Golders Green Crematorium

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Golders Green Crematorium, main access from Hoop Lane

The Golders Green Crematorium in North London was the first crematorium in London when it opened in 1902 and is one of the oldest crematoriums in Great Britain. It is located on Hoop Lane in the Golders Green neighborhood of Barnet , about a 10-minute walk from Golders Green Tube Station. The site of the crematorium is directly opposite the extensive Golders Green Jewish cemetery.

history

The Golders Green Crematorium was built on behalf of the Cremation Society of Great Britain , the building site was purchased in 1900. The buildings of the crematorium were designed by the architects Sir Ernest George and Alfred B. Yeates , the gardens by William Robinson .

In 1902 the crematorium was opened by Sir Henry Thompson . In a total of four construction phases, additional buildings were added (1901–1910, 1910–1911, 1912–1916, 1926–1928) before the entire complex was finally largely completed in 1939. At that time the Golders Green Crematorium had a total of seven cremation ovens that were fired with fuel gas .

Since November 1902, more than 323,500 cremations have taken place in Golders Green Crematorium ; this is far more than any other British crematorium. It is estimated that Golders Green Crematorium currently performs an average of 2,000 cremations per year.

investment

Column, outside view
Walkway, view inside
Chapel of Memory
Memorial plaques for Keith Moon and Marc Bolan
Lawn to scatter ashes in the Garden of Rest
Rose bed with ash graves in the Garden of Rest

The buildings of the Golders Green Crematorium are designed as red brick buildings in the Lombard style and include the following elements (from west to east):

  • the West Columbarium - built 1902–1903 by George and Yeates
  • the reception block - built around 1930
  • the West Chapel - built 1901–1903 by George and Yeates
  • the East Chapel - built 1938–1939 by Mitchell and Bridgewater
  • the Bedford Chapel - built in 1911
  • the East Columbarium - built 1911–1913 by George and Yeates
  • the Ernest George Columbarium - built 1922–1928 by Yeates
  • the Chapel of Memory with the Chapel of Memory Columbarium - built 1938–1939 by Mitchell and Bridgewater

The buildings mentioned are parallel to Hoop Lane and are connected in the south - to the Garden of Rest - by a one-story open walkway, which in turn is divided into Exedral Cloister, West Cloister, East Cloister and the Chapel of Memory Cloister . The chimney of the crematorium is in the tower. The four-story West Columbarium was the first columbarium in Great Britain specially built to hold cinder urns . The Ernest George Columbarium was after the death of Ernest Georges designed by Yeates as a three-winged building around a grassy area with lily pond and was when it opened in 1928 as the "most beautiful and most expensive ever built buildings of this type." In Bedford Chapel is the original incinerator of the Woking Crematorium , which Herbrand Russell, 11th Duke of Bedford , had transferred here and in which he himself was cremated in 1940. In 1959, the Shrine of Remembrance was inaugurated in memory of those who died of Jewish faith . The buildings of the Golders Green Crematorium are under monument protection (Grade II), which also includes the numerous memorial plaques on the walls of the facility.

The Garden of Rest gardens, which adjoin the crematorium building in the south , have an approximately triangular shape and a size of around 4.9 hectares. The areas are extensively planted, there are also two ponds with bridges and a large crocus lawn. Separate lawns (so-called scattering lawns ) are used to scatter the ashes of the deceased, in other parts of the garden the ashes of the deceased are buried under individual rose bushes. In addition to numerous other grave monuments, the garden u. a. a Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial, unveiled in 1952, commemorating 496 soldiers from both World Wars who were cremated in Golders Green Crematorium. It stands at the head of an ornamental pond at the western end of the building complex.

Burials

Among the numerous individuals cremated at Golders Green Crematorium are: a .:

Ashes kept on site or scattered

Marc Bolan's grave in the Garden of Rest
Niche with the urns of the Freud and Dorothy Burlinghams family
Urn grave of Simon Marks and Israel Sieff
Urn Bram Stoker and his son

Ashes buried elsewhere or scattered

literature

  • Darren Beach: London's Cemeteries , 2nd. Edition, Metro, London 2011, ISBN 978-1-902910-40-6 .
  • Hilary J. Grainger: Golders Green Crematorium and the Architectural Expression of Cremation . In: Mortality . 5, No. 1, 2000, pp. 53-73. doi : 10.1080 / 713685990 .
  • Peter C. Jupp, Hilary J. Grainger (Eds.): Golders Green Crematorium, 1902–2002: A London Centenary in Context . London Cremation Company, London 2002, ISBN 978-0-9543529-0-5 .
  • Hugh Meller, Brian Parsons: London Cemeteries: An Illustrated Guide & Gazetteer , 5th. Edition, The History Press, Stroud 2008, ISBN 978-0-7524-6183-0 .

Web links

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