Thread by @MikeStuchbery_

So, for those of you who feel like a bit of a tour from the comfort of your phone, yesterday I went to @HighgateCemeter - one of the 'Magnificent Seven' surrounding London & built to ease the burden on city churchyards. /1

Highgate Cemetery is divided in two - anybody can pay & enter the East half, the West half is admission by tour only - for a very good reason. /2

There are many famous burials in Highgate East, but I'm just going to focus on two, since half the joy of the place is exploring it & literally tripping over a famous bod.

Douglas Adams is one of the recent arrivals - folks makes sure he's got a towel & pens at all times. /3

Karl Marx is the big name buried at Highgate. This isn't his original memorial, though some of it is inset. This one dates from the fifties and is a little bit more able to withstand the occasional attack.

Folks leave roses & cigarettes - he was a big smoker. /4

Highgate West is the real attraction. Intended as a sort of city of the dead - a 'Victorian Vahalla' as the poet John Betjeman' called it. Decades of neglect, however, turned it into the most atmospheric place in London. /5

You have to go with a tour into Highgate West, as you are taken through some truly impressive funerary architecture. This is 'Egyptian Avenue' - lined with family vaults. /6

At the end of 'Egyptian Avenue' is the 'Circle of Lebanon', some of the most expensive real estate in the cemetery. Again, family vaults line a circle around a massive 400-year old cedar tree. /7

Tours also take you into the catacombs of Highgate West, built under the terrace of a former stately home on the site... /8

...and if you were wondering how close you get to the dead on a tour of Highgate West, well, pretty damn close! /9

This is the coffin of Robert Liston, who prided himself on being the fastest amputater around. In one operation, however, he ended up killing two people, including the patient! /10 historyofsurgery.co.uk/Web%20Pages/04…

This is the tomb of Tom Sayers, the bare-knuckle boxing champion of the 1850s & 1860s. His story is fairly incredible, including a forty-round fight against a US champion! That's his mastiff, Lion, lying next to him. /11

There are many, many other luminaries buried at Highgate, but half the pleasure of the place is just the ambiance - peak Victorian Gothic. /12

If you enjoyed that, then I heartily recommend you give Highgate Cemetery a visit next time you're in London. It's cared for by the Frienfs of Highgate Cemetery, and they rely on your donations! /FIN highgatecemetery.org