I make no apology for posting yet another selection of delightful London churchyards, each with its own unique charm. These four all belong to churches outside the City, and all coincidentally, are named after male saints. August is a lovely month to wander through London’s green spaces; churchyards are tiny oases of calm and peace surrounded by the busy streets.

St John’s, Waterloo

Located just off the Imax roundabout opposite Waterloo Station, St John’s is a large church which has connections with the Southbank Centre.  The churchyard was converted into a garden in the 1870s by a forward-thinking Parochial Church Council, as a response to the social needs of the area (at that time, a run-down, overcrowded district.) Octavia Hill, one of the founders of the National Trust, was involved in creating the garden, and described it as ‘More like a country garden….than any other I have seen.’ I’m assuming she was referring to gardens in London, not those in the countryside! The garden is managed by volunteers and a professional community gardener and contains hedges that reduce air pollution and a wildlife garden. But what’s special about the garden is its mosaics, created by Southbank Mosaics in a community project with St Mungo’s Homeless Charity. All this information I got from the notice board in the picture. Unfortunately, some of the mosaics near the church were behind hoardings as work is being carried out on the building, but here are a few:

St James’, Piccadilly

Stroll along Piccadilly from Green Park tube station, past the Ritz and the elegant 19^th Century Arcades, and you reach St James’ Church.  The churchyard was the home of Piccadilly Market from the 1980s until December 2020, when it was forced to close because of Coronavirus.  The paved part of the churchyard now hosts art installations, currently there are four lions, part of a ‘pride’ of 27 in various locations around London. (A map showing the location of all the Lions is available from tuskliontrail.com). The Tusk Lion Trail features lion sculptures decorated by artists, musicians and comedians to raise awareness of the importance of conservation of African wildlife. The area at the side of the church was used as a burial ground for 200 years until just after the Second World War when philanthropist Viscount Southwood paid for a garden to be laid. It’s a lovely relaxing space just metres away from the hustle and bustle of Piccadilly.  There’s a statue of ‘Peace’ and a stone memorial to Viscount and Lady Southwood decorated with bronze dolphins and cherubs. Again, all info is from a helpful notice board.

St Paul’s, Covent Garden

This church has been featured previously as the Actors’ Church (October 2020) but now I’m focusing on the churchyard.  Just off one of the piazzas of Covent Garden, one minute you’re in a crowd watching a street performer, then suddenly the loud voices and the applause of the crowd fades as you step into this peaceful, compact garden. There’s a paved area surrounding the church displaying some interesting art and a garden with flowerbeds and lawns at the front of the church. The churchyard’s connection with Covent Garden as a space for open-air performance began in May 1662 when the diarist Samuel Pepys noted that the first ‘Italian Puppet Play’ took place under the portico of the church; the church has continued to host an international Punch and Judy show every year in May. Today the churchyard can be hired for all kinds of open-air events: music festivals, youth and schools events, theatre and opera concerts. Information from Wiki and from actorschurch.org.

St Luke’s, Chelsea

Opposite the Brompton Hospital is the magnificent St Luke’s church and its English Heritage Grade ll listed garden. St Luke’s Gardens is on the Register of ‘Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England.’ Formerly the graveyard of the church, it ceased to be a burial ground around 1857 and was converted to a public garden in 1881. The gravestones were moved to form a boundary wall of the garden and hundreds of them still remain in place. The garden was created with a grant from the London County Council and continues to be managed and maintained by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It’s more like a park than a churchyard, when I visited there were families having picnics, people exercising and walking dogs, and office workers buying lunch in the church’s café and eating in the garden. It’s also a quiet, contemplative place for people to come after visiting relatives in the Brompton across the road. Information from the noticeboard and from rbkc.gov.uk.

Here are four more delightful London cemeteries, now closed for burials and carefully maintained by devoted ‘friends’ as wildlife havens and/or green spaces for the public to enjoy.

Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

Created as one of the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ Victorian London cemeteries, Tower Hamlets Cemetery was closed to burials in 1966 and the site was designated a park by an Act of Parliament. The Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park is an independent charity which manages the site and ‘offers everyone a breathing space in the heart of East London’. There’s certainly a lot going on: Summer fairs, local history talks, concerts, guided walks, forest schools, a wildlife club and the intriguing sounding foraging courses! Above all, this is a beautiful place to stroll around, listening to birds singing and examining the interesting gravestones.

Reference: Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park

Bunhill Fields, City Road

Situated opposite John Wesley’s home and the Museum of Methodism (featured in March 2020), this is a non-conformist former burial ground; if you remember, non-conformists were Christians who didn’t ‘conform’ to the practices of the mainstream church. Only about 4 acres is left of a once much larger site, and it was used as a burial site from 1665 to 1854. The name ‘Bunhill’ (originally ‘Bone Hill’) has two possible derivations; firstly, that it has been used as a ritual burial site since Saxon times, but more likely is reference to its use as a mass deposit of human bones in 1549. The macabre story is that 1,000 cartloads of bones were brought from St Paul’s charnel house when it was demolished, and the dried bones were covered with soil, forming a Hill of Bones! Let’s move away from that image and move onto the famous people buried there: authors John Bunyan (Pilgrim’s Progress) and Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) and poet William Blake (Songs of Innocence and Experience.)

Reference: Wikipedia

Barnes Old Cemetery

If you’re walking along the Beverley Brook path to the River Thames or wandering around Barnes Common, you may come across this cemetery, which is unique in that there are no boundary walls or railings, suddenly the gravestones appear! The cemetery began as a plot of land  to provide an additional burial ground for St Mary’s Church, Barnes. It was landscaped and laid out with paths; a chapel and lodge were built and it was used until the mid 1950s. After it closed to burials it was taken over by Richmond Council in 1966, who removed the railings and demolished the chapel and lodge, with the intention of transforming it into a ‘lawn’ cemetery, i.e., monuments removed and replaced with flat gravestones. The Council abandoned these plans and the cemetery was neglected and subject to considerable vandalism to its monuments over the next 30 years.  However, in the last decade or so, the site has gradually been reclaimed by Richmond Council and is now carefully managed to maintain its ‘neglected Gothic charm’. Selected thinning of vegetation has provided meandering paths and atmospheric light levels, and keeping the area mostly overgrown provides a secluded haven for wildlife. The sounds of the birds singing, the shafts of light coming through the trees and coming across half hidden, ivy-clad gravestones is a magical experience.

Reference: Wikipedia

Old St Pancras Churchyard

Not a cemetery as such but this old North London Churchyard has a fascinating history. The site of St Pancras Old Church is believed to be one of Europe’s oldest sites of Christian worship dating back to the 4^th Century. The present church is picturesque and worth a visit, but it’s the churchyard and its interesting monuments that I’ll be talking about. Here’s three of the most interesting:

The Hardy Tree: In the 1860s, railway tracks cutting through the churchyard meant that the graves and their human remains in that part had to be exhumed and reburied, and the headstones removed.  The task of relocating the headstones was given to the as yet unknown author, Thomas Hardy (Tess of the D’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure, etc) who had associations with the church and was a trained land surveyor. The story goes that he, or an underling, stacked them around the base of this tree, now known as the Hardy Tree! Note: much better photos are available, a wire fence has been put up 3 metres from the Tree, so this is best angle, and as near, as I could get!

Secondly, there is a monument to Mary Wollstonecraft, a famous advocate of women’s rights and author of ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women.’ Her more famous daughter, Mary Shelley, was the author of ‘Frankenstein.’ Mary Junior had her mother’s remains removed to Bournemouth when the new railway tracks disrupted the churchyard, but the monument remained.  The fresh flowers placed on top of the gravestone show that 200 years after her death, she is still remembered with respect.

Lastly, this is the elaborate and ornate monument to the architect Sir John Soane, most famous for designing the Bank of England building. Interesting fact: this monument was one of the inspirations Sir Giles Scott took for his Telephone Box design, despite 100 years’ difference between them! Gilbert Scott was a trustee of the Soane Museum so he probably would have seen sketches of the monument in the Museum’s collection. I can definitely see it, can you?

Reference: lookup.london/old-st-pancras-churchyard

A little late with the blog post this month as I’ve spent the last three weeks travelling around England exploring its wonderful history further afield. Here are a few more Mary churches, two of them are among the 14 City churches named for the Virgin Mary, one is in the City of Westminster and the fourth is my ‘local’, St Mary’s Beddington.

St Mary Woolnoth

The site of this church has been used for worship for at least 2,000 years: Roman and Pagan religious buildings were discovered under the current church’s foundations, and an Anglo-Saxon church structure was recorded in 1191 on the site. The name of the church probably refers to Wulfnoth Cild, a Saxon nobleman, possibly a beneficiary. The current building was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, another giant of architecture commissioned to build replacement churches for those destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire. The church was completed in 1727 in the Baroque style, and is located on Lombard Street, close to the Bank of England and Bank Underground Station.  I’ve only got an outside shot of the church; the website says it is open but the gates have been locked when I’ve visited. Inside there’s a plaque commemorating John Newton and his wife, Mary.  Newton was a former slave owner who, following his dramatic conversion to Christianity, became an ardent abolitionist and famously wrote the hymn Amazing Grace about his salvation through belief in JesusChrist: ‘Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see’.

St Mary Somerset

Situated in Lower Thames Street, this one is interesting because all that’s left of the church is the tower, in common with several other City churches. The name has nothing to do with the county of Somerset; it has links to Ralph de Somery, who is mentioned in contemporary records, or after Summer’s Hithe, a small haven on the Thames (the banks of the River were closer when the church was built in the 12^th century).  The original church was destroyed in the Great Fire and the new church was one of the 51 rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. However, in the late 1800s there was a movement of the City’s population to the new outer London suburbs leaving the City churches almost empty. St Mary Somerset was one of the churches selected for demolition as it had a congregation of about 70. The church tower was preserved as a building of interest and before the Second World War it was used as a ladies’ restroom and later a small public garden was added. It is currently being refurbished and extended into a private family home, I hope a lift is being installed! One unique feature of the church is the eight Baroque pinnacles on the top, probably designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor. That famous double-act, Wren and Hawksmoor!

St Marylebone Parish Church

The area of Marylebone (pronounced ‘Marly-bon’) in NW1 takes its name from the Church. This is another church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and it’s been suggested that the name derives from the French ‘Marie le Bonne’; ‘Mary the Good’, but this is not correct. The original church was situated on the bank of a stream, or bourne, the Tyburn, near present-day Oxford Street, so the church became known as ‘Marybourne’. In the 17^th century it became fashionable to add the French ‘le’ to place names, hence, Marylebone.  The parish church of Marylebone has been in existence since at least the 12^th Century and surprisingly, has been rebuilt several times in different locations. The present building was built in 1813 to the designs of Thomas Hardwick. There are several famous people connected with the church: Charles Dickens lived along the road at the corner of Devonshire Terrace; Robert Browning and Elizabeth Browning were married here in 1846; and Charles and Sarah Wesley are buried here. The area was once famous for its pleasure gardens and music halls along Marylebone Road, now it’s the home of the famous Madame Tussauds, and the Royal College of Music Museum is right opposite the church (interesting history of music and free if you want to visit.) The beautiful Regent’s Park is a short stroll away.

St Mary’s Beddington

I’m really pleased that I’ve been able to include my ‘local’, the Parish Church of Beddington. The present church was built in the late 14^th century and there’s evidence of a church structure on the site in 1085 when the Domesday Survey was taken. The church is situated in Beddington Park which in Tudor times was part of a deer park attached to Carew Manor (now a school) which was a major country house, home of the Carew family. Inside the church there is a striking hammer-beam roof and painted murals on the walls and ceilings. The organ screen was designed by William Morris and the church tower houses a ‘peal’ (yes, that’s the collective noun) of ten bells. There’s also a font made of Purbeck marble in the 12^th century. Lovely to think of the font being used down the centuries; the church building changed but the font was preserved for future generations. The Carew chapel commemorates many of the family; there are also some brasses in the floor which are not visible, being covered over in the early 20^th century for protection. The oldest commemorates Philippa Carew (1520) who died as a teenager, and 13 of her brothers and sisters who died in infancy; what a sad story. I’ll finish by modestly mentioning that I took part in an amateur production of Macbeth in the church in 2018, and watched the same company preform Hamlet there the following year. The perfect atmospheric venue for Shakespearian tragedies!

Pic Fest coming up…..

Many of London’s churches are 1,000 years or even older, and as England was a Catholic country until Henry Vlll broke with the Church of Rome, it’s not surprising that so many of them are dedicated to St Mary, the mother of Jesus. Here are four from the City of London:

St Mary-le-Bow

Situated in Bow Lane, off Cheapside, the original church was built in 1080 by William the Conqueror’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Lanfranc. However, this Norman church may have replaced a Saxon one, so it’s possible that there’s been a church on this site for well over 1,000 years! The church tower was badly damaged in 1271 after it collapsed into the street, must have been terrifying for the people that would have been there; ‘Cheap’ actually means Market, so there would have been crowds of people buying and selling. Further damage in the Great Fire gave Christopher Wren the opportunity to achieve his ambition to make it his second tallest structure, after St Paul’s. He originally constructed a viewing balcony on the building attached to the tower, as a nod to when Cheapside held jousting tournaments and posh people looked down on the street from the original tower. Sadly, this adjacent building was destroyed by WW2 bombing and has been replaced by an ugly office block. St Mary-le-Bow had the principal Curfew Bell, rung at 9pm each day since 1363, and it’s said that if you were born within the sound of Bow Bells, you are a true cockney. Not to be confused with the area of East London called Bow!

St Mary-at-Hill

This small church, tucked away down a narrow ally, is historically linked with Billingsgate Fish Market, which was formerly situated on the banks of the Thames. The market was established in the 1500s and 300 years later it was the largest fish market in the world. The church has an annual Fish Harvest Festival, a unique slant on the traditional Harvest Festival. Despite the relocation of the Market to Poplar, East London, the Billingsgate fishmongers still donate all the fish, and a thanksgiving service is held for the Harvest of the Sea. After the service, the congregation has the opportunity to buy the fish, and a substantial amount is also donated to the Queen Victoria’s Seamans Rest for the residents to enjoy. I hope the fish aren’t displayed in the church for too long, it could get rather smelly! St Mary-at-Hill is another church redesigned by Sir Christopher Wren following the Great Fire in 1666; he became known as the ‘architect who redesigned London’. All his church designs appear to be different, clearly he was a very creative man.

St Mary Aldermary  

Situated in the Roman road, Watling Street, the name of this church means ‘Older Mary’, which implies that this is the first local church dedicated to Mary, probably having Saxon roots. The earliest record of a church on this site is 11^th Century. The church was yet another casualty of the Great Fire, but unusually, not rebuilt by Wren. It was actually rebuilt in the Gothic style, which went against the City authority’s plans, but a wealthy businessman, Henry Rogers, stumped up the cash (£5,000) for the ‘rebuilding of a church in London where there was most need.’ I don’t know why this particular church was chosen, in this area you can’t move for churches, but anyway, the parishioners wanted it rebuilt in the ‘old style’, hence, these beautiful ceilings, arches and all-round gothicness. The Brief History and Guide states: ‘St Mary Aldermary may be the most important 17^th Century Gothic church in England.’ The church is the home of Moot ‘a welcoming contemplative community who explore our relationship with God, with the world around us and with one another by seeking their inspiration from monastic wisdom’. The Host Café at the rear of the church offers tea, coffee, cakes and sandwiches for hungry City workers.

Centre Aisle …………………………………………………………And I’m sure who these figures are

St Mary Abchurch

Another City church squeezed into an impossibly small space down Abchurch Lane, with tall office blocks on one side and hoardings hiding work being done on Bank Station on the other. Actually, the hoardings are a useful source of information about the Church and the surrounding area. For instance, I learned that ‘Abchurch’ means ‘Upchurch’ and the church may have originally been a Priory and Convent founded ‘up the hill across the river’ in the 12^th century. The original mediaeval church was totally destroyed in the 1666 Fire, and in 1681, work was begun on the present building, designed by our old friend Sir Christopher Wren. The church has an amazing dome ceiling painting which was added in 1708. It was painted by a parishioner, William Snow, Citizen and Painter Stainer, who received £170 for his work. ‘It depicts the worship of Heaven; in the centre is the Devine Name in Hebrew characters surrounded by rays of glory with worshipping figures of angels and cherubs beneath.’* My photo doesn’t do it justice; the light wasn’t good and I can never take a good photo looking straight up! I liked that the gravestones in the centre aisle give the person’s occupation as well as their name and also the word Citizen (of London I suppose). E.g., Citizen and Mercer, Citizen and Draper. Also liked the Lion and the Unicorn on the two front pews.

*From the leaflet about St Mary Abchurch, published by The Friends of the City Churches.