The Magnificent Seven: #4, Kensal Green Cemetery

[nanila]

Kensal Green Cemetery is the oldest and definitely the best kept of the Magnificent Seven. It makes photographing grave markers easier, but there's less of the haunting otherworldly atmosphere of the rest. You don't feel isolated from the city because there's no overgrowth to shield it from the sights and sounds of the surrounding area. Oddly, though, I didn't see another person aside from the rather morose chap in the tiny guard hut at the entrance while I was there. Most of the Magnificent Seven seem to be treated by the locals as parks, but this one feels more formal, possibly because it's still heavily used as a burial ground.

Comments

[ironed_orchid]

That top grave marker looks like it could be on a car bonnet.

[miss_s_b]

I thought that too. It's very like the Spirit of Ecstasy

[nanila]

Yes. It was done in metal as well and looked quite modern amongst all the stone markers. I'm thinking anthrokeight was probably right in thinking it had been designed by Lalique. I'd have to go back and check to see who is buried underneath it, but there are several sculptors interred in Kensal Green so perhaps it was a friend or relative of his.

[nanila]

It might have been designed by Lalique, who anthrokeight points out designed the glass Rolls Royce mascot. Unfortunately I didn't pay attention to the owner of the grave, although several sculptors are buried in Kensal Green so it may have been a friend of his.

[lark_ascends]

Gorgeous.

[nanila]

It's so easy to photograph all the lovely grave markers there. It almost feels like cheating. ;)

[holdthesky]

If you get a chance, Nottingham has two good cemeteries, Church (aka Rock) and Canning Circus. Rock Cemetery is a particular favourite of mine: not so much for the monuments, which are spectacular but not remarkable for the era (but notable for how congested they are), but the setting, a former sandstone quarry full of caves and erosion and multiple levels (weirdly reminiscent of the dome of the National Botanical Gardens of Wales) and for St Ann's Valley, which is a deep depression perhaps twenty or thirty foot down with a path round the edge to access it and at the bottom flat slabs marking the mass graves of poor infants in the first half of the twentieth century.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/browniebear/6339602879/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaet44/6341697454/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kev747/1536135904/

[nanila]

Ooh, those look fascinating and beautiful. Thank you for the recommendation. I'll definitely take a trip to Nottingham when I've moved to B'ham and visit these as a project.