City of London Crematorium: what families need to know

The City of London Cemetery and Crematorium sits on Aldersbrook Road in Manor Park, E12, on the edge of Wanstead Flats in the London Borough of Newham. Despite the name it is seven miles east of the City itself. The City of London Corporation owns and runs it, and has done since the first burial in 1856. Its first crematorium opened in 1904, the second in London, and the one in use today was built in 1971. Anyone can be cremated there, whatever their connection to the City and whatever their beliefs.

If you have been told that a cremation will take place there, this is what the family needs to know.

Where it is, and how to get there

The address is City of London Cemetery, Aldersbrook Road, London E12 5DQ. The main gate is close to the junction of Aldersbrook Road and Forest Drive. By train, Manor Park station is about a fifteen-minute walk. The nearest tube stations are Wanstead and East Ham, and the 101 bus stops a few yards from the main gates. There is parking inside the grounds for visitors, and the staff at the gate will show you where to leave the car.

The chapels

The Modern Crematorium, a short drive from the main entrance, has a North Chapel and a South Chapel. Each seats 100, and both open onto a covered area where a further 200 to 300 people can stand and listen. Both can stream a service to relatives who cannot be there. The older building is now the East Chapel. A standard service slot is 40 minutes, and the crematorium sets its fees each April; from 1 April 2026 a weekday adult cremation with a 40-minute service is £1,193 in crematorium fees alone.

A cremation with no service

The crematorium also offers cremations with no service, in early weekday slots between 8am and 9am. No one from the family is present, and there is no ceremony in the chapel. This is the kind of cremation a direct cremation is. The crematorium’s own fee for it, from April 2026, is £525, and it should sit inside any direct cremation price you are quoted, so check that the quote says so.

A family who wants to see their loved one before the cremation does that at the funeral director’s chapel of rest, not at the crematorium. Visiting a chapel of rest explains what to expect.

The ashes

After the cremation the crematorium keeps the ashes free of charge for two months, then charges a monthly storage fee. There are several choices on the site itself:

• Scattering in the Garden of Rest, a quiet, shaded and unmarked area, is free for up to a year when the cremation took place there.
• Burial in a lawn grave, a traditional grave or the woodland area, in a biodegradable urn if you choose.
• A niche in the indoor or outdoor columbarium.

Or the ashes come home with you, or to wherever the family decides. What to do with the ashes sets out the options further afield, including taking them abroad.

The memorial gardens

There are 32 acres of memorial gardens, with rose beds, flowering shrubs, trees, benches and flagstone paths where a dedication can be placed. In the Hall of Remembrance, inside the Columbarium, a hand-written Book of Remembrance is open at the day’s date, and each entry also appears in an online version. The whole cemetery is listed Grade I as a historic landscape, with eight listed buildings inside it.

Visiting afterwards

The grounds are open every day from 9am to 5pm, with last entry half an hour before closing, and from 9am to 3pm on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The bereavement services office is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 4pm, and there is a tea room and a florist at the gatehouse.

A direct cremation there with us

For every family in Greater London, our direct cremation takes place at the City of London Crematorium. We collect your loved one from wherever they are in the city, care for them until the day, complete the forms, book the cremation and bring the ashes back to you. The £1,295 includes the crematorium’s fee. Direct cremation step by step walks through each stage from the first call.