Greenwich and Eltham Cemeteries – resting place of one of Britain’s most cherished children’s authors
Continuing our coverage of cemeteries in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, this week we focus on Eltham Cemetery Eltham Cemetery and Crematorium (or ‘Falconwood’) is relatively modern, with the cemetery section having opened in 1935. Darren Beach’s excellent pocket-sized London Cemeteries book [1] describes it as “one of London’s flattest cemeteries, especially compared with the rolling hills of Greenwich. Given the terrain, it’s not surprisingly based on a grid pattern, with trees only along the paths and edges.” Eltham Chapel The cemetery features some interesting memorials and Beach highlights a “half-size figure of a man dressed in flying gear commemorating an airman killed in 1938. It’s not easy to miss – his outfit looks more like a post-apocalyptic radioactivity suit than anything else.” Memorial to L.A/C. Ernest Francis Bennett, who lost his life when flying solo from the No 12 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School, Prestwick The wreckage of th...