On my trip last week in search of Grayling Butterfly (See last Tuesday’s post) I had to walk through Brookwood Cemetery. It consists of two parts, one public and the other a military cemetery, managed by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The public Cemetery originates from the middle of the 19th century when space for burials in London was decreasing. In 1852, the London Necropolis Company purchased over 2000 acres of heathland near Woking in Surrey. Initially, there were plots for separate London parishes and also areas for different faiths. This later practice still continues with separate areas for Muslims and Zoroastrians. The first burials took place in November 1854.
Another fascinating part of the story was that the LNC had its own station terminus (London Necropolis Station) in London, near Waterloo Station and connected to the railway running from that station to Woking. At Brookwood, there was a short branch line which left the main line and entered the cemetery. In the Cemetery there were two stations, one serving the non-conformist area and the other serving the Anglican Cemetery. The trains had both Hearse carriages for the transport of coffins and passenger carriages for visitors and mourners. The current station, adjacent to the cemetery was built later to serve the village of Brookwood, which dates from the 1880s.
The military cemetery dates from the 1914-18 war and was extended during the second world war. It contains over 5000 graves from the military of Commonwealth nations and around 800 of those from other nations. Like the original public cemetery, it is divided into different areas for each of the nationalities buried there.
There are also a number of memorials including two for those whose resting places are unknown, one for each of the two world wars.
Both the public and the military cemeteries are very large and I was only able to see a small part of it on this visit, both will be worth a visit in the future to explore more.
Pete's Favourite Things 