Nunhead Cemetery and One Tree Hill

Published 28 September 2026 · By the Guide to London editorial team · Editor: Terje Moy

Nunhead Cemetery is free, open every day, and the view of St Paul's Cathedral from the top of its hill is one of the few in London framed by Victorian tombs. It closes early: 4pm from November to February. One Tree Hill, half an hour's walk or a few stops on the P12 bus to the south, is ungated, wooded and has the wider outlook of the two.

These are the two reasons to make the trip to this corner of south-east London, and they work well together because they are so different. Nunhead is 52 acres of Victorian burial ground that has turned into woodland, with a ruined chapel at the top of a lime avenue. One Tree Hill is a steep wooded slope full of old trees, with an oak behind railings at the summit.

Our guide to the Magnificent Seven cemeteries sets Nunhead against the other six and covers the etiquette that applies in all of them. This page is the detailed version: which gate, which hours, when the free tours run, and how to link the cemetery to the hill.

The avenue, the chapel and the view of St Paul's

The main gates on Linden Grove open onto the Main Avenue, a straight climb between tall limes that ends at the shell of the Anglican chapel. That avenue is the whole design in one line: the cemetery was laid out on a hillside in 1840 as All Saints' Cemetery, and everything about the planting was arranged so that the walk up felt like an ascent.

At the top, the sightline continues past the chapel and out through a gap in the trees to the dome of St Paul's Cathedral, which the Friends call the wonderful view at the top of the site. It is a narrow, deliberate sightline rather than a panorama, and much better in winter when the leaves are off. The climb up to the West Hill is not steep, but the Friends warn that coming back down is the hard part in a wheelchair or on a mobility scooter.

The chapel is a stabilised ruin rather than a restored building, and the difference matters: unlike Abney Park's, it has no roof and no interior use. It can be seen from the inside only on the Friends' crypt and chapel tours, and there are four steps up to it and a large step down into the crypt, so neither is step-free. There were originally two chapels. The Dissenters' one was hit by a bomb in the Second World War and demolished in the 1950s.

The other piece of architecture worth two minutes is at the gate you came in by. The pair of neo-classical lodges on Linden Grove went up in 1839, before anything else on the site, to house the superintendent. They have Portland stone pillars and cast-iron gates decorated with inverted torches, a Victorian symbol for a life extinguished. The lodges and the chapel ruin are listed Grade II; the cemetery itself is a Grade II* registered landscape, one grade above.

Free tours on Sunday afternoons, and how the donation works

Nunhead is the cheapest of the seven to see properly with a guide, because the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery run a regular programme of free walks, usually on Sunday afternoons, with no booking needed. A general tour takes an hour and a half to two hours and covers the architecture, the notable graves, the original planting and what the site is managed for now.

There is no charge. The Friends ask for a donation when they ask at all, suggesting a minimum of £3 a head, and schools and colleges are not expected to give anything. Membership of the Friends costs £2 a year.

The themed walks are the interesting ones, and they rotate: music hall performers, the women buried here, Waterloo and Peninsular War veterans, First and Second World War casualties, funerary symbolism, Black history, and tree and shrub walks. Group tours can be booked for any day except Sunday, between 10am and 4pm, by email or phone; there are no evening walks. The annual Open Day, the biggest thing in the cemetery's year, is set for Saturday 15 May 2027, 11am to 5pm.

Who is buried here

About 270,000 people. The Friends' Monument Inscriptions Team has been recording the memorials since the 1970s and the inscriptions are now searchable on their website, which is the practical route if you are looking for a particular person.

Among the names the tours stop at: Jenny Hill, the music hall performer known as The Vital Spark; Bobby Abel, the Surrey and England opening batter nicknamed The Guv'nor; Edward Costello, who fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo; Louisa Sims, described by the Friends as a forgotten pioneer of the women's movement; and the Scottish Martyrs, five political reformers transported in 1793 and 1794, commemorated by an obelisk.

Repairs to the monuments on the west side of the Main Avenue were under way through 2026, and the area around the East Lodge is being reinterpreted with Heritage Fund money, so expect some hoardings near the entrance.

Getting in, and the two sets of opening times

Nunhead station has direct trains from Victoria and Blackfriars every day, and the Linden Grove gates are under ten minutes away on foot. Peckham Rye station has more trains, which matters on a Sunday, and is about fifteen minutes' walk. There is free parking immediately inside the main gates, which is unusual in inner London.

The cemetery has no postal address of its own. If you are using a sat nav, Linden Grove SE15 3LP with the number 105 gets you there; the Friends also publish the coordinates and a what3words reference.

Two official sources give different hours, and it is worth knowing both. The Friends publish 8.30am opening with closing at 4pm from November to March, 5pm in March and October, and 7pm from April to September. Southwark Council, which owns the cemetery, publishes a single table for all its gated sites: opening at 7.30am, and closing by month, at 5pm in November and January and 4.30pm in December. Nunhead is on the council's list of cemeteries locked in the evening. Where they differ, plan around the earlier closing time and the later opening time, because the gates are locked either way.

One Tree Hill: the better view, and the steeper walk

One Tree Hill rises off Brenchley Gardens and Honor Oak Park, and it is a proper hill rather than a rise in a park. The slopes are wooded with old trees, the site is a designated nature reserve, and the summit is a small clearing with railings round the oak.

The name comes from the Oak of Honor. Southwark Council's own description repeats the local tradition that Elizabeth I picnicked under the original tree, and records that the oak inside the railings today was planted around 1905 as its successor. The story is told as a story, not as documented history, and we would leave it there.

The summit clearing faces north, out over inner south London towards the City, and it is an open outlook rather than the framed gap you get at Nunhead. We think it is the better of the two views, but it is fair to say that neither Southwark Council nor any friends' group publishes a description of it, so what you actually see on the day depends on how much the trees have grown since the last cut back. Our round-up of the best free viewpoints in London covers the hills that are certain; this is the one nobody queues for.

It is not gated, which is the practical difference from the cemetery: One Tree Hill does not appear on Southwark's list of parks locked in the evening, so an evening walk up for the lights is possible in a way it is not at Nunhead. The paths are earth, steep in places and slippery after rain, and the climb from the surrounding streets is the sort of gradient that rules out wheels.

Doing the two together, and what else is near

Start at Nunhead in the morning, leave by the Limesford Road gate, and walk south to One Tree Hill; it is a good half hour, mostly along residential streets, or a few stops on the P12, which conveniently serves both. Finish at Honor Oak Park station for trains back towards London Bridge.

If you would rather not walk between them, treat One Tree Hill as an add-on to Forest Hill instead: the Horniman Museum and its gardens are twenty minutes further on, free, and have their own view over the same rooftops. Northwards, the market and food of Peckham are the obvious lunch, and Peckham Rye and Dulwich Park are twenty minutes west if you want lawns rather than woodland.

For more large free green estates in this half of the city, see our guide to Morden Hall Park and south London's estates. For the same Victorian atmosphere in the East End, Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is Nunhead's closest relative.

Frequently asked questions

Is Nunhead Cemetery free to visit?

Yes, and so are the guided tours. There is no admission charge, no ticket and no booking for the cemetery or for the Friends' scheduled Sunday walks. The Friends suggest a minimum donation of £3 a person on tours, and sell publications from a desk at the end of the walk.

Can you see St Paul's Cathedral from Nunhead Cemetery?

Yes, from the top of the Main Avenue near the chapel ruin, looking north down a cleared sightline. It is a narrow framed view rather than a panorama, and it is much clearer between November and March when the lime trees are bare.

What time does Nunhead Cemetery close?

The Friends publish closing at 4pm from November to February, 5pm in March and October and 7pm from April to September, with opening at 8.30am daily. Southwark Council's general table for its gated sites differs slightly. Either way the gates are locked in the evening, so leave yourself time to walk out from the top of the hill.

How do you get to One Tree Hill in Honor Oak?

Honor Oak Park station, on the Overground and Southeastern, is the nearest; the climb from there takes about ten minutes and includes steps. Buses P4 and P12 stop nearby. Do not confuse it with the mound of the same name inside Greenwich Park, which map apps often suggest instead.

Is Nunhead Cemetery accessible in a wheelchair?

Partly. The Main Avenue is firm and the climb to the West Hill is gentle, but the Friends warn that the descent is difficult on wheels, and the side paths are uneven and get very muddy. The chapel and crypt are not accessible: there are four steps up to the chapel and a large step down to the crypt.

Sources

• Friends of Nunhead Cemetery - Visitor information, opening times and accessibility (checked September 2026)
• Friends of Nunhead Cemetery - Guided tours, donations and group bookings (checked September 2026)
• Friends of Nunhead Cemetery - Getting here (checked September 2026)
• Friends of Nunhead Cemetery - Architecture, lodges and chapels (checked September 2026)
• Friends of Nunhead Cemetery - Nunhead Notables (checked September 2026)
• Southwark Council - Park opening times and sites locked in the evening (checked September 2026)
• Southwark Council - Other parks and gardens, including One Tree Hill (checked September 2026)