On January 9, enjoy the first in the Gardens Trust series of talks by public historian Sheldon K. Goodman of the Cemetery Club. £5 each or £16 for all. Register through Eventbrite HERE. Sheldon has nearly ten years of guiding and interpreting these wonderful spaces and in this series, he will show you some lesser-known places of rest and the architecture, design and planting that makes them so wonderfully unique and beautiful. From death railways in Surrey and Sydney, architectural designers consulting on historic restorations and 18th century design, how cemeteries are presented and kept to each generation will be examined in this ideal set of talks! Attendees will be sent a Zoom link 2 days prior to the start of the talk, and a link to the recorded session (available for 1 week) will be sent shortly afterwards.

Abney Park is the best example of a garden cemetery in the U.K followed closely by its sisters such as Brompton and West Norwood. But these ‘Magnificent Seven’ cemeteries were not the first to open using garden landscapes as an influence: examples in Liverpool and Glasgow opened beforehand.

So what are these necropoli and why did they open before the London ones did? What influences played a part in creating these bold new spaces and how were they received compared to the deplorable churchyards of the time? Sheldon will explain how classical design inspired a forty-year-old architect (who’d exhibited at the Royal Academy) in Liverpool’s premier valhalla and how park design helped change attitudes to spaces of remembrance, such as that of London Road Cemetery in Coventry.

The Cemetery Club seeks to show cemeteries as ‘Museums of People’ that are full of social history rather than as morbid, mournful spaces to be avoided. As a heritage communicator, Sheldon has worked with museums and other heritage spaces, including co-developing the first event to celebrate queer history in a historic cemetery (the first in the U.K) entitled ‘Queerly Departed’ for the Royal Parks, with successful sequels for Arnos Vale and Birmingham Jewellery Quarters Cemeteries Trust. He has also worked with the Brunel Museum, created visual content for Schools Out UK and has given talks at the National Archives and at the BBC. Sheldon is also a qualified City of Westminster guide and regularly leads walks around the British Museum and London’s pubs.