West Norwood has a crematorium and is still in use as a burial ground. It is very well kept. Ivy has been severely cut back and few graves are inaccessible or invisible. The modern graves are interspersed everywhere with the Victorian monuments of which I’m particularly fond. This is a sharp contrast to the other Magnificent Seven, which are either no longer in use (e.g. Abney Park and Tower Hamlets) or have areas sectioned off for new burials (e.g. Highgate and Nunhead). Many of the new graves at West Norwood seem to be for babies or children and are clearly being regularly visited. In the other cemeteries, it is possible to walk around the old, overgrown and forgotten graves without experiencing the raw pain of recent loss unsoftened by the passage of time. In West Norwood, you cannot do this. I wouldn’t recommend visiting if you are in an emotionally fragile state.
