Terrace Catacombs

The view of London from the roof of the Terrace Catacombs was considered one of Highgate Cemetery’s chief attractions and was frequently mentioned in its early advertisements. Today you can see very little thanks to the trees which have grown up more recently, but once the view was magnificent: there were ‘churches so numerous, that one fails to count them; prisons, hospitals, and crowds of public buildings, rise above the mass; but above all, and grander than any, is the dome of St. Paul’s’.

The terrace is about 320ft long, with a projection in the centre to provide not only some architectural articulation but also private vaults beneath. The architect, Stephen Geary, intended that the northern entrance to the cemetery would be via a road down the side of St Michael's Church, on axis with the Cedar of Lebanon, and so the projection also gave some turning room for funeral processions. That intended northern entrance was never used, apparently due to the objection of the Bishop of London, who no doubt would have thought that it made his new church look rather too much like the chapel to a private cemetery.

This was perhaps the most secure part of the Cemetery in which to be buried. It was always kept locked, and an attendant would accompany any visitor or interment. Inside is a double range of compartments, twenty-nine on the north side and twenty-six on the south, with a wide corridor in between, lit by skylights. The compartments are divided into fifteen niches each large enough to receive a lead-lined coffin. The coffin would be placed in the niche, feet first, and the opening would be sealed with a block of white marble or granite sometimes with a glass pane, or an iron grate. Good ventilation was extremely important, and was provided by the three gated entrances on the south side, the shafts at both ends of the central corridor, as well as a range of shield-shaped openings on the south façade, many of which have since been blocked up.

The Terrace Catacombs are listed Grade II*, placing it in the top ranking 8%, as  ‘probably the earliest surviving asphalted building in the country,’ although the asphalt itself has been renewed. The asphalt came from Seyssel in France and was supplied by Claridges Patent Asphalt Company, founded in 1838. Its main application was for street paving, and so its use as a roofing material was somewhat experimental. Interestingly, Marc Brunel was a trustee of the company, and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel was consulting engineer. Such a large new roofing trial must have therefore surely involved the younger Brunel’s personal attention, all the more so when we consider that he was the brother-in-law of the chairman of the London Cemetery Company, Benjamin Hawes.

Note: the interior may be visited only on guided tours