The Serene Cemetery

Cemeteries are often seen as macabre; full of bodiless shadows and things that go bump in the night… but they are so much more than that.

By the late medieval period in England, many of the graveyards were overflowing, and plague pits were commonplace. Literal pits, filled to the brim. It was a horror show, entirely impractical, full of disease, and, well… could you even imagine the smell?

The Victorians had a master plan: garden cemeteries. Carefully curated spaces sewn with all manor of flower, tree, and quiet bench. They were no longer just resting places for the departed, but places of recreation for the living. Many now serve as nature reserves too, including one of our favourites - Tower Hamlets. Many of the tombs now lie in ruin, reclaimed by blankets of morning glory vine, English ivy and fern. The air is full of birdsong, and many a fallen tree now bursts at the seams with fungi.