Graves in the Wood: Barnes Cemetery

Barnes cemetery is a sylvan sanctuary that the village nearby (and London generally) has largely forgotten about.Once a small but neatly manicured cemetery for the local residents for this leafy and affluent part of south west London, now its histories and stories are concealed beneath ivy, bracken and overgrowth.

Brush these away and you'll find people such as the expert on JMW Turner, golden treasuries, a M**der so gruesome it was considered the heinous crime of london until the Whitechapel murders of 1888 and an artist who painted images that would have been the desktop background on every Victorian's laptop (had they had them back then).

Complete with a musical finale with a song that was once heard in many music halls up and down the land, join public and cemetery historian Sheldon K. Goodman of Cemetery Club to discover a real gem of London's heritage and personally meet some long-gone Londoners in this beautiful (and virtually unknown!) woodland on Barnes Common.

Meet at the cemetery for a 12 pm start. Please wear sensible footwear as the terrain is wooded! The nearest station is Barnes (National Rail).

Host or Publisher Cemetery Club