Jlriend£ of te{e£f 12orwood jlemefery NEWSLETTER NO.14: APRIL 1993 Chairman's Report - Bob Flanagan Thus, if we agree to cooperate in formulating future Lambeth's draft Land Management Strategy (the long plans for the cemetery whilst believing past actions awaited report) on the future of the cemetery was to be unlawful we could be considered 'accessories• presented to the Environmental Services Committee after-the-fact' and thus could be seen as condoning at their February meeting and was then to be circu• unlawful acts if an action were ever brought. lated for discussion to interested parties. Lam beth immediately issued a Press Release highlighting their This is independent of any considerations of faculty plan 'to preserve the cemetery as a 'historic con• jurisdiction - Lambeth have demolished thousands of servation site'. This was swallowed whole by the monuments in the consecrated parts of the cemetery Dulwich Guardian who ran a front page lead on the without a faculty from the Church authorities. Again report on 11 March. the report makes no mention of this fact and thus there is no discussion of how the situation is to be The South London Press was more cautious (more addressed. We suggest that a map showing precisely experienced?) and contacted our Vice-Chairman the consecrated parts of the cemetery is needed as a Nicholas Long who had meanwhile managed to first step. obtain a copy of the document in question. It took Nicholas no time at all to point out the many serious Despite the Lambeth press release emphasizing the flaws in the Lambeth document and also that it was historic impOltance of the cemetery, the report in fact some 15 years or so late. However, Nicholas did proposes that the Council 'improvement' programme applaud the Lambeth commitment to continued dis• should continue. In one part of the report it is stated cussion with FOWNC and with the Victorian Society. that such 'improvements' would be confined to areas The South London Press subsequently ran a much beyond the pedmeter road. The only remaining such more balanced article. areas which have not been cleared are (i) in the (presumably) unconsecrated section along the east I have still - 28 March - not been sent the report. wall, and (ii) along the north side - this latter area is However, I have managed to have a look at someone elsewhere marked on a map as 'especially important'. else's copy and I must confess that I am not A further, worrying inconsistency is that the possi• impressed. In my opinion the report only pays lip• bility of further 'large scale clearance/maintenance service to conservation of the historic interest of the schemes' is discussed in another part of the report. cemetery and lays much more emphasis on the need to 'maintain and develop (West Norwood) as a work• Many pages of the report are devoted to discussion ing cemetery'. I understand that English Heritage of nature conservation issues. Friends from the South were similarly unimpressed when asked to comment London Botanical Institute have visited the cemetery before Xmas, as reported in the January Newsletter. recently and reported that it contains nothing of nature conservation interest, a view with which I There are many inaccuracies and inconsistencies in concur. (I myself have some 25 years experience of the report. Most notably, Lambeth claim that the in• wildlife issues). The report states that English Nature famous 'lawn conversion' programme was performed and the London Ecology Unit regard the cemetery as under the 1977 Cemeteries etc. Act. Under this pro• important yet nowhere are we told what they have gramme 30-50% of the cemetery has been largely actually said. I think this emphasis on nature cleared of existing monuments. Lambeth have pre• conservation is a smokescreen to hide the Council's viously always claimed the clearances were carried true intentions as to the future of the Cemetery. After out under the more sweeping 1955 LCC (General all Lambeth are the council which cynically ordered Powers) Act. Moreover, Lambeth have nm adhered the destruction of the nationally important bee orchid to several important provisions of even the 1955 Act. site at Herne Hill sidings a couple of years ago ... 2 Further criticisms are that the report contains no Richard Bentley (1794-1871) mention of the use of the cemetery as a teaching resource. In addition, there is nothing about consult• Quite by accident on Sunday 21 March your chair• ation on insertion of new graves. For example, new man noticed the hitherto unremarked grave of the burials have recently been inserted near (in?) the St publisher Richard Bentley. Bentley, who is commem• Mary-at-Hill plot. This area was bought from the orated in the Dictionary of National Biography, cemetery company in 1882 and was an unusual feat• employed the young Charles Dickens as editor of ure in a cemetery of this age. Also, what about Bentley's Miscellany in 1837. Bentley's grave will protecting grave spaces of important people where thus feature on our Dickens Connections tour in July Lambeth have removed the monument (e.g. Sir (see FOWNC events list). William Cubitt, William Dowton, Frederick Gye, Douglas Jerrold, Alphonse de Normandy, Alexander Conservation at Norwood Parkes, etc. etc.) and where they should have inserted replacement permanent markers under the provisions Committee member Tom Easton (16 St Mary's of the 1955 Act... ? Grove, Biggin Hill, Kent TN 16 3QY. Tel: 0959 574815) has kindly agreed to be our new Conser• Clearly there is much to debate with Lambeth in the vation/Project Coordinator and takes over FOWNC coming months, months which will also see dis• responsibility for planning and overseeing tomb cussion of the Lambeth Unitary Development Plan. conservation/restoration projects in the cemetery. He I have ensured that the future of the cemetery will be will work in close conjunction with English He11tage debated under the statutory provisions of this latter (London Division). As announced in the last News• plan. We will do our best to keep members as fully letter, our founder Nicholas Reed (26 Hichisson informed as possible during this important period. Road, London SEl5 3AL. Tel: 071 732 7778) has taken on the vital role of Fund-Raising Coordinator. Clearance of Vegetation Cemetery Tours As promised in January, the Cemetery Superintend• ent, Mr Bob Mackay, has implemented a short Brent Elliott and GeOl·ge Young have kindly agreed programme of vegetation clearance. This included to join our panel of guides for our '1st Sunday' removal of the sycamore saplings from the Appold cemetery tours. In addition, Brent is to lead an 'Art and Dollond monuments, the birch tree from John and Architecture' tour on the Cemetery Open Day Lawson Johnston's tomb and pruning the tree beside (Sunday 20 June) (see Additional Forthcoming the Hodgson/Stevenson mausoleum. Our thanks to Events). In his spare time George has been reading Mr Mackay and his staff for this. Boase's 'Modern English Biography' first published in 1901. He has discovered some 60 hitherto un• Cemetery Boundary Wall remarked notables buried at Norwood and has only researched volume one - there are five more volumes Many members will have seen the damage caused to to go ... ! At least eight of George's new discoveries the (Grade II listed) cemetery wall in the south-west also feature in the Dictionary of National Biography. corner of the cemetery. A capstone and several courses of brickwork were dislodged whilst workmen FOWNC Officers - 1993 were attempting to remove ivy from the wall. Appar• ently they just tied one end of a rope to the growth Chairman & Publications Officer: and the other end to a tractor and pulled ... ! Lambeth Bob Flanagan, 79 Durban Road, London SE27 9RW have now (indirectly) approached us with a view to (Tel: 081 670 3265). obtaining grant-aid for the necessary repairs! We are Vice-Chairman: puzzled by this since presumably the actions of Nicholas Long, 58 Crescent Lane, London SW4 9PU Lambeth employees/contractors are covered by (Tel: 071 622 7420) insurance? Be that as it may, let us hope other General Secretary and Newsletter Editor: attempts at removal of ivy from the wall and from Jill Dudman, 119 Broxholm Road, London SE27 OBJ monuments are more cautious ... (Tel: 081 670 5456) Membership Secretary: James Henry Greathead (1844-1896) Rosemary Comber, 170 Knights Hill, London SE27 OSR (Tel: 081 761 3996) One piece of good news is that we were misinformed Hon. Treasurer: as to the fate of the gravestone of the engineer JH David Comber (address and telephone as above) Greathead (see January 1993 Publications News). The stone is intact and in reasonable condition. It lies near to the north wall of the cemetery, just behind the grave of the seaplane pioneer John Cyril Porte. 3 Publications News - Bob Flanagan Xmas Card (65 p, includes envelope): Greenwich Hospital by Moonlight. Henry Pether (D. 1828-1865). National Maritime Museum. "Like his father, Abraham 'Moonlight' Pether of Chichester, Henry Pether special• ized in moonlight scenes. He was famed for his views of the Thames and this paint• ing of Greenwich Hospital (now the Royal Naval College), seen from the West, is a particularly fine example of his work. The foreground and architectural details are particularly well handled and the moon• light reflected from the Thames illuminates a vista which remains little changed today." So says the legend to this card. Christopher Wood (Dictionary of Victorian Painters) records that Henry was the son of Abraham Pether (1756-1812), 'Old Pether', and brother of Sebastian Pether (1790- 1844), 'Young Pether'. Abraham and his two sons all specialized in moonlit scenes.