ABNEY PARK cemetery is one of the less-seen jewels of Hackney, a place passers-by say “they must go into one day”. They don’t mean it literally — that would be a grave error.

Now those buried within since 1840 will be in a way resurrected: Hackney council is seeking volunteers  to work with it on two-year project Abney Unearthed to map and research who’s in the plethora of plots in the dead heart of Stoke Newington.

The aim is that anyone, anywhere in the world, will be able to excavate on line the history and 200,000 residents of Abney Park — well, their names and possibly their stories. The council has perssuaded the Heritage Lottery Fund to look deep into its vaults to contribute £21,400.

Hamish Scott 131216

* Backstory: Dead-ends talks on Abney Park; Cockney shockney: fly creature found in  Stokey

* Brave enough to volunteer — ghouls don’t exist, right? Contact volunteering@abneypark.org The council is also talking of “improvements” to the cemetery. Ominous? You can make up your own mind and fill in a survey here. 

* Abney Park is accessible via the art deco Egyptian-influence gates in Stoke Newington High Street, N16 0LH, and through the smaller gates in nearby Church Street.

* All pictures on this page © DavidAltheer [at] gmail.com, and all for sale for reproduction. Most photographs are available in bigger formats

* Emboldened underscored words in most cases indicate a hyperlink, a reader service rare among websites. If a link does not work, it is probably because the site to which the URL refers has not been maintained.