Historian Christopher Wade who has written a book about the cemetery and called for urgent maintenance

THE Hampstead graveyard where painter John Constable is buried is to have a major facelift in an attempt to take the historic tombs and gravestones off the English Heritage at-risk register.
St John’s churchyard, pictured above, where burials have taken place for 1,000 years but which mainly dates from the 1700s, has 20 listed gravestones.
Even the gates and railings that run round the graveyard in Church Row are listed and are in urgent need of repair.
But following a meeting last week between Camden Council, which manages the cemetery, English Heritage, the church and members of residents’ group the Church Row Association, plans to save the crumbling gravestones are closer to being finalised.
A grant to fix a lop-sided war memorial that needs underpinning has been given by English Heritage, and work will start in June.
And the Town Hall, working with English Heritage, is drawing up a report on what needs to be done first.
A Town Hall press official said: “This will give a complete picture of what will be required to restore the most important features within the churchyard.”
Another meeting in May will look at the survey and decide when work should start – and how much it will cost.