Highgate is an area in north London, located at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, that was a separate village until the late nineteenth century. It is the location of Highgate Cemetery, which opened in 1839 as one of the “Magnificent Seven” cemeteries constructed outside of central London to ease the burden on overflowing and unsanitary inner-city churchyards. The cemetery at Highgate became a fashionable place to visit and to be buried at, and its grounds contain many prominent figures, including Karl Marx, George Eliot, George Wombwell, Tom Sayers, and Christina Rossetti.