Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
| Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park | |
|---|---|
Monuments in Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park | |
| Details | |
| Established | 1841 |
| Location | |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°31′24″N 0°01′36″W / 51.5232°N 0.0267°W |
| Type | Park, Conservation Site, Heritage Site, Non-Profit/Charity |
| Owned by | Tower Hamlets London Borough Council |
| Size | 10.93 hectares (27.0 acres) |
| No. of interments | 350,000 |
| Website | www.fothcp.org |
| Find a Grave | Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park |
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Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is a historic cemetery,public park and local nature reserve (including a Metropolitan Site of National Importance for Nature Conservation) in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets within the East End of London.
It is considered one of the great London cemeteries of the Victorian era, the "Magnificent Seven", instigated because the typical (until that time) church burial plots had become overcrowded, and reflective of the grand Victorian funerary practices.
The cemetery opened in 1841 and closed for burials in 1966 following an Act of Parliament and local authority actions.
Since 1990, it has been managed by the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, a registered charity, with the purpose of protecting, preserving and promoting this important space for conservation, heritage and community. The work of the Friends has supported various historic and heritage efforts, including the listing of monuments and grave research, as well as biodiversity and natural environment management which has led to its designation as a protected Local Nature Reserve.
Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park today encompasses the original historic cemetery, bounded by historic walls, and additional pockets of land including "Scrapyard Meadow" and the Ackroyd Drive Greenlink. The overall site is today a Site of Metropolitan Importance for Nature and Conservation and an award-winning local nature reserve, including recognitions from Green Flag, London in Bloom and Tower Hamlets in Bloom.
It was originally named The City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery but was called Bow Cemetery by locals for its Bow, London, locality. The cemetery pre-dates the creation of the modern Borough of Tower Hamlets in 1965, and instead takes its name from the original, older and somewhat larger, Tower Hamlets (or Tower division) – from which the modern borough also takes its name. The historic parish boundary which defines the Mile End and Bromley-by-Bow areas runs north to south through the park, with Mile End to the west and Bromley-by-Bow to the east.