Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery is a cemetery located in Earl’s Court, a part of the Borough of Kensington & Chelsea in west London, England.

The cemetery was opened as part of an initiative in the mid-19th century to provide seven large, modern cemeteries (sometimes called the ‘Magnificent Seven’) in a ring round the outside of London of which Highgate Cemetery was another example. The inner-city cemeteries, mostly the graveyards attached to individual churches, had long been unable to cope with the number of burials and were seen as a hazard to health and an undignified way to treat the dead.

While the cemetery is still open for occasional new burials, today more people use it as a delightful public park (and a notorious homosexual meeting place) than as a place for mourning the dead. It has featured in a number of films, including “The Wisdom of Crocodiles” (starring Jude Law), “Crush” (Imelda Staunton and Andie MacDowell) and “Johnny English” (starring Rowan Atkinson); as well as being used as a location by photographers such as Bruce Weber (see “The Chop Suey Club”). Brompton Cemetery is now administered by the Royal Parks agency.