 In this heady climate, introducing a non-European style of design from Africa was a bold step.Advocates of Gothic revival architecture, notably the polemicist and Gothic architect Augustus Pugin junior (1812–52), proved particularly critical of Abney Park's Cemetery's novel approach which was implicitly sympathetic to a "New World" outlook.By contrast, Abney Park's approach resonated perfectly with those who had close ties with America, principally Congregationalists and other nonconformist groups whose relatives had left for the New World to pursue political and religious freedom.