Those Fun Victorians

In the third book, Whimsey and Co. move to their new home in the district of Highgate. It's down the street from the infamous and very real Highgate cemetery.
London is full of  cemeteries but Highgate (In my opinion) is the finest example of Victorian funerary architecture around. 

Highgate Cemetery or Indiana Jones Ride? 

From Wikipedia
  " The cemetery in its original form opened in 1839, as part of a plan to provide seven large, modern cemeteries, now known as the "Magnificent Seven", around the outside of central London. 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."  

London's population was expanding, both the living and the dead, so they built some super-cemeteries and made it into a whole popular culture thing. I think the use of the word "Big Production" would not be an over estimation of the all out pomp and circumstance that went into the funerals of the day.

Though inspired by sad circumstances. The Victorian funeral era certainly laid a rich, and historic foundation for the 20, and 21st Century Goth culture. As we can all appreciate the architecture,clothing, fabrics,sculpture, landscaping and traditions the Victorians put forth.     

There was even a railway called the London Necropolis Railway, that ran from Waterloo Station to Brookwood Cemetery, 23 miles outside of London in Surrey. The train carried passengers of both varieties back and forth for 87 years. But in the end the project was viewed as unsuccessful for many reasons and on the night of 16–17 April 1941, the London terminus was badly damaged in an air raid and rendered unusable.

The Midnight Society writes.. 
Being buried in one of the Magnificent Seven’s cemeteries was a costly affair that demonstrated social status as much as a willingness to commemorate their loved ones in the most ostentatious way possible. As the garden cemeteries appealed to the middle class, attention was paid to the flora, fauna, and even the monuments were (and still are) unprecedented in their elaborateness and elegance. As an art history nerd, 19th century sculpture sends me all a-twitter with excitement; add some verdurous foliage — ivy, creeper, lush hornbeam and yew, cypress, ferns, bluebells, holly — and you have your allocated plot for eternity nestled in a garden where butterflies, bees, foxes, even deer wander through. Victorians thought this treatment “took away the gloom of the grave,” and given the precedent, the Magnificent Seven became veritable paradises on earth..

The Victorians placed a great importance on death and dying. Daniel Pool writes in his book " What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew"  In some rural communities the ritual began even before one died, with the ringing of the "passing bell" in the parish church to signal that a member of the community lay on his or her deathbed."

Do I hear bells? 

 Another interesting Victorian funerary rule, was that each mourner, depending on their relation to the deceased, had a specific amount of calendar time that they had to remain in mourning, black clothes and the works. it ranged from 6 weeks on up. Some even making it a life long commitment. 

Only 40 more years and I can take off this dress. 

 So to commemorate Whimsey's new and very quiet neighbors down the street, and also because it's the Halloween Season, I thought I would share a few facts about Victorian mourning practices...
and hey how did this wallaby get into Highgate?!

G'day Mate!