Death, Duty, and a London Cemetery: The Family Who Live Among the Graves
In an age when the British sense of duty and community is often said to be in decline, one family in south London has spent 15 years living in a house that sits within a cemetery. For Colin Burgess, 46, head of bereavement services for Lewisham Council, this is not a macabre choice but a practical one. He and his wife raised their three children in the lodge at Grove Park Cemetery, a four-bedroom detached house that comes with the job. It is a living arrangement that speaks to a vanishing tradition of on-site caretakers, a quiet commitment to public service that many might find unsettling but which this family has made their normal.
A Quiet Life Among the Dead
Colin manages five cemeteries and a crematorium for the council. By day he works at nearby Hither Green Cemetery; by night he returns to the lodge, where his only neighbours are gravedigger Glen Webb and his wife Wendy, who live in the bungalow across the path. Lewisham is one of the last boroughs in London where cemetery staff still reside on site, a tradition that has all but disappeared in the capital. “It’s a fantastic ice-breaker,” Colin told the BBC. “People say, ‘You live in a cemetery?’ but we’ve never had a trick-or-treater.”
The quietness is a feature, not a bug. “Doesn’t bother me,” said Glen. “The neighbours are quiet.” Wendy admitted she found it “spooky” at first but now appreciates the peace. “It’s nice and peaceful,” she said.
Respect for the Dead, Practicality for the Living
Colin has worked hard to keep family life as normal as possible. The lodge has a large garden where the children could play, but he never allowed them to ride bikes or run through the cemetery paths. “People say, ‘You should ride a quad bike and ride it up these paths,’ but I would never do it, out of respect,” he said. He never walks his dog in the cemetery either. With up to four funerals a day taking place outside his door, death has been a constant presence. His daughter Poppy, now 18, used her upbringing in her application to study health and social care. “She made a big thing on her application about growing up in a cemetery, witnessing death and grief and bereavement on a daily basis,” Colin explained.
Multicultural Graves and Wildlife Havens
The cemetery reflects the changing face of modern Britain. Once predominantly Church of England, Catholic, and non-conformist, it now includes a sizeable Muslim area and Buddhist graves. Colin, though not religious himself, is open to the comfort that faith provides. “I’ve seen how religion has helped take the pain off a lot of families,” he said. “They may not be following the religious tradition to the letter, but their own version of it is helping them at a time of loss.”
The site has also become a haven for wildlife. Thousands of Lewisham’s parakeets flock to the trees, and foxes, hedgehogs, and even a badger have been spotted. Grass has been allowed to grow long in a “no mow zone,” and wildflower seeds have been spread to encourage pollinators. Hither Green Cemetery has even been used as a film set, appearing in David Attenborough’s Wild London programme.
One Ghostly Encounter
When asked about the paranormal, Colin recalled a single incident. “I’d fixed the windowsill, and I took a picture of it to send to my wife. It caught my reflection. I didn’t notice at the time, but in the photo behind me there was a boy in an old school costume standing behind me on stairs that weren’t there.” Spooky, perhaps, but for this family, it is just another part of life.
As Britain grapples with questions of identity, tradition, and the erosion of community values, the Burgess family stands as a quiet testament to a different kind of commitment: living with death, serving the living, and keeping the old ways alive in a changing world.