#Cemetery

Sheldon Goodman

Aug 12, 2021
4 min

The Lions of London, Part 1

A marker to the dead can take many forms. A simple slab. A towering obelisk. A niche in a wall. Or as a ruddy great lion. Lions in cemeteries – not actual lions, although wouldn’t that be something – exist in funerary sculpture and are almost as impressive as seeing the real thing. There are loads of examples of stone lions being used to remember the long dead: so I’m highlighting four examples in a blog I’m splitting into two parts (for now) highlighting these magnificent cr

18 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Jul 26, 2021
5 min

Young Sheldon

Whenever I start researching a cemetery, I always start by looking for a name. My own. Hopefully that won’t be interpreted by you as arrogance. My forename isn’t very common – I’ve only met two other Sheldon’s in my time: one a distant cousin and the other at a party donkey’s years ago. I am omitting that blasted TV series. I’m always curious to see other examples of it, be it in archives, books or for the purposes of illustration here – cemeteries. So when I crack my knuckle

25 views0 comments

A Day in the Death of A Cockney Cemetery

Sheldon Goodman

Jan 22, 2021
6 min

A Day in the Death of A Cockney Cemetery

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is one of my favourite cemeteries to research and explore. It doesn’t have the sepulchral magnificence of West Norwood, neither the romantic decay of Highgate, but out of the so-called Magnificent Seven of London, its the lower classes who are predominantly buried here and its their stories that I find more gripping than that of Lord and Lady Hobknob. Today it is a woodland oasis, frequented by dog-walkers and people making use of the tranquil natu

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Jan 22, 2021
6 min

A Day in the Death of A Cockney Cemetery

18 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Dec 12, 2019
4 min

Parliament’s Postie

Imagine being at the heart of communication in one of the most important buildings in the world! It’s 1903 and in his private office in Buckingham Palace, King Edward VII sits in his chair, pouring over a list of names. Making notes beside each one, the roll of names before him has been given Royal assent; those listed are soon to receive an Imperial Service Order – a Royal initiative that rewarded long service and thoroughly good work to government workers. It’s an honour th

1 view0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Dec 12, 2019
4 min

Parliament’s Postie

1 view0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Nov 26, 2019
5 min

The Top 6 Graves of Père-Lachaise

Here we go. Such has been my apprehension in attempting to write an entry about the most famous cemetery in the world that it’s taken me nearly a year to finally put my visit into words. How – how, dear reader – can you do justice to this place in one post? How can I convey my awe through text and imagery alone? It’s the cemetery that started it all. So, what did I see? History The cobbled streets that house mausoleums and tombs was not a success when it first opened. Taking

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Nov 26, 2019
5 min

The Top 6 Graves of Père-Lachaise

5 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Sep 12, 2019
3 min

Finding Mr. Moonlight

There’s a cemetery on a common that practically no-one knows is there. It’s not listed on The London Borough of Richmond’s Cemeteries page (it should be) and the state it’s in now is a stark contrast as to how well it was maintained a century ago. I first found out about the cemetery from a blog by Flickering Lamps but only started doing proper research into it when The Graveyard Twins posted some images and videos on their feed. It was like Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park but ev

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Sep 12, 2019
3 min

Finding Mr. Moonlight

1 view0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Jun 25, 2019
2 min

Help Restore The Burdick Grave

Right; roll up sleeves time, people. An accident befell my friends at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park not too long ago; a ruddy great tree decided it was time to collapse and in the process it took out a monument that is now in pieces on the floor. Tower Hamlets doesn’t have the most spectacular tombs but what it does is act as a repository of the honest Londoner; it’s a reminder of a time when this part of London wasn’t the nicest of places to live and work – airs and graces are

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Jun 25, 2019
2 min

Help Restore The Burdick Grave

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Feb 2, 2019
1 min

Queerly Departed

Beneath those endless rows of stones and tombs of Brompton are stories. Fabulous stories. The first cemetery event of the year is here! I am super-pleased to announce that finally Queerly Departed is now live. The lovely Dan Gilbert from Brompton Cemetery got in touch with me a few months ago in regards to doing something out of the ordinary to get people engaged with the open-air cathedral and mentioned perhaps looking into the LGBTQ history of the cemetery – which is an are

1 view0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Feb 2, 2019
1 min

Queerly Departed

3 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Nov 26, 2018
4 min

A Jaunt to the London Necropolis

‘So. Sheldon. The Monuments and Mausolea Trust are having their AGM at Brookwood Cemetery. You want in?’ How could I, intrepid cemetery enthusiast and curator of Cemetery Club, say no? Brookwood is one of those cemeteries I’ve long been meaning to visit. Mike Fox of the Monuments and Mausoleums Trust in Waterloo kindly invited me to take the train down to deepest, darkest Surrey and emulated the one way trip thousands of the cemetery’s residents once took themselves. So what’

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Nov 26, 2018
5 min

A Jaunt to the London Necropolis

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Aug 20, 2018
5 min

Rock Creek Cemetery

Who says cemeteries can’t be beautiful? You see those mausoleums? They gave me shade from the relentless August that I had to endure during my stay in Washington D.C. I walked a mile from the Catholic University of America campus (where I was staying) to the first and finest of the cemeteries in the States. Dripping with sweat, I composed myself. The heat didn’t deter me; what did this 18th century garden of the dead have here? The gates to the Aldrich Mausoleum – a columbari

3 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Aug 20, 2018
5 min

Rock Creek Cemetery

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Jul 23, 2018
2 min

Blake’s New Headstone

Well this is something special! For years, fans of one of the nation’s greatest creative minds have had to make do with an approximate location of the great man’s final resting place. Thanks to long running efforts from a small band of his most ardent fans and the generation of £30,000 in fundraising, on Sunday 12th August 2018, poet, print maker and painter William Blake shall be receiving a new headstone – at the ancient Bunhill Fields Burial Ground near Old Street. Blake’

0 views0 comments

Sheldon Goodman

Jul 23, 2018
2 min

Blake’s New Headstone

0 views0 comments