The Kensington DistrictMitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
History
The Kensington District
Mitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
Kensington (London, England) -- Description and travel
Over the garden walls of the College we see the high buildings of the
Marylebone Infirmary. Further northward are the western gasworks, and
just beyond them the well-known cemetery of Kensal Green. The principal
entrance is a great stone gateway of the Doric order with iron gates in
the Harrow Road. Avenues of young lime-trees, chestnuts, and tall
Lombardy poplars line the walks, between which a straight central
roadway leads to the church at the west end. The multitude of tombstones
within the cemetery is bewildering. On either side of the way are
immense sepulchres of granite, marble, or stone. Some in the Gothic
style resemble small chapels; others, again, are in an Egyptian style.
The church and the long colonnades of the catacombs are built in the
same way as the gateway. The cemetery contains 77 acres, and the first
burial took place in 1833. The grave of the founder, with a stone
inscribed "George Frederick Carden, died 1874, aged 76," lies not far
from the chapel, with a plain slab at the head.
The roll of those buried here includes many illustrious names: The Duke
of Sussex, died 1843, and the Princess Sophia, died 1848, both of whom
we have already met in another part of Kensington; Anne Scott and Sophia
Lockhart, daughters of Sir W. Scott; his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart;
Allan Cunningham, died 1842; Rev. Sydney Smith, died 1845; W. Mackworth
Praed, 1839; Tom Hood, died 1845; I. K. Brunel, died 1859; Charles
Kemble, died, 1854; Leigh Hunt, died 1859; W. M. Thackeray, died 1863;
J. Leech, died 1863; Sir Charles Eastlake, P.R.A., died 1865; Charles
Babbage, P.R.S., died 1871; Anthony Trollope, died 1882; besides many
others distinguished in literature, art, or science.
The name Kensal possibly owes its derivation to the same source as
Kensington, but there is no certainty in the matter.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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