Abney Park Cemetery Trust

Hauntingly alluring are the words I’d use to describe this place. It’s certainly not on the typical tourist attraction agenda, but worth a visit for locals and their guests.
The wind was howling and the leafless tree branches were swaying about as we walked through the cemetery. Let your imagination run wild.
FYI — This is one of the «Magnificent Seven» cemeteries of London. Don’t forget to check out the other six!

Stunning Victorian cemetery that very well deserve it’s place amongst London’s «Magnificent Seven» garden cemeteries.
The perfect place for a Sunday walk (or, if you’re brave, maybe an Halloween walk?)

Really lovely place for a walk, with tons of fascinating headstones and carved angels, lions, obelisks, etc. The (currently in quite poor repair) chapel and war memorial are worth a peep. Just go in daylight while the local drinking population are still on the «merry» side of the scale, and if it has been raining recently, please note the ground can get extremely muddy.

Really nice walk

Wonderfully atmospheric cemetery, great for a morbid wander through time and nature. The church ruin in the centre would be the perfect setting for a gothic novel. After your contemplative stroll you are perfectly situated for a cuppa at one of Stoke Newington’s charming pubs or cares.

Really great place. It’s a cemetery but also a nature preserve.
And they have a wood working workshop right at the front entrance, I think they are open on wednesdays? Check out the website!
And the chapel in the middle has lots of things regularly going on. Like recently there was an art exhibit and soon a puppet opera show is going to take its place. How awesome is that.
Everything is covered in green and slightly overcrowded. Love all the little pathways you can discover. Let’s get lost shall we?

Tombstones are scattered about all higgledy-​piggledy in this beautiful, ancient overgrown cemetery. There are plenty of paths to follow and benches to sit on and the peacefulness of the place makes you forget you are just a couple of minutes from the busy A10.
Take time out, walk the dog or just soak in the spooky atmosphere. Read the engravings on the stones (most of which were from the mid 19^th century when I was wandering about) and explore.

Some people think cemeteries are creepy.
I am not one of those people.
When I was young, living outside of NYC in the industrial wasteland that is northern New Jersey, there was no park nearby my family home. So my mother used to take my brother, my sister and me to the local cemetery. We had this game that involved running around the cemetery looking for the newest grave and then, the oldest. When this game was over, we’d settle in for a cemetery picnic under the statue of Jesus. These days were happy memories. Therefore, I love all cemeteries now, and not in the weird I-​wear-​all-​black-​and-​slit-​my-​wrists sort of way.
Abney Park Cemetery was one of the most amazing cemeteries I’ve been to in recent memory. And I’ve been to some high-​profile cemeteries like Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC in my time.
What I loved about this place was how ram-​packed full of graves it was. How overgrown it was. How it all looked like it had fallen into disrepair. Yet, it was obvious that some graves were well tended, cared for. It’s just that others had been long-​forgotten under the creeping overgrowth. Little gravestones lined the walkways through the middle of the cemetery, and it soon became clear that the walkways hadn’t always been there; it’s just that the gravestones had been moved out of the way, jumbled together to demarcate the winding footpaths rather than their bodies in the ground.
If you have an affinity for cemeteries, this one is not to be missed.
But if you think that my affinity for cemeteries is a bit sadistic and/​or sacrilegious, then you’d definitely want to steer well clear of Abney Park Cemetery.

Ooooh so pretty! I thoroughly enjoyed my wander through here on a sunny Saturday afternoon with my friend and our Diana cameras.
The spooky church in the centre is a must see and i cant wait to read up on the history of this place!
We did pass a LOT of men, not walking dogs, not taking photos, but just going round in circles. Searching… for something?!
My first ever visit to Stoke Newington, and i actually love it and want to move here asap. Even the flats overlooking the cemetery looked delightful in a 70s, creepy cemetery next door to my flat kinda way!

Lolly (the dog I’m sitting for) and I went on an adventure this morning… we decided that rather than take our regular walkies route we would go through the Cemetery. Now I had been here before, but only to walk around the edges and having the pansy of a dog that Lolly is, I decided to walk right to the centre. This is why London NEEDS Unilocal!This place is one of the most awesome things ever.
Right in the middle there is a beautiful falling down church and all the tombstones around it are crammed together and crumbling down. It really was just like the scene out of Great Expectations in the graveyard! If you have an afternoon and feel like taking a pootley walk this is the place to do it, check out all the nooks and crannies, Lolly certainly did!

A heavily overgrown cemetery with romantic ivy covered tombstones. The centre piece is a ruined gothic Church which gave the place a very haunted feel. The cemetery is criss crossed by numerous paths cutting through the thick growth.
But I did not really like being cruised by guys looking for a bit of action. As they seemed to be rather too obvious. There are proper places for that sort of action guys!

This is an extraordinary, strange place — even for London. Sculptures, crosses, grave stones overwhelmed by power of nature. Shows how reality in centre of London may outrun a film set.

Hello, would really appreciate some help. My great grandfather Charles George Sadler is buried in Abney Park Cemetery, plot number 145 039 section K10 75 11. He died October 10 1926 aged 45 and was buried 16 October 1926. If anybody visits regulary, could you find it in your heart to take a photo of the grave and email me on
Thank you so much for reading this, ill health prevents me from making the long trip over to London.
Regards
Maggie

Strange I know, but myself and my other half love visiting old victorian cemeteries.
This one is on Stoke Newington Church Street and I am sure a lot of the people eating and drinking at all the trendy bars and restaurants in Stoke Newington do not know of its existence. That is a shame because it is a very interesting place to visit.
It is quite a large cemetery with several paths through it. A lot of the graves have become very overgrown with moss and weeds but it is still possible to read some of the headstones which can be interesting.
I find a lot of the victorian monuments fascinating if over the top and could spend hours looking around.
It is also a good place to walk your dog — just make sure you clean up after it.

This is an old Victorian cemetery in the heart of Stoke Newington, which has become heavily wooded, overgrown and full of wildlife. It’s full of foxes, birds, squirrels and brambles.
A series of paths criss-​cross the grounds between an entrance on Stoke Newington Church Street and the main entrance on Stoke Newington High St (where it meets the bottom of Stamford Hill). But you can easily do a circular walk from either entrance without fear of getting lost, if you stick to the main path.
It’s not that big, but large enough to stretch your legs and feel like you’ve got away from the hustle and bustle of London life. I did avoid it for several years, as it can feel a bit spooky wandering around here by yourself and you do spot the odd dodgy looking person. (It did used to have a reputation for cruising, and I don’t know if that’s still the case but I suspect it is a bit!)
But I have walked through here a couple of times this year, just to stretch my legs and get some fresh air and it feels pretty safe in daylight hours. There seem to be plenty of people passing through. And if you feel at all insecure about walking through woods by yourself take a friend!

Although a cemetery, this is also one of the prettiest parks in London. Overgrown, full of old crumbling graves and leafy pathways, you can come here for a secluded stroll, in these faintly gothic surroundings. It also has a really interesting history as the first non-​denominational burial ground in London.
One negative though, I never really feel all that happy walking through here alone. It’s too overgrown and empty and you’re too likely to bump into stray loons and drunks. Unless you’re very foolhardy, come with a friend, or better, a lover.

It’s well, you know, nice. And interesting if you like that sort of thing. And I do. It’s very, umm, Victorian, you might find it a little morbid, all that death and everything but it’s pretty. And much bigger than I’d expected. You should definitely go. And if, like me you go mid week, early in the morning, you’ll have the place to yourself. But wear wellies, those damn cyclist have turned the paths in to a quagmire. You know what it reminded me of? A scene in Sherlock Holmes or some other period drama like that. It’s very atmospheric. But I think, well, the thing I liked about it was how peaceful it is. And it’s such a nice contrast to Clissold Park that is so open it’s a warren of overgrowth with these carved monoliths and winged angels peeping through. Gosh, we are so lucky in Stoke Newington, to have all this open space and greenery I mean.

It’s a shame that George Michael didn’t know about this place before being arrested for flashing his bits in public because Abney Park Cemetery is much more scenic than a public toilet. Apart from having a reputation as a local cottaging spot, the Cemetery is steeped in history and is a beautiful nature reserve with an educational team dedicated to promoting history and stone masonry.
It is a circa 18^th Century site, preserved in memory of Dr Isaac Watts and Lady Mary Abney, architecturally based on rural Victorian cemeteries and was the home of a Quaker school where the first school bus in the world was used.
You can follow the walking trail either from the high street through to Church Street or the other way round, taking in grand tombstones encased in weeds and ivy and the dilapidated church in the centre with pigeons flying in and out of it’s gaping windows.
This is an absolutely stunning place for an English afternoon stroll, reminiscent of scenes from Wuthering Heights or Frankenstein, morbid yet refreshing and guaranteed to put some colour in your cheeks and a spring in your step (especially if you happen to meet a friend in the bushes).

Yes, a cemetery. But no ordinary one. This hidden gem happens to be one of the most beautiful places in London. And if that sounds unlikely, visit it yourself to find out.
Tucked behind the corner of Church Street and the High Street, this is known mainly to Stoke Newington locals. And they probably — and justly — would like to keep it that way. Why? Because you can wander around in it, to the point of getting lost.
Also, it is full of some of the prettiest statues outside museum doors. And the large derelict chapel, slap bang in the middle, is a curiosity indeed.

Walking along the Stoke Newington high street, you can easily overlook the entrance to this amazing old cemetery. It is open to public and free to enter. The cemetery is rather large and in semi-​derelict state. The main paths are cleared and safe to walk, but the rest of the grounds are rather overgrown, making it hard to reach some of the more interesting graves. Vast majority of headstones are very old and venerable, giving the place a wonderful aura of mystery. You will find yourself reading the dates and wondering about the lives of the people buried there. It gives the whole area the feeling of history and passage of time. It is a wonderful place to contemplate, provided you don’t come across a group of drunks congregating at various spots. Drunks and cemeteries, they seem to go hand in hand it seems.
Opposite the main entrance you will notice a headstone of William Booth, a founder of Salvation Army, as well as his wife.
From there on, you’ll loose track of time, admiring the old graves of more or less prominent people who were buried there.
If you ever find yourself in the area, make sure you visit this overlooked historical gem.