Circle of Lebanon, Highgate Cemetery

Todays blip meet was at Highgate Cemetery.  We started with a very interesting guided tour of the West Cemetery. Lasting approximately 60 minutes, we learnt all about the history of the Cemetery, the tombs and monuments and the famous people buried here.  We then walked up to Highgate Village for a much needed hot chocolate and cheese toastie before returning to visit the East Cemetery – burial place of it’s most famous resident Karl Marx.
 
Highgate Cemetery was opened in 1839 and run by a private company.  However, in the 1970s they found that it was no longer profitable and the Cemetery went into decline, nature took over and many of the memorials were damaged by vandals. The Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust was founded in 1975 to preserve the Cemetery as a place of historic interest, to enable the continuation of public burials and to restore and preserve the Cemetery for the benefit of the public.

Built in the centre of the grounds of the West Cemetery, entered via a great arch, is Egyptian Avenue. Consisting of sixteen vaults on either side, each vault is fitted with shelves for twelve coffins. This avenue leads to the Circle of Lebanon (featured in my blip); built in the same style as the Egyptian Avenue, it consists of twenty vaults on the inner circle with a further sixteen added in the 1870s, built in the Classical style.  At the heart of the Circle of Lebanon is an ancient cedar tree. This great tree sits at ground level and its base is surrounded by the circle of tombs below. In the background of my shot is the Mausoleum of Julius Beer.  The millionaire newspaper owner, Julius Beer, built the cemetery’s most impressive monument to his lost eight year old daughter Ada.

A lovely and very interesting day spent with fellow blippers:
matthewlynes (Matthew)
Colstro (Colin)
TKevs (Trevor)
GillKeville (Gill)
JamesSmith (James)
and non blipper Mike Keville.
Our group shot of the day.

Further pics from the day can be seen here.