Sir William Atherton at Kensal Green Cemetery – he's got plums!

I do love a wander in a cemetery. I visited all of London's 'Magnificent Seven' last year, some for the first time, others were repeat visits because there's always something new to see each time whether flora, fauna or man made monuments.

Kensal Green Cemetery as designed to resemble Paris's Père Lachaise, indeed some people have memorials at both sites (I say 'some' becausee I know of one, so it's likely there are others). Notable famous name graves at Kensal Green are the Brunels, Thackeray, Pinter, Babbage, Rattigan, Blondin and Pete Burns (who I hope isn't still spinning around).

Last time I was there I spotted an intriguing grave with fruit on it and took a few pics to find out more at a later date (that's now!).

The family vault of Sir William Atherton Knt – so he's a Sir and a Knight?!

I thought at first the motif was a pair of lemons, but when I got home and studied the photos, I decided they better resemble plums. Soft fruit at least. But why?

On closer inspection, it's evident that there is a bird (a cock bird?) at the very top standing on something that looks like an acorn (a nut!) which itself is balanced on two plums. The Latin phrase* underneath says 'NEC TEMERE, NEC TIMIDE' which translates to 'neither recklessly nor timidly' suggesting Mr Atherton was fearless – he had balls!

I mean, surely there a link to this symbolism – or am I simply being peurile? 

So, who was he? I decided he must have been a campaigner of sorts, or a politician, or a pugilist. I first checked the list of notable graves on KGC's Wikipedia page but Atherton is not there which seems odd, seeing as his monument is far from small and the man was a Sir, a Knight.

I then checked Find A Grave which lists his monument and describes it as 'a marble chest tomb with a cross' but there is no mention of the fruity design on the end. However, it does confirm my hunch that Atherton was a politician, also holding the position of Solicitor General and Attorney General. 

Further research, most of which can be found on Wikipedia here, shows he was indeed quite a force for good. He had tenacity. He had balls. Though I wonder what the whole family thought of the motif, if indeed they understood its meaning...?!

As regards Kensal Green Cemetery's own website, Atherton is listed in the Politicians section here but his titles of Sir, Knight and QC have been excluded. I wonder what he'd have to say about that?! 

*The motto's exact origin is unknown but it was recently adopted by this Dutch infantry brigade.

A ghostsign in New Southgate – Lander, monumental mason

Last week I went to New Southgate Cemetery to find the grave of someone I am researching. I got the tube to Arnos Grove, one of Charles Holden's marvellous Art Deco masterpieces, and I headed north. As I walked north up Brunswick Road I mused how reasonably new the area was – it all looks to have been built in the late C19th and then added to in mid-C20th. 

See my warped and stretched version below

Then, as I crossed Marne Avenue, I noticed an unusual pair of stone-built houses opposite the junction. I stopped look at them, considering that they probably preceded all the other buildings in the vicinity and might at one time have been farm or workmens' buildings, or similar. I took a closer look and, well blow me down, if there isn't a huge hand-painted sign covering most of the north-facing/left side of number 94. Another house has been constructed to the left and, although this has helped to protect the sign's paintwork, it makes the sign really hard to read at this very oblique angle. 

Squinting at it, and no doubt looking like I was casing the joint, I could see a large name at the top: LANDER. Other words quickly led me to ascertain that this was a sign for a stone mason connected to the cemetery. I stood there for a while making scribbled notes as I tried to decipher the specific wording, but the angle and the faded areas at the very top and far left/rear made it rather difficult. It did cross my mind to knock on the door to speak to the occupants and ask for access to the rear but I hesitated, and if you don't do those kind of things immediately they just don't happen. 

Instead, I took a few snaps with my phone and carried on up to the cemetery where, snooping around the headstones and tomb bases, I found that many had Lander's mark on them, some showing that the company was mason for the local council (Barnet). Later, when I got home, I looked at my poor-quality pics and, holding my phone at different angles to achieve oblique views in the opposite dierection, I managed to decipher quite a bit of it.

EST
1860
A. K. LANDER
CEMETERY MASON
(Monumental something?) CEMETERY OR BURIAL GROUND
(...) UNITED KINGDOM. MEMORIALS CLEANED & REPAIRS
(...) ENGRAVED - ESTIMATES FREE. FOR DESIGNS &
(?prices please visit?) OFFICE & WORKS 1 FRIERN BARNET RD

A. K. (Andrew King) Lander was at 1 Friern Barnet Road, Betstyle Circus, known to locals as 'Lander's Corner', no doubt because the company's stone yard would have been a very recognisable local landmark – some of the hard-to-decipher parts of the ghostsign most likely make mention of the yard's location, just a little way to the south.  Friern Barnet Photo Archive has some marvellous old pictures of the business and the junction through the decades, including the one shown right. Today, the yard is long gone and block of flats now covers the site. In that link you'll notice that the name 'Lander's Corner' in on the first houses in Oakleigh Rd South opposite the site of the yard. I like to think the Lander family lived there. Perhaps someone will let me know.

Similarly, I do not know whether the family had a direct connection to the pair of old houses in Brunswick Park Road. The Landers might have simply hired the wall as advertising space being as it provides a perfect sightline from the cemetery where prospective clients might be choosing a burial plot or looking after a family memorial. A company by the same name still trades today but is based in Basildon Essex. Even though they make mention of being founded in 1866 I can see nothing on their site about Friern Barnet or Southgate. 

And the grave I was looking for? Well, it turns out I was looking in the wrong cemetery! Never mind – it was nice wandering around New Southgate Cemetery and, should you ever need to find information there yourself, the staff in the office are really helpful and friendly, and funny too. 

A little bitof Photoshop action here – the quality of the image isn't really good enough as regards the focus/sharpness at the left/rear

 

Gone but not forgotten

This is a sad time of year and my heart goes out to any of you who have lost someone recently.
So many people fade away from our lives around the Christmas period and into the new year. Do they hold on for us to be able to have one more festive season?

A selection of images of London funeral parlours and headstones, plus a couple of snuffers (for extinguishing lamp lighters)

This was set up before David Bowie left us. Ashes To Ashes, funk to funky. RIP Starman.

Swain's Lane and Highgate

(This is the continuation of my post on 29 Jan)

So where was I?  Oh yes, I exited Waterlow Park and turned right up the hill towards Highgate Village.
Immediately I saw a sign telling me (well; drivers) to slow down. Who needs a sign?! I think slowing down is normal at that point as it's about a 1-in-7 gradient – just see these pics and note how the old cemetery boundary wall in the pic on the right isn't true compared to the contemporary white and grey building.

But it didn't seem steep to me. Having already hiked up Dartmouth Park Hill I thought it odd that I didn't seem to be suffering at all. Perhaps my comfy lace-up wedges helped being as they are approx a 1-in-7 in the opposite direction, so I was effectively climbing up a very shallow staircase.
A cyclist overtook me. I heard him before I saw him. His demeanour reminded me of the fella in the animated film Belleville Rendez-vous; clad in Lycra with massive thighs in a hunched up position. But the odd thing was the very loud huffy puffy almost gaspy breathing he was doing. I appreciate he may have been cycling for longer than I had been walking, but it didn't sound like he was doing his body any good at all. Perhaps he should buy some nice comfy shoes and go for a walk instead.
At the top of Swain's Lane on the corner of Bisham Gardens, opposite the locked gate to the cemetery, there is a massive telecommunications mast. It's a bit of a shock seeing it there in amongst the lovely old things. But I suppose needs must these days.

Glad to notice the public toilets in Pond Square are still open and being used and a family with young children were playing ball in the square.

From there I headed north, first checking that a few things in the village were  still intact, such as enamel signs, markers for parish boundaries and insurance companies, and fancy metalwork. Almost at the top of North Hill I turned right into Church Road and then right again onto Archway Road. 

Pleased to report that I finally found old copies of both Vile Bodies and A Handful Of Dust in the warren of books that is Ripping Yarns. I have been keeping my eye open for them since going on Jen's Bright Young Things literary walk last year. More of Jen's walks here. Coincidentally, Jen lives in the Dartmouth Park area.

And then a brisk walk home; down the hill through the hollow way through Archway and into Holloway itself. Nice.