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The storied history
of London's Abney
Park Cemetery began
with the design
of Lady Mary Abney
to create gardens
on the 32 acres
of Stoke Newington
Manor at the beginning
of the 18th Century.
It was over 100
years later, in
1840, that Abney
Park became a cemetery
and arboretum, one
of the most beautiful
and visionary of
its time. Abney
Park, along with
six other great
cemeteries, replaced
the overcrowded,
increasingly unpleasant
graveyards of London's
churches.
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The cemetery was
never consecrated
but was managed
under the progressive
ideals of the London
Missionary Society.
Unfortunately, by
1880, the grounds
passed to a commercial
enterprise which
began to abandon
the arboretum style
design of the original
cemetery. The beautiful
gothic chapel built
in the shape of
a Maltese Cross
was last used in
the 1950's. In the
present day, new
interrments are
long past and the
encroachment of
nature is being
allowed to reclaim
the aging burial
grounds.
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