Brookwood Cemetery’s layout and appearance were based on research undertaken by visionary Scottish landscape designer and botanist John Claudius Loudon. Once the largest graveyard in the world, its timeline offers fascinating insights into a wide range of subjects.
EYE-catching conifers thrusting above its high, concealing brick wall indicate the United Kingdom’s largest burial ground. Brookwood Cemetery was established in the 1850s as a commercial venture and is still in use today. Whatever a person’s nationality, faith or status, the ‘great camp of the dead’ offers a tranquil last resting place.
During 166 years of private – sometimes disputed – ownership, the graveyard’s older areas gradually became so overgrown that many of the plots, monuments and artworks are now hidden. Years of weathering and occasional vandalism have taken a toll on others. However, following a recent change of ownership, measures intended to ensure the viability of the highly regarded cemetery for future generations have been implemented.
In maturity Brookwood Cemetery represents more than simply a depository for the deceased. Its layout and appearance based on research undertaken by the visionary Scottish landscape designer and botanist John Claudius Loudon, the graveyard is a timeline that offers fascinating insights into a wide range of subjects. Described by one eminent historian as “a sombre, complex landscape that is quite unlike anything else in the country”, its grounds feature on the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. They are also recognised as a Site of Nature Conservation.
200 years before Loudon became interested in cemetery design, the grim conditions prevailing in London’s graveyards motivated the architect and town-planner Sir Christopher Wren (1632–1723) to suggest that, “… burials should be in cemeteries seated on the outskirts of towns. This being enclosed with a strong brick wall, and having a walk around, and two cross walks decently planted with yew trees. Where the dead need not be disturbed at the pleasure of the sexton, or piled four or five upon one another, or bones thrown out to make room.”
Wren’s opinion went largely unheeded by the authorities until the early 1800s when London’s expanding population worsened the city’s already overcrowded, unkempt and poorly drained cemeteries, posing a serious threat to public health. It was decided that seven new cemeteries should be established in the conurbation’s vicinity. Each would be planted up to create an arboretum.
But as frequent epidemics of disease continued to decimate the population, the newly created burial grounds were soon filled. An urgent requirement for considerably more burial space existed, but the suburbs were expanding and land prices were consequently high. Might it instead be more cost-effective to create a vast cemetery further afield and link it to the capital by train?
Concerned to dignify death after witnessing distressing burial practices in the British Isles and elsewhere, Loudon had been moved to write an instructive volume entitled “On the Laying Out, Planting, and Managing of Cemeteries, and on the Improvement of Churchyards”. Published shortly after his death in 1843, his exemplary last work was to transform long-held attitudes related to cemetery design.
Loudon’s proposals with regard to the decent interment of the dead are thought to have influenced the siting of the proposed new graveyard. He had stated: “The price of land, within ten miles of London, is much too high to admit burying paupers singly in the London cemeteries; but one thousand, or even two thousand, acres of poor waste land, admirably adapted for burying-ground, might be purchased in the parishes of Woking, Chobham, Horsall, Perbright, Pyrford etc., at from 4∫. to 8∫. per acre. The land alluded to is too poor to admit of cultivation for arable purposes …”
Some 20 miles from London, Woking was surrounded by an extensive common. The community was also linked to the capital by a railway which crossed the heathland. The authorities agreed that Brookwood village, which lay on the edge of the common and had a conveniently situated station, offered a suitable location for the proposed cemetery. Local protests ensued but were subdued by an Act of Parliament that permitted the creation of a burial ground. Thus enabled, the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company purchased approximately 940 ha of land.
Brookwood Cemetery was envisaged to become London’s major burial ground in the long-term, therefore its owners sought to create an awesome and fragrant ambience redolent of everlasting spring. Achieving this was to be guided by Loudon’s meticulously detailed last work.
Loudon’s assertion that cemeteries should be planted to allow both the unhindered passage of air currents and the admission of ‘drying’ sunlight was novel; traditionally cemeteries had been landscaped to create woodland offering shade and shelter. Deciduous trees, Loudon claimed, were largely unsuited to cemeteries “… because they form light-foliaged, bulky heads that cause too much leaf litter. Fastigiate, conical, dark, needle-leaved evergreens shade much less ground and produce much less litter … Woking Common’s sandy soils will grow yews, junipers, pines, firs, and other cemetery plants, with which it might be planted in rows, in such a manner that the graves could be made between the rows.” The Scots-born landscaper, who had found Turkey’s garden-like graveyards to his liking, also promoted the planting of azaleas, rhododendron, magnolias and scented roses.
The initial landscaping was realised cooperatively by the prominent landscape designer Robert Marnock, the respected architect Sydney Smirke, the eminent garden designer William B. Thomas and the Kew-trained horticulturist Robert Donald. Loudon had been acquainted with Robert’s father who owned an arboretum and tree nursery in Woking’s neighbourhood. Requested to supply trees, shrubs, herbaceous plants and even bulbs, Robert Donald based his selection on the comprehensive list of species found in Loudon’s last publication. Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens), for example, was described as “the best of all trees for a cemetery, although not suited to exposed situations”. Common yew (Taxus baccata) was considered to be “a very suitable cemetery tree where a spreading head is not an objection”. The Scandinavian custom of strewing twigs from the spruce (Picea abies) over the deceased before the coffin lid was sealed was explained. Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) symbolised Russian funeral ceremonies. The distinctive form of the Chile pine (Araucaria araucana) was “guaranteed to attract attention”.
There was much more. Common holly (Ilex aquifolium) was, Loudon reckoned, “the best broad-leaved evergreen tree for a cemetery”. The ‘weeping’ Fulham oak (Quercus cerris fulhamensis pendula) also met with his approval.
In the spring of 1853 Perthshire-based Patrick Matthew is claimed to have become the first horticulturalist in Europe to cultivate the largest redwood tree in existence; his son John was a botanist who had collected giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) seed while visiting California’s Sierra Nevada mountains. Later that year a consignment of giant sequoia seeds, shoots and seedlings from the same area arrived at Veitch’s Nursery, Devon. It was sent by the plant collector William Lobb who rightly predicted that the big tree would become a must-have status symbol for the fashionable elite.
Determined to create a prestigious environment, the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company did not skimp when purchasing the North American exotic. Loudon had been dead for over a decade when what was said to be the first major planting of giant sequoia trees in the UK took place at Brookwood Cemetery. Nevertheless, in accordance with his dictum that cemetery trees should be planted not only as single specimens but also in positions where they would add gravitas and shade mourners, the Californian natives were planted alongside the railway which travelled through the cemetery. Single and double avenues of the trees also lined its main highways and footpaths. It was the splendid sight of the now imposing survivors that first drew my attention to the historic place of rest.
Over time, however, Loudon’s influence waned and the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company extended the planting with mostly deciduous tree species. Bereaved people too began to plant trees, shrubs or flowers of their choosing wherever they saw fit. The tenure of the London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company ended in 1959, but a quarter of a century elapsed before the graveyard was acquired by Ramadan Guney. Time enough for its non-military sectors to revert to wilderness.
Woking Borough Council acquired Brookwood Cemetery in 2014. The authority points out that although it is one of the community’s most important assets, addressing a century of decline will take time and it is vital that it is maintained carefully. Investment and management plans for the cemetery will not only safeguard the long-term historical, arboricultural and environmental interest of the site, they will ensure the provision of local burial options for the future.
South Bucks Tree Surgeons undertook a programme of tree works at Brookwood Cemetery following an independent arboricultural survey which revealed that a number of its trees were infected with the fungus Phaeolus schweinitzii. 214 trees required work on the grounds of health and safety. Of these, 205 trees required felling, with 78 needing immediate action.
South Bucks Tree Surgeons explained that before commencing work it consulted with the Surrey Wildlife Trust to ensure minimal disturbance to wildlife. For example, when a flourishing honey bee colony was discovered in a tree that was to be felled, the company took advice from an expert beekeeper who also ensured that the insects were successfully rehomed.
The company also planned its tree work so that it caused as little disruption as possible to the cemetery’s staff and the public. Often the job entailed the dismantling of large trees the canopies of which overhung gravestones and mausoleums of historical significance.
The project was completed within the agreed three-month timescale and the revenue from over 300 tonnes of timber extraction was returned to the council. Company directors, Charlie and Jill Macbeth, said: “We were delighted to be involved in this very special initiative. It has been one of our most enjoyable projects in 40 years of trade.”
Woking Borough Council’s investment in additional ground maintenance equipment is also helping to improve the site. The removal of rhododendron did cause some public disquiet, but has benefited a significant part of the cemetery. A garden of remembrance has been established and the lake has been rebuilt. Furthermore, new burial plots established at Surrey’s ‘great camp of the dead’ feature tree species suggested by its prescient designer, John Claudius Loudon.
www.southbuckstreesurgeons.com
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