MASTERPLAN experience plan BROOKWOOD CEMETERY Allies and Morrison February 2020 Time, which antiquates antiquities, and hath an art to make dust of all things, hath yet spared these minor monuments. Sir Thomas Browne (1658) Urne-Buriall Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 1 This Experience Plan prepared by Barker Langham supports the wider Masterplan for Brookwood cemetery developed by a team led by Allies and 2. APPROACH 8 Morrison comprising: 3. AUDIENCES 14 3. THEMES 21 Allies and Morrison Barker Langham 4. MEDIA 36 Bradley-Hole Schoeniach Landscape 5. PROGRAMMING 42 Dr Roger Bowdler 7. PHASING 52 This Experience Plan should be read with the two other documents setting out the proposals - the Masterplan and the Outline Business Plan. 1 INTRODUCTION iv 1.1 Brookwood Cemetery 165 years of history Local, national, and global significance Monuments Commission), and the largest is recognised as a climactic example of Victorian Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery garden cemetery design. Opened in November 1854 having been established in the UK. It is also the hub of a busy calendar of by special Act of Parliament in 1852 and built by commemorations linked to various nations’ war The London Necropolis Railway, which linked the London Necropolis & National Mausoleum efforts, with ties to nearby contemporary military Brookwood with Waterloo station in London, is Company, Brookwood Cemetery is the largest communities: and is a place where officers in unique in British history. Though it was closed in cemetery in Britain, and was at the time of its training come to learn about the realities of death 1941, with its London terminus having incurred founding the largest in the world. Created to answer before engaging in active combat. damage in the blitz, the path of the former the need for additional burial space for overcrowded railway line can still be traced in the cemetery’s London cemeteries in the mid-19th century, today In December 1914 the cemetery became the the contemporary landscape, and the fact of its former it represents a remarkable survival of a landscaped site of the first burial of an Indian Muslim soldier existence speaks powerfully both to parkland cemetery. in this country; and, more broadly, as the oldest the complex relationship between living human Muslim burial ground in the country dating to 1884, societies and their dead, and to an increasingly Listed as Grade 1 by English Heritage, Brookwood and thought to be the final resting place of a direct global history of industrialisation, urbanisation, and and its history are are of outstanding cultural and English descendent of the Prophet Muhammad, the social atomisation in modernity. historical significance. The thousands of funerary cemetery remains an important part of the cultural monuments at the site (many of which are separately landscape of British Islamic society today. It is ‘As a site of extreme importance […] as a listed) constitute a formidable and extraordinarily also an expression of a powerful global interfaith cultural, historical, and architectural record diverse record of the varying burial traditions of a movement (embodied in the story of Gottlieb […] the site has the potential to become a range of different communities, classes, cultures and Leitner) that is a force for peace in a world torn by World Heritage Site.’ faith groups as these have evolved across the past conflict. century and a half. Environmentally, the cemetery’s distinctive Surrey Brenda Wilson, Home Office report on the From a military perspective, the site incorporates Heathland setting is protected by SSSI, Special significance of Brookwood Cemetery both the main US First World War cemetery in Area of Conservation, BAP Priority Habitats and Britain (administered by the American Battle Green Belt designations; meanwhile its landscape BROOKWOOD CEMETERY EXPERIENCE PLAN February 2020 1 1.1 Brookwood Cemetery A boundless future A boundless future Restoration andR renewalestoration and renewal Having been in private ownership since its foundation, and having suffered significant Having been in private ownership since its dilapidation from the 1970s onwards, Brookwood foundation, and having suffered significant Cemetery was acquireddilapidation by Woking from Borough the 1970s Council onwards, in 2014. Brookwood Cemetery was acquired by Woking Borough Council in 2014. In the five years sinceIn that the fiveacquisition, years since the that acquisition, the Council’s efforts have,Council’s of necessity, efforts been have, centred of necessity, been on the completion of emergencycentred on the conservation completion ofand emergency conservation and maintenance works, maintenance works, seeking toto repair repair the the damage damage caused caused variously by thevariously unchecked by the growthunchecked of growth of rhododendron and otherrhododendron aggressive and plant other species, aggressive plant species, by the significant failure of the by the significant failure of the cemetery’s drainage cemetery's drainage systems (a cause of systems (a cause of seriousserious floodingflooding whichwhich imperils imperils both graves both graves and mausoleums),and mausoleums), and by theand dumpingby the dumping of of waste at various pointswaste across at various the pointssite. across the site. Today, with the site’s management Today, with the site’ssignificantly management improved, significantly the Council is able to improved, the Councillook is ableforward to look to the forward next ten to years, the and to consider how Brookwood might be further next ten years, and torestored, consider and how re-established Brookwood and expanded might be further restored,as a public and re-established amenity. and expanded as a public amenity. 6 1.2 Brief Developing a sustainable visitor experience at Brookwood Cemetery In the wider context of Brookwood’s rehabilitation, Experience Plan addresses the following broad areas Interpretation Allies & Morrison (A&M), working together of concern highlighted in the overarching project • Distilling key interpretative themes and messages, brief: with Barker Langham, Bradley-Hole Schoenaich and proposing the ways in which these may be Landscape (BHSLA), and funerary heritage expert best communicated to audiences. Dr Roger Bowdler, were commissioned to produce Visitor Facilities a Masterplan for Brookwood Cemetery to guide its In particular, the question of whether to build development over the period of the next 10 – 20 • Programming a visitor centre at Brookwood, as well as what years. • Making recommendations as to the kinds purpose any such space or alternative spaces of cultural and/or community activities and should serve. Within the overall Masterplan are considered programming Brookwood can support, that will manifold aspects of Brookwood’s future, ranging be in keeping with its character, and that will from the conservation and rehabilitation of the Audiences help both to attract new audiences to the site and cemetery’s historic landscape, to the expansion of serve the existing community. • Considering how Brookwood can be opened up the existing funerary business, and the creation of to attract and retain a wider range of audiences, new visitor facilities and interpretation on site. whilst continuing to serve existing communities. Operations Identifying opportunities to cement Brookwood as As a supporting document to the Masterplan, • Providing for all the above by making a pivotal site within broader attempts to promote this Experience Plan presents detailed research recommendations on the future management and Woking and its surrounding area as a visitor and recommendations relating in particular to the staffing of the site. Here we also looked closely destination shaping of an enhanced visitor offer at Brookwood. at how Brookwood could develop its network of volunteers. Developed by Barker Langham in tandem with the accompanying Business Plan, and hence grounded in a concern to ensure the financial viability and sustainability of all proposed developments, the BROOKWOOD CEMETERY EXPERIENCE PLAN February 2020 3 1.3 Vision A model future cemetery Increased profile Increased usage Enhanced environment Central to our vision for Brookwood is enhanced As Brookwood’s profile grows, this will drive As Brookwood draws in new audiences, it will recognition of the cemetery in keeping with its increased usage of the cemetery in three distinct also generate increased revenue, supporting the historic importance. areas. enhanced upkeep and management of its grounds, building on the platform of works currently being Currently something of a hidden gem, there is scope Firstly, local residents will feel inspired to explore the undertaken. for greater involvement of surrounding communities cemetery’s grounds and to reclaim the site as part in appreciating and using the cemetery. Brookwood of their own cultural landscape. Facilities designed Rising in the public’s affections, the cemetery will come to be acknowledged as a site of regional, to meet local needs will establish the cemetery as a will become the centre of a busy community of national, and even international significance by valued public amenity. volunteers helping to keep it looking its best. audiences across the South East, in London, and further afield. Secondly, awareness of Brookwood’s significance, Finally, on a regional, national, and global level, allied to a growing reputation for high quality Brookwood will play a leading part in establishing Established in the public imagination as a key