Highgate Cemetery in north London is actually two cemeteries - east and west. Highgate West Cemetery opened first in 1839 as part of a broader plan to provide burial grounds outside central London, where space was running out in church graveyards. This cemetery includes two grade I listed groups of buildings, on Egyptian Avenue and Lebanon Circle. These give access to underground chambers - both mausoleums and a colombarium - used as burial space. In the same area, a set of catacombs are listed grade II*.
Highgate East Cemetery was added in 1854 and in order to maintain a continous area of consecrated ground a tunnel benath Swain’s Lane was built to connect the two halves. The approach to the tunnel was via a subway, reached via a hydraulic lift from the mortuary chapel in the west. The tunnel is now blocked but some of the space is used as a storage area.
