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Events

We run all sorts of events throughout the year. If you'd like to hear about them first, why not join the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, or sign up for our e-newsletter? Subscribe

The Victorian Freak Show and its performers

Tuesday 16 April 2024 £8Book now

A talk by John Woolf

In the days before scary films and hide-under-the-sofa television shows, the best way to get thrills and entertainment combined was a visit to the Freak Show. Today we would see these shows as grossly exploitative, but at the time they were a source of income for those who may have found normal life and acceptance in society very difficult. Dr Woolf lifts the lid on Freak Show performers in this talk in Highgate Cemetery chapel. Come and be shocked...

Dr John Woolf is a nineteenth-century specialist who read History at the University of Cambridge and the University of London, where he gained his PhD. He has researched and produced historical documentaries for the BBC. He was awarded the Tony Lothian Prize by the Biographers Club for his first book The Wonders: Lifting the Curtain on the Freak Show, Circus and Victorian Age, and has co-written the bestselling Audiobook series, Stephen Fry's Secrets, and is the co-author of Black Victorians: Hidden in History, with Keshia N. Abraham.

7.30 in the chapel. Tickets include a glass of wine

This talk was originally scheduled for February

Illustrating The Communist Manifesto - The Marx Memorial Lecture

Tuesday 14 May 2024 £6Book now

A talk by Martin Rowson

Martin Rowson, the celebrated cartoonist (Cartoonist Laureate of London, Chair of the British Cartoonists' Association) has worked for almost all of the well-known publications in Britain, in his career of over 40 years. Derided by the Daily Mail in 2017 ('disgusting...'), Rowson has produced cartoon editions of masterpieces such as T.S.Eliot's The Wasteland , and Tristram Shandy. In this talk, he will explain the particular problems, and pleasure, he encountered when producing his extraordinary edition of The Communist Manifesto in 2018. Highgate Cemetery bookshop sells hundreds of copies of this edition each year and it is an ideal way for a reader to get to grips with this iconic piece.

Stonemasonry Workshop

Saturday 22 June 2024 £149Book now

Neil Luxton, the cemetery stonemason, leads one of his popular stonemasonry workshops.

Using the slab and tools supplied, you will learn how to carve stone under Neil's expert guidance. At the end of the day you can take home your stone. It is a good idea to arrive with a design in mind, preferably drawn out (A4) so you don't spend time deciding what to carve. Neil will advise you about how ambitious you should be.

Tea, coffee and biscuits are supplied. Bring your own lunch.

Stonemasonry Workshop

Saturday 14 September 2024 £149Book now

NEIL LUXTON, THE CEMETERY STONEMASON, LEADS ANOTHER OF HIS POPULAR STONEMASONRY WORKSHOPS.

Using the slab and tools supplied, you will learn how to carve stone under Neil's expert guidance. At the end of the day you can take home your stone. It is a good idea to arrive with a design in mind, preferably drawn out (A4) so you don't spend time deciding what to carve. Neil will advise you about how ambitious you should be.

Tea, coffee and biscuits are supplied. Bring your own lunch.