Situated in Cemetery Lane to the east of Charlton Park, the cemetery has retained its Victorian layout, and features two 19th-century chapels and numerous military graves.

[2] It was originally created as a "Gentleman's Cemetery" by Charlton Burial Board on eight acres of land that were formerly part of the estate of Sir Thomas Maryon Wilson.

The two chapels are both 19th-century: the Church of England chapel is Early English style and has a stained glass west window (showing the Entombment) presented in 1865 by the local vicar; the Roman Catholic Chapel is in Decorated style.

[1] The cemetery also contains the marked graves of 56 Commonwealth service personnel from the First World War (plus a memorial to two sailors and two soldiers in unmarked graves), and a further 55 from the Second World War.

A War Cross faces the entrance to the cemetery.