Like something straight out of a Stephen King novel, the macabre Hyde Park Pet Cemetery is hidden bhind railings at Victoria Gat. It appeared in the 1880's, when Cherry, a Maltese terrier was buried here. By 1893 there were 33 gravestones for departed cats and dogs, with the last burial coming in 1967. George Orwell described it as 'perhaps the most horrible spectacle in Britain'.
Dave did:
Progress has admittedly been slow of late, but I came into this weekend fully prepared to make up for that! Having plotted out my route around London to conquer as many Things as possible, I headed out to West London and Hyde Park.
Unfortunately things did not get off to the greatest of starts as first I was to find there was nothing to be watching at Speakers Corner (obviously free speech takes a back seat in December!), and then I spent an hour wondering around the far reaches of Hyde Park searching for a Pet Cemetery!!
Eventually after alot of web surfing on the mobile, peering through people's back gardens, and walking around in circles, I spotted lots of little headstones through some iron gates! But once again my luck was not with me this morning as the entrance was locked and looked pretty unwelcoming:
So back I went to the iron gates, and some closer inspection of the headstones revealed that poor Muffin died at the grand old age of 15 years...and is remembered in loving memory...
Perhaps London does have alot to offer, its just getting the authorisation thats the hassle!
52 down...948 Things to go!
3 comments:
Thanks for this - saw something about it on TV in Australia (where you went for 6 months!) but it sounds like it's too difficult to see.
Agree with your comments about speaker's corner - never found a speaker there every time I have gone!
Check out the film "The Optimists" with Peter Sellers, which has a lot of scenes towards the end filmed inside the cemetary. Not easy to come across, you need to search hard on the net, but quite a heart-warming story.
To Ann: I live near Speakers Corner and it is "open for business" only on Sundays. If you go then you will find lots of speakers. Mostly religious fundamentalists which puts me right off so I never go near it on a Sunday!
Tristan White: Thanks for the clue about "The Optimists". If you go to YouTube and search for "The Optimists - Peter Sellers Rare Movie Stills" you can find a still of Peter Sellers in the cemetery at 1:21.
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