London faces a growing shortage of burial space, with 17 local authorities expected to have no capacity by 2040 and three boroughs already full. The situation has revived interest in an unbuilt Victorian proposal for a vast cemetery pyramid, illustrating the scale of the capital’s long-term challenge in accommodating its dead.

Architect Thomas Wilson proposed a 94-storey pyramid on Primrose Hill in the 1820s, designed to hold five million people in 215,219 catacomb vaults across an 18-acre site. It would have been more than four times the height of St Paul’s Cathedral, with ramps for visitors and an Egyptian-inspired granite exterior; Parliament instead favoured suburban garden cemeteries. City Hall now advises grave reuse after 100 years and deeper, multi-burial plots, while other options include development on lower-quality green-belt land.