Bull House. By George Jelliss.

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Humanist Heritage relies on contributions from users so if you’re interested in helping us please drop us a line.

Would you like to write it for us?

Humanist Heritage relies on contributions from users so if you’re interested in helping us please drop us a line.

Brookwood Cemetery

Brookwood Cemetery, the largest in the UK, is the resting place of secularist politician Charles Bradlaugh.

Bradlaugh died in 1891 as the House of Commons expunged the resolutions forbidding him to take his seat. He was buried at Brookwood in the presence of thousands of his admirers.

He is buried in a family grave in plot 108. The memorial used to include a fine bronze bust by the sculptor Francis Verheyden, but this was stolen some years ago. The pedestal also included a bronze wreath but this has also been stolen from the memorial.

Brookwood Cemetery or London Necropolis, like Highgate Cemetery was created in the Victorian period. At one point, it was the largest cemetery in the world.

Due to several high profile incidents involving the internment of its citizens, there was a push for the creation of more cemetaries outside of the city centre in Victorian England.  Many of the cemeteries that are landmarks today were created in this period, such as Brookwood, Highgate and Kensal Green.  Brookwood Cemetery was created by the London Necropolis Company in 1849.

Brookwook had its own rail line and was spread out over 2,000 acres near Woking, Surrey. The building of the cemetery and the workings of the London Necropolis Company were fraught with infights and take over battles.

The Necropolis Church was built to cater to all denominations. Additionally there is a large military cemetery which includes soliders from the Commonwealth as well as the United States.

Visiting

Regular trains depart from Waterloo Station to Brookwood, near the cemetery.

Visiting Hours:
Daily from 7am to 7pm (Summer: April – Sept)
Daily from 7am to 5pm (Winter: Oct – Mar)

Also see…

• Brockwood Cemetery
• The Brookwood Cemetery Society

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Down House. Photograph by Stommy

Home of Charles Darwin.

On 17 September 1842 Darwin closed the door of Macaw Cottage, 12 Upper Gower Street, in London, and boarded his horse-drawn carriage for the two-hour journey to his new home, in the village of Down in Kent (now Downe in the Greater London Borough of Bromley).

Down House was originally a farmhouse, and later a parsonage. Over the forty years he lived there Darwin made extensive changes not only to the house but also to the surrounding area. One of his first projects was, with permission of the parishioners, to lower the lane that ran past his study window, and build a wall to ensure his privacy. He also put up a mirror to espy callers approaching the front door.

The alterations to the building were in part to accommodate his expanding family. These included a kitchen wing with a schoolroom above, and another wing including a drawing room with verandah overlooking the garden and with bedrooms upstairs.

It was on a strip of land, originally rented from his neighbour Sir John Lubbock, that he planted trees to shelter the house and laid out his famous thinking path, the Sandwalk.

It was his neighbour’s son, also Sir John, by then President of the Linnaean Society, who in 1882 was influential in arranging his burial in Westminster Abbey. Darwin’s own choice would have been to be buried alongside his brother Erasmus, in St Mary’s churchyard, Downe, where his wife Emma and several of their children are also buried.

Visiting

Only 16 miles from the center of London, in Downe, Down House, now under the management of English Heritage.

Also see…

• Down House on English Heritage website (including virtual tour)
• Down House panoramas on BBC Online
• Down House on Wikipedia

Red House

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• Adam Smith – philosopher and economist
• Sir Bernard Williams – philosopher
• Olaf Stapledon – novelist and philosopher
• Algernon Charles Swinburne – poet
• Matthew Arnold – poet
• Sir Julian Huxley – first president of the British Humanist Association
• C E M Joad - philosopher and broadcaster

Current humanists Christopher Hitchins, politicians Lord (Dick) Taverne and Lord (Eric) Avebury, and Richard Dawkins  also attended the college.

Visiting

Balliol College is located in the heart of Oxford, it is within easy reach of rail, coach, and bus stations.  It is not normally open to the general public.

Also see…

• Balliol College
• Balliol College on Wikipedia