Walthamstow (Queen's Road) Cemetery

Walthamstow (Queen's Road) Cemetery is a Victorian municipal burial ground in east London, in the borough of Waltham Forest. It covers a little over eleven acres and has served for more than a century and a half as a place of burial, a piece of architectural heritage and a local war memorial site. For visitors it is a quiet, atmospheric spot that shows how Victorians approached mourning, public design and the commemoration of the fallen.

How did the cemetery come about?

The cemetery opened on 1 October 1872. The Walthamstow Burial Board bought the site and invited six architects to submit designs for two chapels, an entrance lodge, a fence and gates. R.C. Sutton of Nottingham won the commission, and his buildings still stand. By 1908, Kelly's Essex Directory described the cemetery as covering 11 acres, with two chapels and a public mortuary.

Waltham Forest has run the cemetery since 1965. It is now effectively full, with burials limited to the reopening of existing family plots.

What is there to see?

• The chapels and lodge – the surviving ensemble designed by Sutton, a typical example of Victorian cemetery architecture.
• The Cross of Sacrifice – based on a 1918 design by Sir Reginald Blomfield for the Imperial War Graves Commission, and listed Grade II.
• War graves – during the war years this was the only cemetery in what was then the town of Walthamstow, apart from two small churchyards, so it became the resting place of 109 soldiers, sailors and airmen.
• Leaning headstones – the cemetery's most distinctive, and sadly telling, feature.

Why is it called the "Sinking Cemetery"?

Locals nicknamed the site "The Sinking Cemetery". The ground has subsided, leaving many headstones tilted at precarious angles. The council's position is that the land is naturally prone to subsidence and shifting. This has caused a local dispute: residents, among them campaigner Janet Ling, gathered signatures for a petition calling for restoration, while the council has said full restoration is neither practical nor possible.

Who looks after it?

The site is maintained by the Waltham Forest cemeteries department together with volunteers from the Friends of Queens Road Cemetery. Local groups also organise history walks that tell the stories of the residents and servicemen buried here.

Frequently asked questions

Is the cemetery open to visitors? It is a working municipal cemetery, so quiet and respectful behaviour is expected. Check the Waltham Forest council website for current opening hours.

Can families still arrange burials here? The cemetery is full. The exception is the reopening of existing family plots.

Why do the headstones lean? The ground has subsided, which the council says is natural for this land.

Where are the war graves? Around the Cross of Sacrifice, the central point of commemoration for the 109 soldiers, sailors and airmen buried here.

Is it worth a visit for history lovers? Yes. Victorian architecture, war graves and the story of the sinking ground make it an interesting stop for anyone curious about local London history.