West Norwood Memorial Park Tomb Of Alexander Berens

The Tomb of Alexander Berens, located within West Norwood Memorial Park, is a chest tomb built around 1858 by E.M. Barry, with sculptures by Thomas Earp. The monument stands on a tall plinth of pink granite, topped with a marble superstructure and Portland stone sculpture, and is designed in a Medieval Italian style. The base is rectangular, sitting atop a battered pink marble plinth adorned with a top frieze of Minton tiles bearing the letter "B" and a bear, a pun referencing the deceased's name. A doorway on the western elevation is now bricked up; it originally featured bronze doors and was surrounded by cast iron railings, which are now missing. Barley-sugar twist columns surround the chest and support a foliated cornice. Above each pair of columns stands a sculptured kneeling angel holding a shield. At the angles, the cornice rises to form pointed arch aedicules to accommodate figures of the four Evangelists. Deeply carved relief panels depicting scenes from the life of Christ are positioned between the columns, with an open-work cross within a roundel on the eastern panel. Further Minton tiles, including a Latin inscription and antefixae, are situated under the eaves cornice. A hipped marble roof completes the structure. The tomb is in a state of considerable decay. Alexander Berens was a linen draper who amassed a fortune, and the tomb is said to have cost £1,500. It was illustrated in the Builder magazine in November 1858. A second description notes the red granite plinth, the marble sarcophagus displaying high relief panels divided by spiral twist columns, seated angels, a pitched lower roof, and figures of the Evangelists in niches.