London Cemeteries Worth a Walk: Highgate, Nunhead and the Magnificent Seven

Why a cemetery makes a good walk for two

A Victorian cemetery is a park with a plot. There are paths to follow, carved names and odd monuments to stop at, and almost always fewer people than in a park of the same size. It is quiet enough to talk without raising your voice, and the conversation tends to start itself, because there is always a strange angel or a forgotten trade on a headstone to point at.

It also suits a date where you do not yet know how long you want to spend together. Most of these cemeteries can be walked in under an hour, and several have a café or a high street near the gate for afterwards.

They are still working burial grounds and places people come to grieve, though. Every one of them asks visitors to behave with that in mind, and Highgate in particular sets out firm rules. Read the conduct section below before you go, and treat the walk as quiet company rather than an outing with a picnic.

Every hour, price and rule here comes from the cemetery's own website or the charity that cares for it, read on 27 October 2026. Where a site did not say something, such as opening hours or a nearest station, we say so rather than guess.

What the Magnificent Seven are

In the early nineteenth century Londoners were still buried in small parish churchyards, and those churchyards had become dangerously overcrowded. According to Wikipedia, the city's population more than doubled in the first fifty years of the century, and decaying matter from the graveyards was linked to epidemics through the water supply. Reformers looked to Père Lachaise in Paris as a model of a large landscaped cemetery outside the city.

In 1832 Parliament passed an act encouraging private cemeteries outside central London, and over the following decade seven were opened. Wikipedia lists them as Kensal Green (1833), West Norwood (1837), Highgate (1839 for the West side, 1860 for the East), Abney Park (1840), Brompton (1840), Nunhead (1840) and Tower Hamlets (1841). The name Magnificent Seven is a modern nickname: Wikipedia credits the architectural historian Hugh Meller with it in 1981.

What they share is a style: winding paths, planted trees, chapels and catacombs, and grand family monuments set in something closer to a garden than a churchyard. What divides them now is who looks after them. Some are run by councils with a Friends group doing tours and conservation, Brompton is a Royal Park, and Highgate is run by its own charitable trust and charges for entry. That difference shapes almost everything about a visit, from opening hours to whether you can wander off the main path.

If you want to see more than one, they pair up loosely by area: Highgate and Abney Park in the north, Kensal Green and Brompton in the west, Nunhead and West Norwood in the south, and Tower Hamlets on its own in the east.

Highgate: the famous one, ticketed and strict

Highgate Cemetery was founded in 1839 by the London Cemetery Company, with the architect Stephen Geary, according to Wikipedia. The East side was added in 1860, across Swain's Lane from the original West side. Wikipedia gives the total area as 15 hectares, or 37 acres, and describes the site as in effect a nature reserve, with trees, shrubs and wildflowers that support birds and small mammals such as foxes.

The West side holds the Egyptian Avenue and the Circle of Lebanon, both Grade I listed according to Wikipedia. The cedar that gave the Circle its name was cut down and replaced in August 2019.

Highgate's burials include several names that matter to queer history. Radclyffe Hall, the author of The Well of Loneliness, is buried on the West side, and so is George Michael, beside his mother and sister, according to Wikipedia. On the East side are Karl Marx and George Eliot, the latter beside her partner George Henry Lewes.

The cemetery's visit page gives opening as daily 10am to 5pm, last entry 4.30pm, from March to October, and daily 10am to 4pm, last entry 3.30pm, from November to February. It is closed on 25 and 26 December, and access may be restricted during funerals or bad weather. An entrance fee has been charged since June 1990. The visit page did not show the standard admission price when we read it, and sends you to its booking site, so check the price there. A ticket covers both sides for the whole day.

Private guided tours last around 75 minutes, are in English, and focus on the West side. The page lists them at £18 for adults, £9 for children aged 8 to 17 and £9.50 for students, with a minimum fee based on ten people, so they are priced for groups rather than couples. It says tour dates are released four weeks ahead.

The visit page does not name a station and refers you to TfL for journey planning. Wikipedia gives Archway as the nearest Tube station.

• Highgate CemeteryVictorian cemetery (paid)

  Highgate, Camden · Nearest: Archway

  Opened 1839, East side 1860. Daily 10am to 5pm March to October, 10am to 4pm November to February. Closed 25 and 26 December. Book on its own site.

Nunhead: free, wooded and an easy train from the centre

Nunhead Cemetery, formally the cemetery of All Saints, Nunhead, opened in July 1840, according to the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery. The Friends' site says some 270,000 people are buried there, and that the cemetery is now a designated nature reserve. Much of it has grown into woodland, so the paths feel more like a walk through trees than past rows of graves.

The Friends' site says the cemetery is open daily, including weekends. Hours are 8.30am to 4pm from November to March, 8.30am to 5pm in March and October, and 8.30am to 7pm from April to September, and it notes that these times are subject to alteration. Its table lists March under both the winter and the spring hours, so check before an early-spring visit.

Tours are the Friends' main offer. Their site says tours are free to join and do not need booking unless stated. When we read it, four themed tours were listed for November, all on Sundays at 2pm. The site also mentions an annual Open Day, but gave no date for it.

Getting there is simple. The Friends say Nunhead station has direct trains from Victoria and Blackfriars, and that it is less than ten minutes' walk to the Linden Grove entrance gates.

• Nunhead CemeteryVictorian cemetery and nature reserve

  Nunhead, Southwark · Nearest: Nunhead

  Opened July 1840. Open daily from 8.30am, closing between 4pm and 7pm by season. Free Sunday 2pm tours run by the Friends.

Brompton and Kensal Green: the west London pair

Brompton Cemetery is managed by The Royal Parks. Its page gives the pedestrian gates as open 7am to 5pm, and says more than 200,000 people are buried there. It names Emmeline Pankhurst, the suffragette leader, and Dr John Snow, who showed that cholera spread through infected water, among them, along with the shipowner and art collector Frederick Richards Leyland, whose mausoleum is one of the grander monuments, and John Wisden of the cricketers' almanack.

The Royal Parks page lists Café North Lodge at the north end of the cemetery, which makes Brompton the easiest of the seven for a walk followed by a coffee without leaving the gates. The page did not mention tours or name a station, so check transport with TfL.

Kensal Green, which opened in 1833 according to Wikipedia, is the oldest of the seven. The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery say they look after 72 acres of open green space and run regular tours on Sunday afternoons, booked through their site. Their home page did not give opening hours, the tour price or a station, so check their location page before you go.

• Brompton CemeteryVictorian cemetery, Royal Park

  Brompton, Kensington and Chelsea

  Pedestrian gates 7am to 5pm. Over 200,000 burials, including Emmeline Pankhurst and John Snow. Café North Lodge at the north end.

• Kensal Green CemeteryVictorian cemetery

  Kensal Green

  Opened 1833, the oldest of the seven. The Friends care for 72 acres and run Sunday afternoon tours, bookable online.

Abney Park and Tower Hamlets: the cemeteries that became woods

Abney Park in Stoke Newington opened in 1840, according to the Abney Park Trust, and was laid out as an arboretum as well as a burial ground, with 2,500 different kinds of trees and shrubs. It was designated a local nature reserve in 1993. The Trust, a registered charity, works with Hackney Council on the park's heritage and ecology.

The Trust runs a monthly history tour on the first Sunday of every month. When we read its site it also listed a war graves tour for 15 November 2026 and private tours on request. Its home page did not give opening hours or a station, and points to a separate visitor information page, so check that before you go.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park was established in 1841, the last of the seven, according to the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. The Friends, who have worked on the site since 1990, describe it with the neighbouring Ackroyd Drive Greenlink as London's most central woodland, one of two local nature reserves in the borough, and a Metropolitan Site of Importance for Nature Conservation. The park has held a Green Flag Award, according to the Friends' news.

Its home page did not list opening hours, the park's size or the nearest station, so check the Friends' visit page. It is the obvious choice if you live in east London and want somewhere wilder than a square to walk.

• Abney ParkVictorian cemetery and local nature reserve (free)

  Stoke Newington, Hackney

  Opened 1840 as cemetery and arboretum. Local nature reserve since 1993. History tour on the first Sunday of each month.

• Tower Hamlets Cemetery ParkVictorian cemetery and local nature reserve (free)

  Mile End, Tower Hamlets

  Established 1841. Woodland nature reserve cared for by its Friends since 1990. Check hours on the Friends' visit page.

West Norwood: catacombs and the Greek enclosure

West Norwood Cemetery opened in 1837, according to Wikipedia, making it the second of the seven. The Friends of West Norwood Cemetery describe 40 green acres of Victorian landscape, with catacombs, listed monuments and mausolea, and a Hellenic enclosure, the burial ground of London's Greek community, which they call internationally significant, with its own chapel.

The Friends say the cemetery was saved from conversion to lawn in 1989, and that their group was founded in 1990. Their tours explore the memorial styles and religious symbols of well-known Victorians, and the site mentions tours tied to the Lambeth Heritage Festival. The home page did not give tour dates, prices, opening hours or a station, so check the Friends' tours page and TfL before you plan around it.

• West Norwood CemeteryVictorian cemetery

  West Norwood, Lambeth

  Opened 1837. Catacombs, listed monuments and the Greek community's Hellenic enclosure. Tours run by the Friends.

How to behave, and how to choose

Highgate sets out the clearest rules, and they make a fair guide for the rest. Its visit page says visitors must not leave the paths or climb on or under any monument. Alcohol, picnics, barbecues and smoking are banned, though you may eat your own food in the West side courtyard. Bikes are not allowed in, and you may not pick flowers or foliage. Bags may be searched, large luggage including wheeled suitcases is not allowed, and only trained assistance dogs may enter. Filming is not allowed on tours.

The other cemeteries are generally more relaxed, but all of them are still places of burial, and a funeral may be taking place while you are there. Keep voices low near any group, do not photograph mourners, and give way on narrow paths.

To choose: if you want the famous names and do not mind paying, go to Highgate, and leave time for both sides. If you want a free, wooded walk with a tour you can join on the day, go to Nunhead on a Sunday. If you want a café inside the gates, go to Brompton. If you live in Hackney or the East End, Abney Park and Tower Hamlets are closer and feel more like woodland than monument.

Winter afternoons are short. Several of these gates close at 4pm from November, so a weekend morning is the safer plan in the darker months.

Before you go

• Check the closing time on the day: several cemeteries close at 4pm in winter, and Highgate's last entry is half an hour before closing.
• Do not plan a picnic or bring alcohol to Highgate, and assume the same courtesy elsewhere.
• Book Highgate on its own site; its visit page did not show the standard admission price when we checked.
• Wear shoes that cope with mud: Nunhead, Abney Park and Tower Hamlets are largely woodland.
• Be ready to give way to funerals, which take precedence over visitors.

Questions people ask

Which London cemeteries are the Magnificent Seven?

Kensal Green (1833), West Norwood (1837), Highgate (1839), Abney Park, Brompton and Nunhead (all 1840), and Tower Hamlets (1841), according to Wikipedia. They were opened after an 1832 Act of Parliament encouraged private cemeteries outside central London.

Is Highgate Cemetery free?

No. Highgate has charged an entrance fee since June 1990, according to its visit page. One ticket covers both the East and West sides all day. The page did not show the standard price when we read it, so check its booking site.

Can you have a picnic in a London cemetery?

Not at Highgate, which bans picnics, alcohol, barbecues and smoking, though it lets visitors eat their own food in the West side courtyard. Other cemeteries are less explicit on their home pages, but they are working burial grounds, so a walk followed by food somewhere nearby is the safer plan. Brompton has a café at its north end.

Who is buried at Highgate with a link to LGBTQ+ history?

Radclyffe Hall, author of The Well of Loneliness, and George Michael are both buried on the West side, according to Wikipedia. The West side is reached on Highgate's own tours or with a day ticket.

Which cemetery has free tours without booking?

Nunhead. The Friends of Nunhead Cemetery say their tours are free and usually need no booking. When we checked, November tours were on Sundays at 2pm. Abney Park also runs a monthly history tour on the first Sunday of each month.