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The
old cemetery, located on Forest Hill Road, covers
approximately 30 acres (0.12 km2). It is part of the second
wave of mid 19th century cemeteries that were established in
London to solve the problem of overcrowding in church yards.
The first wave of cemeteries are commonly known as the
Magnificent Seven.
The site was purchased in 1855 by the Camberwell Cemetery
Board (formed 1850) from the Trustees of Sir Walter St John's
Charity at Battersea for £9,927.00. It was originally meadow
land, which was then designated as a Burial Ground of St
Giles, Camberwell.
The first interment took place on 3 July 1856; over 30,000
burials took place in the subsequent 30 years. In 1874 the
cemetery was expanded by a further seven acres with the
inclusion of land bought from the British Land Company for
£4,550.00.[3] By 1984, 300,000 interments had been carried out
at the cemetery.
The Gothic Revival lodge and two chapels (one Church of
England and one Non-Conformist) were designed by Sir George
Gilbert Scott's architectural firm. When burials were
transferred to the New Cemetery the chapel fell into disrepair
and both were demolished in the 1960s. A third (Roman
Catholic) chapel was demolished in the 1970s. Later the
architectural importance of the lodge was recognised and when
it was destroyed by fire in the 1970s it was restored rather
than being torn down. The lodge was used in the 1970 film
adaptation of Joe Orton's play Entertaining Mr Sloane.
There are 288 Commonwealth service war graves from the First
World War, 160 of whom are in a war graves plot in cemetery's
north-east corner where there are two Screen Wall memorials,
one listing those buried in the plot and the other those
buried elsewhere in the cemetery whose graves could not be
marked by headstones. There is also a group of special
memorials to 14 casualties buried in the Second World War.
There is also an unusual First World War memorial dedicated to
21 civilians who were killed in a Zeppelin raid on Camberwell
in 1917.
On 1 July and 21 July 1944 V1 flying bombs landed in the
cemetery. The blasts caused damage to surrounding properties,
but no casualties.
On 3 November 2011 Azezur Khan (a.k.a. Ronnie), was shot dead
following a funeral in the cemetery. Police believe that Mr
Khan was an innocent bystander.
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