How to Tour London's Highgate Cemetery

The modern American is typically buried in something called a "memorial park"--a flat, sun-baked lawn with row after row of identical flat markers. However, when most people think of a cemetery, they imagine a dark, overgrown place with ancient trees and mossy, crumbling tombstones--a place with character and atmosphere. Highgate Cemetery in London fits the latter description. It's such a picturesque old cemetery it was used as a location in Hammer horror films, and has drawn a devoted group of visitors and preservationists.

Instructions

1. Start at Highgate East, on the east side of Swains Lane in the village of Highgate, and go in the left-hand gate. Proceed along Top Road, and where it intersects with Main Road you'll see the stone of Douglas Adams, author of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." At the intersection of Top Road and Dissenter's Path, turn left and up on the right you'll see the grave of Mary Ann Evans, better known as the writer George Eliot. Her works include "Middlemarch," "Adam Bede," "Silas Marner" and "The Mill on the Floss."

2. Turn around, retrace your steps and go back to the intersection of Top Road and Dissenter's Path. Continue on to Back Road and on the left you'll see the main attraction in Highgate: the tomb of political theorist Karl Marx. The monument is topped with a bust of Marx, while the base bears Marx's famous line "Workers of all lands, unite." Overall, the tomb looks like a giant jack-in-the-box.

3. Go now to the left to the tomb of Herbert Spencer, the father of the discipline of sociology. Sweep along Back Road and down to Bottom Road and make a right onto Main Road. Pass Babies Head Path (yes, you read that right) on the left and up on the right you'll see the unique tomb of pianist Harry Thornton, whose tomb is a stone piano. Pass Shaw's Path on the right, go up a bit and on the right is the flat stone of actor Sir Ralph Richardson. Leave through the left-hand gate on Top Road.

4. Proceed to Highgate West, on the west side of Swains Lane, only if you've arranged for a paid, guided tour with the Friends of Highgate Cemetery. Highgate West is not open to walk-in visitors--possibly because there's so many monuments there in a delicate state of repair. Each guide seems to pick his own tour route, but invariably they will pass by the tombs of the Gabriele, Elizabeth and Christina Rossetti, lesbian author Radclyffe Hall, Charles Dickens' wife and daughter, Catherine and Dora, the painter John Singleton Copley, scientist Michael Faraday and scientist, author and television host Jacob Bronowski.

5. Finish at St. Michael's Church, at the corner of South Grove and Bacon's Lane in the village of Highgate. There you'll see in the floor, the grave marker of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, author of "Kubla Khan" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Tips & Warnings

• Highgate East Cemetery is open from 10am to 5pm from April through October, with the gate closing at 4:30pm, and 10am to 4pm from November through March, with the gate closing at 3:30pm. Admission is charged. Guided tours are available the first Saturday of the month.

• In Highgate West Cemetery, weekday tours are at 2pm from March to November. Weekend tours are held hourly from 11am to 4pm, although from November to March the last tour starts at 3pm. Call ([phone] to reserve a spot. Admission is charged and the fee is applied toward the ongoing restoration of the cemetery.

• There is very little parking available at either Highgate Cemetery. There is a parking lot at Pond Square at the end of Swains Lane. Still, it's better to take the Northern Line train to Archway station (as opposed to Highgate station, then proceeding by foot or bus. Buses 143, 210 and 271 stop at Lauderdale House. From there cross Waterlow Park to Swains Lane.

• The St. Michael's church office is open from 10am to 5:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Contact the staff about visiting the church at [e-mail].