Putney Lower Common Cemetery is a

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

on the edge of the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main communities are Battersea, Balham, P ...

between

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

and

Barnes Barnes may refer to: People *Barnes (name), a family name and a given name (includes lists of people with that name) Places United Kingdom * Barnes, London, England ** Barnes railway station **Barnes Bridge railway station ** Barnes High Stree ...

town centres.

Geography

The cemetery has an area of 1.21ha and is the second smallest in Wandsworth, the smallest being Putney Old Burial Ground at 0.34ha. It lies on the north side of Mill Hill road (B349) between the junctions with Rocks Lane (A306) and Queen's Ride/Lower Richmond road (B306). The north and west boundary walls border with

Barnes Common Barnes Common is a local nature reserve on common land in the south east of Barnes, London, England, adjoining Putney Lower Common to the east and bounded to the south by the Upper Richmond Road. Along with Barnes Green, it is one of the large ...

and the east wall borders with

Putney Lower Common Putney Lower Common is an open Park, parkland space in the London Borough of Wandsworth between the town centres of Putney and Barnes, London, Barnes. It is part of Wimbledon and Putney Commons, lying 1.5 miles from the rest of the common area. ...

History

The cemetery was laid out from 1855 on three acres of land from the estate of Earl Spencer; it was opened in 1855. The chapel building, lodge on the south east corner and brick boundary wall were designed by Barnett and Birch and built by W and R Aviss, who also have a family tomb on the site. In 1891 the cemetery officially closed when

Putney Vale Cemetery Putney Vale Cemetery and Crematorium in southwest London is located in Putney Vale, surrounded by Putney Heath and Wimbledon Common and Richmond Park. It is located within of parkland. The cemetery was opened in 1891 and the crematorium in 193 ...

opened, but burials continued until much later with the last one being in the 1970s. The Friends of Lower Putney Common Cemetery are a charity that 'monitor the condition of the Putney Lower Common Cemetery in the hope of providing funds for any future restoration'. In 2017 they raised money with a concert at The Half Moon pub for restoration work to be carried out on the chapel building which was in a dilapidated state. The work was designed by Roger Mears architects and the chapel was converted into a private dwelling. The project was a runner up in the 2019/2020 Alliance for Sustainable Building Products awards and a Gold Winner in the Built Environment Architects category at the 2019 International Green Apple Awards for the Built Environment and Architectural Heritage.

Features and notable burials

There are five

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

graves in the cemetery of casualties of the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, buried between 1916 and 1918. The cemetery also includes the graves of sculpturer

Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (8 February 1807 – 27 January 1894) was an English sculptor and natural history artist renowned for his work on the life-size models of dinosaurs in the Crystal Palace Park in south London. The models, accurately ...

(1807–1894) who designed and sculpted the dinosaurs in Crystal Palace Park, the historian Louis Charles Alexander (1839–1913) who was editor of ''The Autobiography of Shakespeare – A Fragment'' in 1911 and involved in the founding of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society (RHS), founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the H ...

in 1868, cricketer and barrister Sir Alfred Dryden (1821–1912) who was a descendant of poet

John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...

, merchant banker John Frederick Flemmich (1819–1892) who was in business with German art collector

Frederick Huth Frederick Huth, born Johann Friedrich Andreas Huth (1777–1864), was a German-born British merchant banker, who established the London merchant bank Frederick Huth & Co in 1809. Early life Frederick Huth was born on the 29 October 1777 in the ...

, and solicitor and property developer Henry Scarth (1802–70) who built The Arab Boy and the former Quill pubs and the residential Parkfields area in Putney.

Wildlife

There are several mature trees in the cemetery and the tombstones provide habitats for mosses, lichens and stonecrops. Hedgehog tunnels were added to the boundary walls in 2021, these enable the animals to roam around the cemetery and surrounding commons and help increase their chance of reproducing.

Transport

There are parking spaces on Mill Hill Road, just outside the cemetery gates. The park is served by

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

buses 22, 265 and 284 which stop on at the Commondale stop on the Lower Richmond Road.

Barnes railway station Barnes railway station is a Grade II listed station in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, in southwest London, and is in Travelcard Zone 3. It is down the line from . The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Weste ...

(Southwestern Railway) is a ten-minute walk from the park.

References

External links

*
enable page on the cemetery for Wandsworth Borough Council

Putney Society report on the graves
{{DEFAULTSORT:Putney Lower Common Cemetery Cemeteries in the London Borough of Wandsworth Parks and open spaces in the London Borough of Wandsworth 1858 establishments in England Putney