The British Cemetery

Brent Elliott, formerly Librarian at the Royal Horticultural Society, member of the Victorian Society’s Buildings Committee, has been a committee member or trustee for Kensal Green, West Norwood, and Highgate Cemeteries. Roger Bowdler worked at English Heritage/Historic England from 1989 to 2018 as a historian and Director of Listing. A specialist in commemorative art, he has written on church monuments, churchyards, mausolea and war memorials.

'This is, without doubt, the most comprehensive volume to be produced on the British Cemetery Movement, complimenting and greatly expanding previous works in the field ... and will, one has no doubt, prove to be the standard work of reference on the subject for many years to come. The value of the text lies in the fact that they have been able to take ... the histories of both the major and the minor cemeteries of the period 1800-2024 and to weave a most readable and comprehensive account of the establishment of such places, their ‘Englishness’ and the wealth of planting and monument schemes of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. A flowing chronological narrative which is both easy to read and easy to follow as well as being entertaining and informative. In short, it exhibits knowledge, strength, quality, originality and great significance to the field of funerary studies, from the Introduction through to its final chapter.' Julian Litten, Vice-President, Church Monuments Society