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Brompton cemetery was one of the seven cemeteries created in the middle of the 19th century when the growing population of London made it evident there was much need for that. Brompton, originally known as the West of London and Westminster Cemetery, was opened for use in 1840 - the cemetery is still used up to this day as a burial place, but much more rarely nowadays, now it is much more commonly used as a public park to jog in or walk the dog (though preferably only using the paths where signs say it's allowed to walk your dog).
The plot of land was bought from Lord Kensington and prior it had been market gardens in the area, an area of 160 000 m2. The cemetery was designed by Benjamin Baud, which includes a domed chapel at one end, modelled after St Peter's in Rome, which is reached through long colonnades, with catacombs underneath. The catacombs were built to offer a cheaper way of burial, but it was not a success at all - only about 500 of the thousands of burial-spots in them were sold.
The writer Beatrix Potter grew up not far from the cemetery and she spent quite a lot of time at this place. It would inspire her in her writings, the colonnade is the walled gardens of Mr. McGregor and several of the names she used can be found on tomb-stones.
The place has also been the setting of several films, including The Wisdom of Crocodiles (also known as Immortality - starring Jude Law), Crush and Johnny English.
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