominational chapel at its core, and was open to all, regardless of religious conviction” (http://www.abneypark.org/history). Today it is both a park and memorial ground.

There are over 200,000 people laid to rest in Abney Park Cemetery. Here are three of Abney’s residents (http://www.abneypark.org/history/well-known-names):

Frank Bostock was a big-cat tamer. It’s said he discovered lions are afraid of chairs. His monument is in the form of a lion. He died of the flu and not by a lion.

Welsh nurse Betsi Cadwaladr has been called “the forgotten Florence Nightingale.” She was over 60 when she decided to train as a nurse and joined the military nursing service in Crimea. She clashed with Nightingale but eventually Florence gave Betsi credit for the work she did at the front line in Balaclava.

Joanna Vassa was the daughter of Britain’s first Black activist, Olaudah Equiano alias Gustavus Vassa. Equiano was shipped to England as a slave, served in the navy and obtained his freedom in 1766. He became a writer, Methodist and antislavery campaigner, and wrote his autobiography “The Interesting Narrative of the Life Of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, The African,” published in 1789. Vassa married Susannah Cullen of Soham, Cambridgeshire and they had two daughters. Joanna married a congregational minister, Henry Bromley, and lived in Devon, Essex and then Hackney, where she died in 1857. Her grave was discovered in 2005 and is English Heritage listed.

The cemetery is still used. One of the headstones we saw is dates 2015.

Angels in Abney Park Cemetery 12/19/2015
New headstone, Abney Park Cemetery 12/19/2015
Tomb in Abney Park Cemetery 12/19/2015
Monuments in Abney Park Cemetery 12/19/2015
Headstones in Abney Park Cemetery 12/19/2015
Goldcrest, Abney Park Cemetery 12/20/2015
Great Tit, Abney Park Cemetery 12/20/2015
Wood Pigeon, Abney Park Cemetery 12/20/2015
Blackbird, Abney Park Cemetery 12/20/2015
Goldcrest, Abney Park Cemetery 12/28/2015
Goldcrest, Abney Park Cemetery 12/28/2015
Robin, Abney Park Cemetery 12/28/2015
Robin, Abney Park Cemetery 12/28/2015

15 thoughts on “Abney Park Cemetery”

  1. Pingback: St Marys Old Church Door – Sherry Felix – port4u
  2. smackedpentax 2016-01-19 / 2:48 am

    I love these old cemeteries, there is something very poignant about them. There is one in Bradford near me – Undercliffe. The rich wool barons are buried there along with some paupers. It is surreal seeing the huge gaudy tombs of the millionaires next to little wooden crosses of the poor. Your photos are superb 🙂

    Like

    Reply
    • Sherry Lynn Felix 2016-01-19 / 4:05 am

      Thank you so much. Sadly, I noticed many old cemeteries in London are now just gardens with the tomb stones piled up against the perimeter walls.

      Like

      Reply
      • smackedpentax 2016-01-19 / 3:29 pm

        Yes, apart from being very disrespectful it is also very sad..

        Liked by 1 person

        Reply
  3. Indah Susanti 2016-01-18 / 11:17 pm

    This is what I like about London and Europe in general, almost every part of it has interesting history and being kept as it is! Beautiful images – and who can guess that we could see beautiful birds in the graveyard 🙂 Have a great week!

    Like

    Reply
  4. enchantment9 2016-01-17 / 5:40 am

    Beautiful! Love those peaceful places too, where nature still fills it with joy.. Remembrance of our humble simplicity and impermanence.. Thank you for sharing this wonderful post..

    Like

    Reply
  5. Jet Eliot 2016-01-15 / 4:09 pm

    I really enjoyed meandering through Abney Park Cemetery with you and Marc, Sherry. I liked getting a brief view of the lives of people buried here. Also really like the bird photos. Cemeteries are often a good place to find birds in urban environments. Cheerio. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
    • Sherry Lynn Felix 2016-01-15 / 4:19 pm

      Thanks Jet. In London Cemeteries are wild and the parks are pretty barren. London is so full of history.

      Like

      Reply
  9. Myriam (Myr's Bytes) 2016-01-13 / 10:05 am

    Beautiful photos and a lovely cemetery and birds. Thanks for sharing :-). Some cemeteries are beautiful to walk through… and I like the sense of history… and some of the touching and sometimes comical words one can find engraved on the stones.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.