West Norwood Cemetery

West Norwood Cemetery is a wildlife haven covering about 16 hectares (40 acres) on a north-facing sloping site in south London. It includes a variety of habitats that attract wildlife. It is owned by the London Borough of Lambeth.

Address: West Norwood Cemetery, Norwood Road, London SE27 9JU (Map:; OS grid reference TQ323720)

History
West Norwood Cemetery was created as one of Victorian London’s “Magnificent Seven” garden cemeteries. In 1836 the South Metropolitan Cemetery Company purchased 40 acres of fields near the hamlet of Norwood and the cemetery opened in the following year. By the 1960s, the cemetery was neglecgted and overgrown, and in 1966 it was bought by the London Borough of Lambeth, which maintained the cremation service and turned the grounds into a memorial park, removing many of the memorials.

Habitat
Habitats within the cemetery include flower beds, planted shrubbery, scattered trees, scrub, secondary woodland, semi-improved neutral grassland and vegetated walls and tombstones. The site is mostly managed as grassland, with a wide range of plants. The highest part of the cemetery includes a fine area of trees — both ancient Pedunculate Oaks (possibly remnants of the Great North Wood, from which Norwood gets its name) and a mixture of exotic species including Chile Pine and Cedar of Lebanon. Shrubs include Bramble, Ivy, Rose and Hawthorn. An area of the cemetery near the eastern edge is damp and is managed for nature conservation. Some stretches of the walls enclosing the cemetery support spectacular growths of ivy.

Species
Birds According to London WildWeb, the trees and shrubs support a wide range of birds, including Willow Warbler, Kestrel and Tawny Owl. Can anyone add further information?

Other vertebratess

Information needed.

Invertebrates

Information needed.

Practicalities
Directions

The cemetery is a short walk from West Norwood station, which is served by Southern Railway, with connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, West Croydon and Crystal Palace. The cemetery can also be reached by bus route 2 or 196 from Brixton, which is served by London Underground (Victoria line) and South Eastern railways (London Victoria to Orpington line). Other bus routes passing the cemetery are 68, 315, 322, 432 and 468.

Access The cemetery has free public access. The gates open daily at 8am (10am on Christmas Day) and close at 6pm from April to October and 4pm from November to March (2.30pm on Christmas Day).

Facilities

Pubs and shops can be found on the west side of the cemetery in Norwood Road, Norwood High Street and Knights Hill.

''This information has been cobbled together from various internet sources by someone who has never visited the site but thinks that it deserves a page on the London Bird Club Wiki. If you are familiar with the site, please correct, expand and/or update this information. Please!''