Triple-shelled and stowed away

Kensal Green Cemetery, opened in 1833, is the first of the city's commercial graveyards, still owned by the founding company and a functioning cemetery. It lies at the Grand Union Canal, opposite of the gasworks and the railway tracks. The cemetery has been bombed in World War II but has also suffered under the air pollution and vandalism.

The Friends of Kensal Green look after the place and, among other Friends, Claire leads interested people into the catacombs and shows them around the cemetery.

In the catacombs all deceased lie in triple-shell, lead-sealed coffins. It's a strange athmosphere down there as you know that the bodies are still in their coffins. Claire didn't want to tell us in detail what state they're in.

Above ground Claire pointed out some amazing mausolea and gravestones. Among them the graves of the three-year-old daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, Erich Fried, the Brunel family and Sir Carl William Siemens who brought electric lighting to London.

Claire knew a lot of interesting stories about the lives of the deceased. This, e.g., is the gravestone of Herbert William Allingham and his wife. She died after he'd infected her with a disease he brought home from work as he was a surgeon and medical scientist. After her death his children convinced him to go on a cruise. But he couldn't bare the alleged gazes of the other passengers who knew about his responsibility for his wife's death and killed himself.

As the British have their famous black humour, Claire offered us tea and morbid gingerbread men after the tour.

After having spend more than three hours on the grounds of the cemetery, I rushed off to meet Rose, a wonderful girl I've met at the LSJ course. She showed me the beautiful Secret Garden and we chatted along sitting in the shade. The Secret Garden isn't even mentioned in my guide book and so I'll keep it as a secret myself.