Established in 1840 by Congregationalists as the first non-denominational garden cemetery in London, Abney Park was described as the ‘Campo Santo of the English Nonconformists”.

In keeping with Nonconformist ideas of modesty, the funerary monuments are neither flamboyant nor extravagant, their charm arising from their romantic blending with the foliage around them as much as from their intrinsic sculptural value.

Magnificent botanical gardens and parkland with a world-class tree collection, Abney  Park was strongly influenced by Mount Auburn of the Pilgrim Fathers of Massachusetts and helped by the expertise of George Loddiges, owner of the pre-eminent London nursery and shareholder in the cemetery.
No doubt because of the Nonconformist connection, Abney Park - the only surviving public building by William Hosking - has several unusual architectural  features:  the Egyptian revival design of its entrance with the hieroglyphics rather than Latin, the entrance lodges being versions of small Greek temples and a centrally located  non-denominational gothic chapel with turrets and
a spire.