Comments on: The London Necropolis Railway

The London Necropolis Railway

carter — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:20:14 -0800

The London Necropolis Railway During the first half of the 19th century, London's population more than doubled and the number of London corpses requiring disposal was growing almost as fast. Cemetery space in the city had failed to keep pace with this growth, and so the vast new Brookwood Cemetery - the London Necropolis - was built in Surrey. Brookwood was the largest burial ground in the world when it was opened in 1854 by the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum Company. To get there, the deceased and their mourners - segregated by class - could catch a train from Westminster. The Necropolis Railway survived until World War 2, when it was heavily damaged. The railway was subsequently closed as motorised hearses became more popular. See also: Also: a six part Fortean Times article extracted from Google's cache [1 2 3 4 5 6]

By: alumshubby

alumshubby — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:57:46 -0800

Two zombie posts separated by a "dead of winter" link, and now this.

By: 5MeoCMP

5MeoCMP — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:58:11 -0800

This is great. I love reading about urban history, even more so when there are little bits and pieces left over that can be poked at like part of a detective game. It's nice to have ties to the past. Thanks, carter! Anyone know of urban history sites that cover, say, Oakland CA?

By: DevilsAdvocate

DevilsAdvocate — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 09:58:17 -0800

[this is good]

By: carter

carter — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:01:46 -0800

Yes I noticed the 'death' theme when I finally posted ... but it was entirely unintentional!

By: moonbird

moonbird — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:13:19 -0800

I love Fortean Times, a mag well worth the subscription and a website worth at least a day of surfitude. Great post.

By: fatllama

fatllama — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 10:14:56 -0800

This is great stuff, thanks. (Just finished reading Neverwhere, too.)

By: livii

livii — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 11:27:07 -0800

Funny timing, I was just reading more on it because one of the latest posts on the LJ Urban Decay group was on the railway - the link. Great topic, thanks for the info.

By: carter

carter — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 11:39:43 -0800

Heh, too weird. If you like this, you may like Simon Winchester's The Professor and the Madman, which is where I first came across a passing mention of it ...

By: AmbroseChapel

AmbroseChapel — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 17:40:35 -0800

What's strange about that is that Sydney has a Necropolis station, which was a dedicated line going to our own large cemetary, which is called "Rookwood" instead of "Brookwood". I see the "Mortuary Station" every morning as I arrive at Central. It's available for hire -- I think Ian Thorpe had a party there recently. Here's a photo.

By: jrossi4r

jrossi4r — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 20:16:16 -0800

Wow. Fascinating. Any ghost stories set there?

By: gleenyc

gleenyc — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 21:04:10 -0800

This is great. I knew there were 5 major cemetaries around London in Victorian times and have visited Highgate. Thanks for posting this.

By: 445supermag

445supermag — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 21:06:57 -0800

Similar tale with San Francisco, evidently cemetaries were kept out of city limits to preserve real estate for the living. Evidently Colma is unique in that it has more dead residents than living.

By: Asparagirl

Asparagirl — Mon, 01 Aug 2005 22:28:44 -0800

Does Neil Gaiman know about this? It seems like it's right up his alley.

By: paperpete

paperpete — Tue, 02 Aug 2005 02:04:07 -0800

The Necropolis Railway - something to read if you've enjoyed this post. Which I have. Thanks. :o)