Pinner New Cemetery

Pinner New Cemetery is a municipal cemetery in Pinner, in the London Borough of Harrow, Greater London. It dates from the 1930s and sits on Pinner Road, a short distance from the older churchyard-style burial ground on Paines Lane.

What is Pinner New Cemetery?

The cemetery was dedicated on 13 May 1933 and laid out to designs by the Borough Architect, S W Richardson. Landscaping work involved H J Mark and W Richardson, both locally important architects of the 1930s. The site is a good example of the fresh approach to cemetery design that emerged in that decade, favouring open, garden-like layouts over the crowded Victorian model.

Where is it and what surrounds it?

The cemetery lies just north of the 1930s residential development of Capel Gardens and Pinner Court. Each part of this group of gardens was built individually, yet all were planned to relate to one another. Their layout has remained largely unaltered, so the area still reads as a coherent piece of interwar suburban planning. Pinner itself is a historic village that became part of the London suburbs, and the cemetery belongs to its twentieth-century expansion.

What can you see inside?

Deciduous planting strongly predominates, which gives the grounds a changing character through the year: bare and open in winter, leafy and shaded in summer. Among the individual monuments, one stands out: the red granite armchair grave of Susan Dunford, who "left her chair vacant" in 1954. It is one of the more unusual memorials in the borough and a popular curiosity for visitors who walk the paths.

The cemetery also contains Commonwealth war graves, together with other individual graves of historical interest. These add to its significance as a place of remembrance as well as a green space.

How big is its history?

Harrow Council's burial records list 18,022 burials, dated from 18 May 1933 to 30 March 2012. That span gives a sense of the site's role in local life for almost eighty years.

Heritage status

A council proposal has put forward local listing for the Pinner Road gardens and cemetery. It describes the cemetery as a good example of a new 1930s design approach to cemeteries, with the Commonwealth graves and other individual graves adding special interest.

Frequently asked questions

Is Pinner New Cemetery the same as Paines Lane Cemetery? No. Paines Lane Cemetery is a separate, older site that opened in 1860. Admiral Nelson's daughter Horatia is buried there, and her Grade II listed grave is in that older cemetery, not in the New Cemetery.

When did Pinner New Cemetery open? It was dedicated on 13 May 1933, and the first burials in the council records date from 18 May 1933.

Who designed it? The Borough Architect, S W Richardson, produced the designs. H J Mark and W Richardson were involved in the landscaping.

What is the best-known monument? The red granite armchair grave of Susan Dunford, dating from 1954.

Are there war graves? Yes, the cemetery contains Commonwealth graves.

Is it open to visitors? It is a public council cemetery, so visitors can walk its paths quietly and respectfully, and the planting and monuments make it a pleasant, calm stop in Pinner.