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Talk by Mike Higginbotton-Location: The Pump Room, Buxton
-Wednesday 30th April
-Start time: 6pm
-Tickets available in the Pump Room or via the link £12 per person.
-Refreshments available on the evening.
It is impossible to understand nineteenth-century England without appreciating the Victorian attitude toward death. This talk explores how the era’s preoccupation with mortality shaped its architecture, culture, and society, leaving behind some of the most striking and evocative memorials of the period—the great company cemeteries of the 1830s and 1840s.Established in response to severe overcrowding in traditional churchyards, these cemeteries were designed on a grand scale, with elaborate monuments, landscaped grounds, and imposing mausoleums reflecting the pride, grief, and aspirations of Victorian society.
Today, they serve not only as resting places for the dead but also as remarkable showcases of nineteenth-century architecture, sculpture, and landscaping, offering insights into the beliefs and values of the time.
In this engaging and visually illustrated talk, social and architectural historian Mike Higginbottom will take you on a journey through these fascinating necropoles. He will explore how they document Victorian attitudes to life and death, social class, and commemoration. Visiting these cemeteries today provides a powerful window into the past—where ostentation met solemnity, and where the certainty of death was met with a determination to be remembered.
Mike Higginbottom has been lecturing in social and architectural history since the early 1970s, working with university continuing education departments, the Workers’ Educational Association, and the Arts Society (formerly NADFAS). His expertise spans a wide range of subjects, including country houses, theatres, waterways, railways, cemeteries, and urban sanitation. He has led leisure-learning residential programs on the built environment and history of cities including Bath, Birmingham, Chester, Chicago, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, York, and New York, as well as the Isle of Man.
Join this fascinating talk to uncover the stories, symbolism, and significance of the Victorian way of death.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust, The Crescent,Buxton, United Kingdom
Tickets
