I visited Woolwich Cemetery recently. It is a strange cemetery as it is split in to two halves, seperated by Rockliffe Gardens park in the middle. The eerie feeling that is commonly associated with cemeteries is absent in this cemetery but is present in the park. Perhaps this is something to do with the many deteriorated headstones that rest against the wall that seperates these two places.
The older half of the cemetery has its main enterance situated on Kings Highway and lies on a hill that leads upwards to Camdale Road. In this half lies a red brick church that, from its position at the top of the hill, overlooks the entire half of the cemetery.
The predominant feature in this half of the cemetery is the large celtic cross that commemorates the people who died in the sinking of the Princess Alice, however I found this old grave, unnusual with its iron rencing, to be much more alluring.
When I visited Woolwich Cemetery I photographed this statue of a woman holding a torch. The torch is upside down which traditionally suggests that the flame of life has been distinguished. There was no engravings that I could see to show who she was in memory of, which made me all the more enthralled by her. The look on her face is not one of sadness, rather she looks peaceful and content, this is a look that is common on the faces of the angels so often seencemeteries, but she does not appear to be an angel.
