Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery, Hanwell

Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Cemetery, Hanwell is a Victorian municipal cemetery in west London, on the north side of Uxbridge Road. Although it sits in Ealing, it belongs to the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which still owns and runs it. It is a quiet stop for anyone interested in London history, Victorian design and the story of the capital's burial grounds.

Why was the cemetery created?

It opened in 1855 to relieve overcrowded burial grounds in the parish of St Mary Abbots in North Kensington, and the parish founded it. The nearby Westminster Cemetery had opened a year earlier. The Burial Act 1857 then required new interments to take place beyond London's densely populated districts, which explains why large cemeteries like this one appeared on the city's edge.

Who designed it and what does it look like?

The layout was drawn up by Thomas Allom, surveyor to the Ladbroke estate in Kensington. The site covers about 6.5 hectares, and in the 1870s it was extended westwards by 1.4 hectares of former orchard land. The design follows the Victorian ideal of a landscaped park: paths curve, and planting was arranged to feel like a garden rather than a rigid grid of lanes.

The chapel and buildings

The main building is the Anglican mortuary chapel, a Victorian Gothic design with an arcade, consecrated on 13 October 1855. The Nonconformist chapel and parts of the surviving buildings were demolished around 1972, but the Anglican chapel has since been restored.

Who is buried here?

Notable burials are sparsely documented. Sources mention Edgar Albert Smith (1847-1916), a British zoologist, and John Conolly (1794-1866), a pioneering psychiatrist. The cemetery also holds the graves of 65 Commonwealth service personnel from the two World Wars. A small war graves plot has a First World War memorial in the form of a tall white stone cross beside it, as well as a local war memorial.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the cemetery? On Uxbridge Road in Hanwell, west London, at roughly 51.5113, -0.3317.

Who owns it? The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea owns and operates it, even though it lies outside that borough.

Is it a good place for a walk? Yes, if you enjoy Victorian cemetery landscapes. The winding paths, restored chapel and war graves plot show different layers of its history. It remains a working place of remembrance, so keep noise down and be respectful.

Is Freddie Frinton buried here? No. The comedian is associated with a different Hanwell burial ground, Westminster Cemetery, not this one.

When was it founded? In 1855, the same year the Anglican chapel was consecrated.