| Summary : The huge growth of London in the early 19th century raised difficulties in arranging for the hygenic burial of the dead. Public alarm on this matter expressed itself strongly during and after the epidemic of cholera in 1848-9. There came to be strong support for the idea of laying out large new cemeteries well beyond the built-up urban area, served by railways that could convey the dead bodies and the mourners. A London Necropolis and National Mausoleum Company got an Act in 1852, authorizing it to acquire land for this purpose at Brockwood, west of Woking, beside the London and South Western Railway's main line. The cemetery was opened on 7 November 1854; interments began there the following week. The funeral trains started out from a station in London adjoining the LSWR's terminus at Waterloo. From 1854 to 1900 a train (for a time two) ran daily to the cemetery from London. However, the Necropolis station stood in the way of the development of a new track arrangement for the main line station at Waterloo and was demolished and replaced by a new structure on the south side of Westminster Bridge Road. The new Necropolis station opened on 16th February 1902 with two platforms, one for mourners, the other for coffin-loading, an arrangement which ensured that the operation was carefully screened from the eyes of the funeral party. During a very heavy air raid in 1941 the Necropolis station was obliterated by a land mine; the railway had all but ceased to be of use by April 1941. The two cemetery stations, however, remained open for refreshments and became known as the North and South Bars. They remained open to visitors until circa. 1967. In September 1972 the station was largely destroyed by fire and no interest was shown in trying to preserve the remains. |