Friday 17 January 2014

The Gateway to Death : Victorian Style.


So, on a rainy, blustery January evening I decided that in the interests of research I was not going to stay indoors and read books .




I jumped on a train, underground and bus and made my way through London to the Dissenters' Chapel in Kensal Green Cemetery.


                                       The path was torch-lit and I was not alone.
                                There are others like me who love to do this kind of thing.


              In fact, there are whole societies  dedicated to like-minded pursuits.




There were refreshments, served by candlelight.


Prepared by Kate Mayfield, the details are in the picture.
The taste of caraway stayed with me for a long while.



                              Served with gin punch in delicate bone china cups.


 Then the stories began.


In the candle-lit Chapel, above the catacombs



The Memento Moriatas, Kate Mayfiled, Wendy Wallace and Essie Fox told their stories and those of some of the incumbents of the Cemetery. Thackery, Trollope,Wilkie Collins and JG Ballard are all buried here. Wendy remarked that the 'Rubbing Gravestones were like the books next to each other on a bookshelf.'
We heard about the Egyptian influence on the Victorian way of death.

Kate Mayfield introduced us to her American upbringing as an undertaker's daughter. We heard stories about some of the Americans who now reside here.

Essie Fox told us about the Maharanee of Lahore, Jindan Kaur and the Koh-i-Nor Diamond.





All three authors read extracts from their novels and rather like bedtime stories as a child, it left this member of the audience wanting more.



Every tiny detail had been thought of, even the bathroom.


I visited the catacombs but cannot post the photographs, for unlike the Cemetery above, these vaults were never intended to be shared with the living. So respectfully, I must keep those images in my mind's eye. So if you are interested, do pay Kensal Green a visit. The link is below. As are the links to the websites of these inriguing authors.
 So after the underworld it was time to return home on the underground and muse that the past may be behind us but we are just as fascinated and fearful of death as any Victorian.

Kate Mayfield

Wendy Wallace

Essie Fox

Kensal Green Cemetery

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