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Landscapes of memory: The nineteenth-century garden cemetery

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Sarah Tarlow
Sarah Tarlow*
Affiliation:
School of Archaeological Studies, University of Leicester, UK
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Abstract

During the 1820s, 1830s and 1840s, garden cemeteries were founded in most cities in Britain. Their characteristic appearance owes much to a British tradition of naturalistic landscape design but has particular resonances in the context of death and mourning in the nineteenth century. This article considers some of the factors that have been significant in the development of the British landscape cemetery, including public health, class relationships and foreign influences (particularly that of Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris). It is argued that none of these things explains the popularity of this particular form of cemetery in Britain; rather, the garden cemetery offered an appealing and appropriate landscape for remembering the dead and mediating the relationship between the dead and the bereaved.

Entre les années 1820 et 1940, les cimeères-jardin étaient communs dans la plupart des grandes villes anglaises. Leur apparence caractéristique doit beaucoup à une tradition britannique de paysagisme naturaliste, qui a une résonnance toute particulière dans le contexte de la mort et du deuil au 19ème siècle. Cet article fait la revue de certains facteurs considérés avoir une signification particulière pour le développement du paysage des cimetières anglais, y compris l'idée de la santé publique, des relations de classes et des influences étrangères (tout particulièrement celle du Père Lachaise à Paris). Aucun de ces éléments ne peuvent individuellement expliquer la popularité de cette forme particulière de cimetière en Angleterre. Il semble plutôt que le cimetière-jardin offrait un paysage approprié et qui se prêtait a la commémoration des morts et agissait donc comme médiateur entre les décédés et les personnes en deuil.

Zusammenfassung

Zusammenfassung

Währen der 1820er, 30er und 40er Jahre wurden in den meisten Städten Großbritanniens Garten-Friedhöfe eingerichtet. Ihre charakteristische Erscheinung verdankt sich einer britischen Tradition des naturalistischen Landschaftsdesigns, hat aber eine besondere Resonanz im Kontext von Tod und Trauer im neunzehnten Jahrhundert. Dieser Artikel betrachtet einige der Faktoren, die als signifikant für die Entwicklung des britischen Landschafts-Friedhofs erachtet wurden, wozu öffentliche Gesundheit, Klassenbeziehungen und auswärtige Einflüsse gehören (besonders jene des Friedhofs Père Lachaise in Paris). Es wird argumentiert, dass keines dieser Elemente die Beliebtheit dieser besonderen Form des Friedhofs in Großbritannien erklärt; vielmehr bot der Garten-Friedhof eine ansprechende und geeignete Landschaft für das Totengedenken und die Vermittlung der Beziehungen zwischen Toten und Hinterbliebenen.

Keywords

deathemotiongarden cemeteriesmemorynineteenth century
Type
Articles
Information
European Journal of Archaeology , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , 2000 , pp. 217 - 239
Copyright
Copyright © 2000 Sage Publications 

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