Secret Barnes Cemetary

I find it absolutely outrageous that this Victorian cemetary has been allowed to become so overgrown and derelict. It is disrespectful to the people that are buried there. It is also being used for loitering by men during the day and night. This area should be policed. I saw 15 loiterers just this week in broad daylight and with no discretion. The cemetary is a lovely walk through on the way to Putney or The Wetlands but I am put off by these men in and out of the bushes doing what they do. Surely, we could find enough volunteeres by advertising for a two day clean up. It’s such a nice place and seems a shame.

Old Barnes Cemetery, South London. January 2012
This cemetery was built in 1855. Barnes cemetery was one of the many commissioned to tackle the burial crisis in London during the Victorian era. Sadly this cemetery was closed down in the 1950’s. It was disused and left derelict for many years but has recently been turned into a wild life sanctury and tidied up by Barnes volunteers. It’s still disused and derelict. Climb through the undergrowth, tombstones struggle to break through the brambles, and once flawless stone angels stand broken and abandoned and admire the splinters of sunshine coming through the trees giving an air of warmth to a usually dark place. The site is also host to the supernatural. Victorian literature speaks of ‘Spring Heeled Jack’, a devilish imp with red eyes who prowled the site in search of victims. Other sightings describe a ghostly figure who hovers over the graves in the dead of night Sadly, or perhaps not, I encountered neither of these on my many visits. If you walk through the cemetery and across Barnes Common along the back path you come out by the river in Putney, turn left and you continue onto Elizabeth Walk which leads you to The Wetlands centre. It’s a beautiful and interesting walk.