.dt The London Burial Grounds, by Mrs. Basil Homes—A Project Gutenberg eBook
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THE LONDON BURIAL GROUNDS
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ST. PETER’S, CORNHILL, IN 1817.
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[Illustration: Author’s Mark]
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[Illustration: ST. PETER’S, CORNHILL, IN 1817.]
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The London Burial Grounds
NOTES ON THEIR HISTORY FROM
THE EARLIEST TIMES TO
THE PRESENT DAY
BY
Mrs. BASIL HOLMES
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“Thou that intendest to the Church to Day,
Come take a turn or two, before thou go’st.
In the Churchyard; the Walk is in the way.
Who takes best heed in going, hasteth most:
But he that unprepared rashly ventures,
Hastens perhaps to seal his Death’s Indentures”
George Herbert
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ILLUSTRATED
LONDON
T. FISHER UNWIN
MDCCCXCVI
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[All rights reserved.]
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“First learn to love one living man;
Then may’st thou think upon the dead.”
Wordsworth.
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To Those
who Love the Living
I Dedicate
these Details of
the Dwellings of the Dead.
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“October sheds the leaf and April brings it;
So one flower fadeth and another springs;
Earth renovates itself.”
H. Bonar.
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CONTENTS
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CHAP. | | PAGE
| INTRODUCTION| #13:Intro#
I. | BRITISH AND ROMAN BURYING-PLACES| #23:ch01#
II. | THE GRAVEYARDS OF PRIORIES AND CONVENTS| #30:ch02#
III. | THE CATHEDRAL, THE ABBEY, THE TEMPLE, AND THE TOWER| #53:ch03#
IV. | THE CITY CHURCHYARDS| #74:ch04#
V. | LONDON CHURCHYARDS, OUTSIDE THE CITY| #90:ch05#
VI. | PEST-FIELDS AND PLAGUE-PITS| #117:ch06#
VII. | THE DISSENTERS’ BURIAL-GROUNDS| #133:ch07#
VIII. | BURIAL-PLACES OF FOREIGNERS IN LONDON| #153:ch08#
IX. | HOSPITAL, ALMSHOUSE, AND WORKHOUSE GROUNDS| #171:ch09#
X. | PRIVATE AND PROMISCUOUS CEMETERIES| #187:ch10#
XI. | THE CLOSING OF THE BURIAL-GROUNDS AND VAULTS| #209:ch11#
XII. | GRAVEYARDS AS PUBLIC GARDENS| #226:ch12#
XIII. | THE CEMETERIES STILL IN USE| #250:ch13#
XIV. | A FORECAST OF THE FUTURE| #263:ch14#
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APPENDIX.
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A. | LIST OF BURIAL-GROUNDS IN EXISTENCE| #279:AppA#
B. | LIST OF BURIAL-GROUNDS WHICH HAVE DISAPPEARED| #321:AppB#
C. | CHURCHES AND CHAPELS WITHOUT BURIAL-GROUNDS, BUT WITH VAULTS UNDER THEM| #329:AppC#
D. | HOW TO LAY OUT A BURIAL-GROUND AS A GARDEN| #331:AppD#
E. | THE DISUSED BURIAL-GROUNDS ACT, ETC.| #336:AppE#
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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1. | ST. PETER’S, CORNHILL | #Frontispiece:i004#
2. | TUMULUS AT HAMPSTEAD| #25:i025#
3. | ROMAN MONUMENT FROM LUDGATE| #27:i027#
4. | BURIAL OF A MONK| #34:i034#
5. | PLAN OF PRIORY OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE GREAT| #37:i037#
6. | CRYPT OF ST. MARTIN LE GRAND IN 1818| #39:i039#
7. | CRYPT OF ST. JOHN’S, CLERKENWELL| #45:i045#
8. | REMAINS OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY ABOUT 1800| #48:i048#
9. | PAUL’S CROSS| #57:i057#
10. | ELM ON SITE OF PAUL’S CROSS| #60:i060#
11. | ST. MARGARET’S, WESTMINSTER, AND THE ABBEY CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1750| #63:i063#
12. | GREAT CLOISTER, WESTMINSTER| #64:i067#
13. | ST. PETER’S CHAPEL IN THE TOWER ABOUT 1750| #69:i069#
14. | THREE COFFIN LIDS FROM THE TOWER| #71:i071#
15. | ALLHALLOWS’, STAINING| #79:i079#
16. | CRIPPLEGATE CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1830| #80:i080#
17. | ST. MILDRED’S, BREAD STREET| #83:i083#
18. | PLAN OF ST. BENET FINK IN 1834| #84:i084#
19. | THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. BENET, PAUL’S WHARF, 1838| #86:i086#
20. | ALL SAINTS’, WANDSWORTH, ABOUT 1800| #93:i093#
21. | EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TOMBSTONE| #96:i096#
21A. | NINETEENTH-CENTURY TOMBSTONE| #97:i097#
22. | SHOREDITCH VILLAGE| #100:i100#
23. | ST. PANCRAS VILLAGE| #101:i101#
24. | ST. GILES IN THE FIELDS| #107:i107#
25. | SITE OF ST. KATHARINE’S DOCKS| #112:i112#
26. | ST. MATTHEW’S, BETHNAL GREEN, 1818| #113:i113#
27. | TOTHILL FIELDS PEST-HOUSES| #123:i123#
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28. | STEPNEY CHURCHYARD| #126:i126#
29. | SITE OF THE BREWER’S GARDEN ABOUT 1830| #128:i128#
30. | DEADMAN’S PLACE BURIAL-GROUND| #129:i129#
31. | UNION CHAPEL, WOOLWICH| #137:i137#
32. | FRIENDS’ BURIAL-GROUND, WHITECHAPEL| #143:i143#
33. | WHITFIELD’S TABERNACLE| #145:i145#
34. | WESLEY’S MONUMENT| #149:i149#
35. | A CORNER OF THE JEWISH CEMETERY, MILE END| #154:i154#
36. | JEWISH CEMETERY, FULHAM| #158:i158#
37. | JEWISH BURIAL-GROUND BEHIND BETH HOLIM HOSPITAL| #160:i160#
38. | JEWISH CEMETERY, MILE END| #161:i161#
39. | FLEMISH GROUND, CARTER LANE, ABOUT 1817| #163:i163#
40. | EAST HILL BURIAL-GROUND, WANDSWORTH| #169:i169#
41. | CHRIST’S HOSPITAL CLOISTERS| #172:i172#
42. | THE LONDON HOSPITAL GRAVEYARD| #175:i175#
43. | CHELSEA HOSPITAL GRAVEYARD| #177:i177#
44. | VIEW FROM THE WHITE HORSE STREET ALMSHOUSES, STEPNEY| #179:i179#
45. | THE BURIAL-GROUND IN NEWGATE GAOL| #190:i190#
46. | PEEL GROVE BURIAL-GROUND| #198:i198#
47. | VICTORIA PARK CEMETERY| #199:i199#
48. | VICTORIA PARK CEMETERY (MEATH GARDENS)| #203:i203#
49. | ST. ANN’S CHURCHYARD, SOHO, IN 1810| #211:i211#
50. | BATTERSEA CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1830| #221:i221#
51. | ST. JAMES’S CHURCHYARD, PENTONVILLE| #223:i223#
52. | CHURCHYARD OF ST. GEORGE’S IN THE EAST| #229:i229#
53. | ST. BOTOLPH, ALDGATE| #234:i234#
54. | ST. JOHN’S GARDEN, BENJAMIN STREET| #239:i239#
55. | ALLHALLOWS’, LONDON WALL| #243:i243#
56. | A CORNER OF ST. JOHN’S BURIAL-GROUND, HORSEFERRY ROAD| #247:i247#
57. | PROPOSED CEMETERY, WORMWOOD SCRUBS| #253:i253#
58. | NORWOOD CEMETERY ABOUT 1851| #254:i254#
59. | TOMB OF PRINCESS SOPHIA| #258:i258#
60. | GROUP OF TOMBSTONES IN KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY| #261:i261#
61. | SHEEP IN THE SAVOY CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1825| #268:i268#
62. | THE COLUMBARIUM AT KENSAL GREEN| #271:i271#
63. | SPA FIELDS PLAYGROUND| #275:i275#
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INTRODUCTION
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In looking one day at Rocque’s plan of London
(1742-5) I noticed how many burial-grounds and
churchyards were marked upon it which no longer
existed. I made a table of them, and traced their
destiny, and the result of this research was printed in
the First Annual Report of the Metropolitan Public
Gardens Association, which was issued in 1884. I then
went further, and commenced to draw up a list of all
the burying-places, of which I could find any record,
still existing, or that had ever existed in London. It
was no easy task. A return drawn up by the late Sir
Edwin Chadwick in 1843, for the use of the Parliamentary
Committee which sat to consider questions
relating to the sanitary condition of the labouring
classes, contains a most valuable, though not perfectly
complete, table of the graveyards in actual use at that
date. Then there are the returns of the grounds closed
by order in Council in 1853 and 1854, and still open
for interments in 1855, which are also very useful.
There is a return, dated June, 1833, purporting to show
all the “Places of Burial belonging to each Parish or
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Precinct under the Authority of the Bishop of London,”
and all the “Places of Burial belonging to Dissenting
Congregations within the Bills of Mortality,” &c., with
their size, and the annual number of burials in them.
This, when I found it, I thought would be a great
treasure, but I soon discovered such entries as the
following: “Three letters have been addressed to the
Officiating Ministers of the parishes of St. Benet,
Gracechurch, St. Martin, Ludgate, and St. Margaret,
Westminster, respectively; but no return has been
received from either.” “The united parishes of Allhallows,
Bread Street, and St. John the Evangelist, not
being under the authority of the Bishop of London, I
have not any return to make.” “I beg to add that
there are several other places used as burial-grounds in
this parish (Stepney) belonging to Jews, Dissenters,
and others, of which I have no official cognizance, and
to which, in fact, I have no access,” &c. And with
regard, generally, to the second part of the return, the
following simple remark is made: “The Secretary of
State is not able to ascertain the Places of Burial
belonging to Dissenting congregations within the
Bills of Mortality.” In 1839 Walker described the
condition of 47 of the most crowded metropolitan
places of interment, and the Parliamentary Committee
which sat in 1842 heard evidence about these and some
others. In Maitland’s “History of London” there is
a list of 64 burial-places used in the year 1729, and not
included in the Bills of Mortality. Some of these are
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outside London, and some are only vaults under buildings.
I have also kept a list of about fifty books
which I found of use, although in many of them only
a few burial-grounds are mentioned or described. And
this, with the addition of various ancient and modern
maps and plans of London and its environs, is the
material upon which I have had to work. But as it
is never safe to take anything on trust, nothing but
actual perambulations and inquiries on the spot could
show the present size and condition of the burial-grounds,
and even several that are marked on the
ordnance maps have been built upon since they were
published, as, for instance, the German ground in the
Savoy, the additional ground to St. Martin’s in the
Fields, and Thomas’ ground in Golden Lane, all of
which have disappeared.
.pi
I have had some curious experiences while graveyard-hunting.
At first I was less bold than I am now, and
was hardly prepared to walk straight into private yards
and look round them until asked my business and
driven to retire. “My business” it is best not to
reveal ordinarily. If one mentions that one is looking
at a place because it was once a burial-ground the fact
will generally be stoutly denied, and sometimes in good
faith. But it is not unusual for an employé innocently
to acknowledge that there are bones under the ground
upon which he is standing, whereat his master, if he
knew of it, would be very angry. For it must be
remembered that it is to the interest of the owner of a
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yard to keep the circumstance of its having been used
for interments in the background, and he is not pleased
if, when he wants to put up a wall or enlarge a shed,
he is stopped from doing so by the enforcement of the
Disused Burial-Grounds Act of 1834, as amended by
the Open Spaces Act of 1887.
I inquired of an old man once, in a court in Shoreditch,
whether he remembered a graveyard existing by
the workhouse.
“No,” he said.
I noticed a newer part of the building, evidently a
recently erected wing, and asked him how long it had
been built.
“Oh, I moind,” said he, “when they was buildin’
that, they carted away a ton of bones.” Here was the
evidence I was seeking for.
One day a sleepy old Smithfield butcher, whose
work-time was the night, and whose sleeping-time was
the morning, was specially kept awake until 10 o’clock
in order to see me, as he could remember the extent of
a certain burial-ground before it was done away with.
The information he was able to supply was very useful,
but it was hard to keep him to the point, as the poor
old man, once roused to remember the past, would persistently
revert to the cottages which used to stand on
the adjoining plot of land, and which ought, he said,
to have come into his own possession if he had not
been in some way defrauded out of his lawful inheritance.
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It is often necessary, in order to see a graveyard, to
go into one of the surrounding houses and ask for permission
to look out from a back window. Such permission
is sometimes refused at once, sometimes it is
most kindly given. I remember arousing a divided
opinion upon this matter by knocking at the door of
one of the upper rooms in the almshouses in Bath
Street. I wanted to see the ground used as a garden
by the inmates of the St. Luke’s Lunatic Asylum in
Old Street, and which was at one time a pauper burial-ground
for the parish. The old man did not at all
like my invading his room, but the old lady was most
affable, and had much to say upon the subject. At
any rate I saw what I wanted, and made my mental
report, but I left the old man grumbling at my unnecessary
intrusion, and the old lady in smiles. I hope she
did not suffer for her kindness.
If one asks to go into a burial-ground, it is generally
imagined that one wants to see a particular grave. I
have been supposed to have “some one lyin’ there” in
all quarters of the metropolis, and in all sorts of funny
little places. I have been hailed as a sister by the
quietest of Quakeresses and the darkest of bewigged
Jewesses, by the leanest and most clean-shaven of
ritualistic Priests, and by the bearded and buxom Dissenter.
I remember, however, knocking at the gate of
one Jewish ground which the caretaker was unwilling to
let me enter. She asked me the direct question, “Are
you a Jewess?” I had to say no, but happily I was
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armed with the name of a gentleman who had kindly
told me to mention it in any such difficulty. It
answered, and I was allowed in. One day I climbed a
high, rickety fence in a builder’s yard in Wandsworth
in order to see over the wall into the Friends’ burial-ground.
No doubt the men in the place thought me
mad,—anyhow they left me in peace.
I have often been assured that there is no possibility
of a particular enclosure ever becoming a public garden
by those who live, at a low rent, in the neighbouring
cottage, on condition that they keep watch over the
ground. Alas, before many months are over, they find
that the wires have been pulled somehow or other, and
that their precious yard is no longer available for their
fowls to run in or for their clothes to dry in, but is
invaded by their neighbours and their neighbour’s
unwelcome children. “They come four times a year
to clear away the weeds.” That is the sort of caretaking
that some burial-grounds are subjected to; and
on the other 361 days in the year all sorts of rubbish
is deposited in them.
Twice I have had mud thrown at me, once by a
woman in Cable Street, E., and once by a man in
Silchester Road, W., but these were wholly unprovoked
attacks, in fact mere accidental occurrences. For my
general experience has been of the greatest consideration
and politeness. I have never been out of my way for
the sake of idle curiosity, but have not hesitated to go
down any street or court or to knock at any door
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which was in my way, and I have never had cause to
regret it. An appearance of utter insignificance and an
air of knowing where you are going and what you
want, is the passport for all parts of London; and I
have seen young men and maidens, one moment
indulging in the roughest play, the next moment step
off the pavement to let me pass. The clergy and
others always seem to think their own people the very
worst. “You don’t know what this neighbourhood
is like,” I have heard over and over again, and I am
thankful I don’t. But as far as a superficial knowledge
of the streets goes they seem to be all much the same—north,
south, east, and west—and their frequenters
too. To the children, at any rate, one need never
mind speaking. Poor little souls; they say “Miss,”
or “Mum,” or “Missus,” or “Teacher,” or “Sister,”
or “Lady,” but they never answer rudely.
Gravediggers and gardeners in cemeteries are generally
communicative people, who do not at all mind
stopping their work for a bit, and enlarging on the
number of funerals, &c., which they daily witness.
They speak of the actual headstones and monuments
by the surnames engraved thereon, as, for instance,
“Brown,” “Smith,” &c., and will point out a particular
grave as “four behind Smith over there, Smith
is the tall stone by the path; or if you look next to
Wallace which has the shrub on it,” and so on.
It is interesting to trace on maps of different dates
the rise and fall of a graveyard. First there is the
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actual field, which on some particular day was acquired
for the purpose. Then there is the burial-ground
formed and in use. Then the plot appears to be
vacant—put to no purpose, or used as a yard. Lastly
buildings are on it, and the graveyard has quite disappeared.
One difficulty to be encountered needs
much study to overcome; it is the different names
by which the same ground is called in different books
or plans. For instance, Chadwick mentions in his list
one called St. John’s, Borough, whereas the proper
name for this same ground is Butler’s burial-ground,
Horselydown. As another instance, and there are
scores, it may be mentioned that the Peel Grove burial-ground
was called in some returns the North-east
London Cemetery, in others Cambridge Heath burial-ground,
and in others Keldy’s ground. Occasionally
a graveyard is described as being “near the free school,”
or in some such vague terms, and it needs a knowledge
of the districts and the buildings in them, past and
present, to be able to locate some of these grounds
which I have ventured to call “obscure.”
Since 1883, as complete a list as I could make of the
London burial-grounds has appeared in the Reports of
the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, and I
have, from time to time, been asked for information
about the more obscure ones. In the summer of 1894
the London County Council instructed its Parks
Committee to make a return of all the burial-grounds
existing in the County of London, with their size,
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ownership, and condition. Having been applied to
for information and assistance, I offered to undertake
the work. It involved some additional research at
the British Museum, and a fresh perambulation. The
offer being accepted I commenced the task in February,
1895, and sent in the return in June, accompanied by
60 sheets of the ordnance survey (25 inch to the mile),
upon which the grounds were marked in colours, viz.,
those still in use blue, those disused green, those converted
into public recreation grounds green with a red
border. I gave the number existing in the County and
City of London as 362, of which 41 were still in use,
and 90 were public gardens and playgrounds. This
did not include churches and chapels with vaults under
them, but without graveyards. It must also be remembered
that the area was strictly limited (as it is in this
work) to that of the metropolitan boroughs, or the
administrative County of London with the City. The
cemeteries in the county do not represent all the
parochial ones. There are, for instance, those of St.
George’s, Hanover Square, and Kensington at Hanwell,
the Paddington Cemetery in Kilburn, the Jewish at
Willesden, and very many more just outside the boundary,
not to speak of a large number in what is called
“London over the Border,” which to all intents and
purposes is still London, although separated by the
River Lea, and governed by the West Ham Corporation.
The kindly notice taken of the return, which was
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published by the Council in October, 1895, has
encouraged me to prepare the present volume, in
which there is scope for a general view of the subject,
for further historical details, and for particulars of
those grounds which no longer exist.
The more public interest is brought to bear upon
the burial-grounds, the more likely is it that they
will be preserved from encroachments. The London
County Council has special powers to put in force the
provisions of the Disused Burial-grounds Act, and
it has the record of their actual sites on the plans
prepared by me. It is for the public to see that these
provisions are carried out, not only for historical,
sentimental, and sanitary reasons, but also because each
burial-ground that is curtailed or annihilated means
the loss of another space which may one day be
available for public recreation; and considering that
land, even in the poorest part of Whitechapel, fetches
about £30,000 per acre, it is easily understood of what
inestimable value is a plot of ground which cannot be
built upon.
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CHAPTER I||
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“Where now the haughty Empire that was spread
With such fond hope? Her very speech is dead.”
Wordsworth.
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Every chronicler of London history who can lay
claim to be called an antiquarian, from Fitzstephen,
Stow, and Pennant, to the Rev. W. J. Loftie and Sir
Walter Besant, has tried to gather up the fragmentary
evidence which from time to time has come to light,
and to form some picture of the condition of London
in the earliest times. Many have gone in largely for
invention, and have weaved what they supposed to be
circumstantial stories from discoveries of the most
trivial kind, but these fictions are not worthy of
repetition. As it is only with the evidences of the
places of interment in London that this chapter has
to deal, it is not possible to go into the question of the
Roman roads, walls, villas, gardens and camps, of
which traces have been found, although these relics
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really form the most interesting of the ancient remains,
or “remarkables” as Maitland calls them, belonging
to the several parishes.
.pi
A few tumuli scattered over London are supposed
to mark the sites of British burial-places, Stukeley
imagined he had discovered one by Long Acre, but
the evidence is not trustworthy. Certainly there are
some artificial mounds in Greenwich Park, which were
opened in 1804 by the Rev. James Douglas, and found
to contain spear-heads, beads, pieces of cloth, hair, &c.,
and there is the well-known one in Parliament Hill
Fields, Hampstead, which the London County Council
excavated in 1894. From the few broken pieces of
human workmanship which were brought to light in
this excavation, it was conjectured that the mound was
an ancient British burial-place of the early bronze
period, but no particular name can be associated with
it. It is now railed round for its better protection, and
planted with shrubs.
The Romans buried their dead outside their cities,
often on each side of the highways immediately beyond
the walls and gates, and they adopted this plan, to a
certain extent, in Britain. But it must be remembered
that Roman London, as first designed and built, was
far smaller than that which is enclosed within the
line of the city wall of which fragments still remain,
and therefore some sepulchral monuments have been
discovered inside this wall and its gates, as, for instance,
near St. Martin’s, Ludgate, in St. Paul’s Churchyard, in
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Camomile Street and Lombard Street, and by the
churches of St. Mary at Hill and St. Dunstan’s in
the East. Near Dowgate some excavations made by
Wren brought to light what were then thought to be
British graves, but as there were Roman urns at a still
lower level the matter was rather difficult of solution.
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.il fn=i_025.jpg id=i025 w=600px
.ca
THE TUMULUS AT HAMPSTEAD.
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[Illustration: THE TUMULUS AT HAMPSTEAD.]
.if-
The largest number of sepulchral remains have been
found on the east side of the City, commencing at
Bishopsgate and Moorfields, and extending to Wapping
on the south, and Sun Tavern Fields, Shadwell, on the
east; and it is not improbable that a cemetery of considerable
size occupied all this district in Roman times.
.pn +1
.bn 026.jpg
In 1756 many earthen urns, containing ashes, burnt
human bones, and coins, were dug up in a field “called
Lottesworth, now Spitalfield,” close to the present site
of Christ Church, Spitalfields, together with some stone
coffins and remnants of wooden ones which probably
dated from British or Saxon times; and on many
occasions during the last century, urns, lachrymatories,
monumental stones, &c., were discovered in different
spots in the district above mentioned. In many cases
the monumental stones were erected to the memory of
soldiers from various legions of the army, and on a
few of them the inscriptions are still legible. Some of
the Roman remains discovered in London are in the
Guildhall Museum; the one represented in the
accompanying picture, which was found near Ludgate,
is with the Arundel marbles at Oxford. A few single
graves have been identified among the traces of the
gardens and villas which immediately surrounded the
Roman Fort.
The following description of what Sir Christopher
Wren found in St. Paul’s Churchyard, on the north
side of the Cathedral, is interesting. “Upon digging
the foundation of the present fabrick of St. Paul’s, he
found under the graves of the latter ages, in a row
below them, the Burial-places of the Saxon times—the
Saxons, as it appeared, were accustomed to line their
graves with chalk-stones, though some more eminent
were entombed in coffins of whole stones. Below these
were British graves, where were found ivory and
.pn +1
.bn 027.jpg
wooden pins, of a hard wood, seemingly box, in
abundance, of about six inches long; it seems the
bodies were only wrapped up, and pinned in woollen
shrouds, which being consumed, the pins remained
entire. In the same row, and deeper, were Roman
urns intermixed. This was eighteen feet deep or more,
and belonged to the colony when Romans and Britons
lived and died together.” (From Wren’s “Parentalia.”)
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.bn 028.jpg
The remains found in the north-east corner of the
churchyard were the best preserved.
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.il fn=i_027.jpg id=i027 w=354px
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ROMAN MONUMENT.
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[Illustration: ROMAN MONUMENT.]
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Some evidences of a Roman cemetery have also been
discovered on the south side of the Thames, in Snow’s
Fields, Bermondsey, Union Street, Newington, and the
burial-ground in Deverell Street. This district was
probably the place of interment for those who lived in
the small suburb which was growing up on the south
side of the Bridge or Ferry. On Blackheath there have
also been found traces of Roman burial, and in 1803
several urns were dug up in the Earl of Dartmouth’s
garden, but they were supposed by some authorities to
be the remains of the Danes who were encamped in
that neighbourhood.
Such are the very scanty traces that have hitherto
been brought to light relating to the burial-places of
those who were amongst the worthiest pioneers in the
making of London, and who occupied it before the
time of the Christians who founded the earlier priories
and churches. For as soon as these Christian institutions
were established, it became the practice to bury
the dead inside them or around them, and the cloisters
and burial-grounds of the priories, and the churchyards
and vaults of the churches, took the place of
the more distant cemeteries and the more scattered
graves.
Roman London is buried with British, Saxon, and
Danish London, far below the surface of nineteenth-century
London, and Longfellow might have been
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.bn 029.jpg
writing its epitaph when he described the ruins under
the sea—
.pm verse-start
“Hidden from all mortal eyes
Deep the sunken city lies;
Even cities have their graves!”
.pm verse-end
The dedications of the London churches mark historical
periods, and there are a few names, such as St.
Olave and St. Magnus, which are of Danish derivation,
but of the Danish interments in London very few
traces remain. Beyond the remnants found at Blackheath,
and the belief held by some chroniclers that the
church of St. Clement Danes was so named because it
stood in a plot of ground where the Danes were buried,
only one discovery of any importance has been made.
On the south side of St. Paul’s Churchyard, in digging
the foundation for a new warehouse a few years ago, a
relic was found with the following Runic inscription on
it, which Mr. Loftie thinks must have belonged to an
early stage of the Danish conquest, “Kina caused this
stone to be laid over Tuki.” A tradition used to
prevail in Fulham that human remains, which have
been discovered at different times in the neighbourhood
of the river, were survivals of the Danish invasion,
although the actual skeletons found there in 1809 (on
the property of the Earl of Cholmondeley) seemed,
from coins, daggers, &c., which were with them, to
belong to the time of Charles I.
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.bn 030.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch02
CHAPTER II||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“Gone are all the barons bold,
Gone are all the knights and squires,
Gone the Abbot stern and cold,
And the brotherhood of friars;
Not a name
Remains to fame,
From those mouldering days of old!”
Longfellow.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
Fitzstephen’s statement that “there are in London
and the suburbs 13 churches belonging to convents,
besides 126 lesser parish churches,” is not a very satisfactory
one, as he does not proceed to name these
several churches, or to tell his readers with what
establishments they were connected. However, he
was probably under the mark in putting the first figure
at thirteen, for even in his time, and certainly very
little later, there were many more than thirteen
monastic and conventual buildings in London, and
each had its church or chapel. The chief amongst
these establishments which existed in London in the
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.bn 031.jpg
twelfth century, and which were made between that
time and the dissolution of the priories in the days of
Henry VIII., were:—
.ce
Inside the City Walls.
.pi
1. The Greyfriars or Franciscans, succeeded by
Christ’s Hospital.
2. The Blackfriars or Dominicans in the west.
3. The Crossed or Crutched Friars, by Fenchurch
Street.
4. The Augustine Friars, by Broad Street.
5. St. Helen’s Priory of Nuns, Bishopsgate Street.
6. The Priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate.
7. The Priory and Sanctuary of St. Martin’s le
Grand.
8. Elsing Spital, London Wall.
9. The Priory of St. Augustine Papey.
10. St. James’s Priory, the Hermitage in the Wall,
Monkswell Street.
11. The Priory of St. Thomas Acon, Ironmonger
Lane.
12. The Fraternities who had the care of St. Paul’s
Cathedral, including the brotherhood of All Souls,
specially connected with the Charnel Chapel.
.sp 2
.ce
Outside the City Walls.
13. The Whitefriars or Carmelites, south of Fleet
Street.
14. The Abbey and the Convent of Westminster.
.pn +1
.bn 032.jpg
15. A Brotherhood of St. Ursula at St. Mary le
Strand.
16. A Brotherhood of the Trinity, without Aldersgate.
17. The Knights Templars, in the Strand.
18. The Priory of the Knights Hospitallers of St.
John of Jerusalem, at Clerkenwell.
19. The Black Nuns of St. Mary’s, Clerkenwell.
20. The Benedictine Priory of St. Bartholomew,
with St. Bartholomew’s Spital, West Smithfield.
21. The Carthusian Priory of the Salutation, subsequently
the Charterhouse.
22. St. Mary Spital, without Bishopsgate.
23. The Nunnery of the Minoresses of St. Clare,
the Minories.
24. The Cistercian Abbey of St. Mary of Grace,
beyond the Tower.
25. St. Katharine’s Hospital, by the Tower.
26. The Convent of St. Leonard, at Bromley-by-Bow.
27. The Priory of St. Mary Overie, Southwark,
with a “House of Sisters.”
28. Bermondsey Abbey.
29. The Nunnery of St. John the Baptist, Holywell.
30. The Convent of St. Mary Rounceval, Charing
Cross.
.in 0
A very complete list of the ecclesiastical institutions
will be found in Brewer’s “Beauties of London and
Middlesex,” vol. ii. p. 39.
Some of these brotherhoods were but small, and
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.bn 033.jpg
were mendicants; and they may not have had special
burial-places of their own. In other cases burials may
have only taken place in the priory churches, which
were always much sought after for the purpose by outsiders,
or in the cloisters. But most of the conventual
establishments had a cemetery of considerable size—“the
cloister garth,” and peeps are given us now and
then, by old writers, of the practices at the burial of
the monks and nuns.
.pi
In the Church of the Crutched friars were two Dutch
Fraternities, one of which was named in honour of the
“Holy Blode of Wilsuak,” and among their rules and
orders is the following:—
“Also when any Brother or Suster of the same
Bretherhede is dede, he or she shall have 4 Torchys
of Wex of the Bretherhede, to bring the Body in
Erthe: And every Brother and Suster shall come to
his Masse of Requiem, and offer
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1^d
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1d
.if-
and abide still to
the Tyme the Body be buryed, uppon Pain of a l.
Wex, yf he or she be within the Cite.”
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.ca
BURIAL OF A MONK.
(From a Harleian Manuscript).
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[Illustration: BURIAL OF A MONK.
(From a Harleian Manuscript).]
.if-
Burials did not always take place in the evening, as
might be imagined from the mention of torches and
tapers, but often after mass, before dinner, and always
with as little delay as possible. The written absolution
was placed on the body of the monk or nun, and
buried with it. Very solemn they seem to have been,
these monastic funerals, especially when the body to
be buried was that of an abbot, a prior, or a canon,
with the procession of monks, the lighted tapers, the
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.bn 034.jpg
sprinkling of holy water, the chanting of psalms, the
singing of the requiem mass, and the ringing of the bell.
Strype gives a detailed account of the finding of four
heads in pots or cases of “fine pewter,” in a cupboard
in the wall of the demolished building which belonged
to the Black friars, when the rubbish was cleared away
after the Great Fire of London. They were embalmed
or preserved, and had tonsured hair. He imagined that
they were the heads of “some zealous priests or friars,
executed for treason ... or for denying the King’s
Supremacy; and here privately deposited by these
Black Friars.” It is probable that these heads were
afterwards bought and taken to the Continent to be
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.bn 035.jpg
exhibited as holy relics. The City must have been
a strange place in the thirteenth century, with the
numerous churches and the very large priories and
convents hedged in by narrow streets of wooden
houses, where, even in those early days, men were
busy, in their own several manners, in getting money.
Neither the monks, nor the nuns, nor the mendicant
friars were always exemplary in their behaviour, but at
any rate the charitable works done at that time—the
care of the sick, the prayers for the evil, the prayers
for the souls of the dead, the building of the churches
and the hospitals—were carried out by them, and we
cannot imagine how we could have got on in our
matter-of-fact generation without their efforts and
their work. It is also pleasant to look back occasionally
and to try and picture the life led in the
more secluded priories outside the City, surrounded
by fields and close to the Holy Wells, where there
was time for prayer and meditation and good deeds.
.pm verse-start
“Yes, they can make, who fail to find,
Short leizure even in busiest days;
Moments, to cast a look behind,
And profit by those kindly rays
That through the clouds do sometimes steal,
And all the far-off past reveal.”
.pm verse-end
Of the cloister garths there is very little which remains
intact. The burial-ground of the Greyfriars
is now the quadrangle of Christ’s Hospital, but
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.bn 036.jpg
few traces of the old cloisters are left there. Of
the grounds attached to Westminster Abbey I shall
speak in the next chapter. That of St. Bartholomew’s
Priory, West Smithfield, was built upon many years
ago. The site of the priory cemetery and that of the
canons are marked on the accompanying plan, but
.pm verse-start
“Time has long effaced the inscriptions
On the cloister’s funeral stones,”
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
and nothing is left to us except glimpses of the customs
which used to take place there. The history of the
establishment, founded by Rahere about 1113, is comparatively
well known, owing to the recent efforts that
have been made to restore what is left of the noble
Norman Church. But there is not much remaining
of what was once an extensive group of buildings
except the choir of the original church, with its restored
lady-chapel, crypt, and transepts. The nave
has gone, and its site is marked by the churchyard,
the bases of the pillars being buried among the bones.
Leading out of the south transept is the “green-ground,”
another small churchyard, and a paved yard
on the north side of the church was once the pauper
ground.
.pi
According to a writer in the Observator of August
21, 1703, the cloisters of the priory and the space
which still existed there became the resort of very low
characters, “lords and ladies, aldermen and their wives,
squires and fiddlers, citizens and rope-dancers, jackpuddings
.pn +1
.bn 037.jpg
and lawyers, mistresses and maids, masters
and ’prentices” meeting there for lotteries, plays, farces,
and “all the temptations to destruction.” Stow
describes far more respectable gatherings in “the
churchyard of St. Bartholomew,” when the scholars
from St. Paul’s, Westminster, and other grammar
schools used to meet for learned disputations, for proficiency
in which garlands and prizes were awarded;
but these meetings finally degenerated into free fights
in the streets, and had to be discontinued.
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.il fn=i_037.jpg id=i037 w=600px link=i_037h.jpg
.ca
The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew The Great.
(Click image to enlarge.)
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[Illustration: The Priory Church of St. Bartholomew The Great.]
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Some of the priory burial-grounds have survived in
the parish churchyards, or at any rate parts of them
.pn +1
.bn 038.jpg
have. The churchyard of St. Catherine Cree, in Leadenhall
Street, is the successor of the burial-ground of
Holy Trinity Priory, the church itself having been
built in this cemetery. It was originally called Christ
Church, which got corrupted to Cree Church, and so
on. The churchyard is associated with the performance
of miracle plays, moralities, or mysteries, and it was
probably in this place that some of the latest of these
shows were held. They are frequently mentioned by
different chroniclers from the tenth to the sixteenth
centuries. Such events as the Massacre of the Innocents,
the Shepherds feeding their flocks on Christmas
Eve, and the scenes in the history of St. Catherine, &c.,
were usually portrayed inside the churches; but Bishop
Bonner put a stop to this practice in 1542, after which
time stages were erected by strolling players in streets,
by the wells, and in private houses. In London the
churchyards seem to have been frequently used for the
purpose, and in an old parish book belonging to St.
Catherine’s was the following entry, quoted in “Londinium
Redivivum”:—“Receyved of Hugh Grymes,
for lycens geven to certen players to playe their
enterludes in the churche-yarde from the feast of
Easter, An. D’ni. 1560, untyll the feaste of Seynt
Mychaell Tharchangell next comynge, every holydaye,
to the use of the parysshe, the some of 27s and 8d.”
The miracle plays were a prelude to a more advanced
form of dramatic representation, and after the establishment
of the theatres we hear no more of them. The
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.bn 039.jpg
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.bn 040.jpg
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.bn 041.jpg
modern “flower service” originated, I believe, in the
church of St. Catherine Cree, having been instituted
by Dr. Whittemore.
.if h
.il fn=i_039.jpg id=i039 w=600px
.ca
S. EAST\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ S. WEST
VIEW OF THE CRYPT ON THE SITE OF THE LATE
COLLEGE OF S^{t.} MARTIN LE GRAND.
Discovered in clearing for the New Post Office
THE CRYPT OF ST. MARTIN LE GRAND IN 1818.
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[Illustration:
S. EAST\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_S. WEST
VIEW OF THE CRYPT ON THE SITE OF THE LATE COLLEGE OF
St. MARTIN LE GRAND.
Discovered in clearing for the New Post Office
THE CRYPT OF ST. MARTIN LE GRAND IN 1818.]
.in 0
.if-
Recent discoveries have shown that the priory
cloister of the Augustine Friars was immediately
to the north-east of the Dutch Church in Austin
Friars. St. James’s Priory, the Hermitage in the
Wall, had a graveyard under the wall, on the other
side of which was, and is, the churchyard of St. Giles’,
Cripplegate. Huge warehouses and offices now cover
its site. The burial-ground of the Priory of St.
Thomas Acon, in Ironmonger Lane, where pilgrims
were buried who died on their visits to the chapel in
honour of Becket, has also disappeared; but that of
the priory of St. Augustine Papey survives in the little
churchyard of St. Martin Outwich, in Camomile
Street, which was presented to the parish by Robert
Hyde in 1538, while the nuns of St. Helen’s were
probably buried in what is now St. Helen’s Churchyard,
Bishopsgate Street, which used to be, according
to Stow, much larger.
No trace is left of the burial-places of the monks
of Elsing Spital, the Crutched Friars, the White Friars,
or the Black Friars, or of that of the splendid priory
and sanctuary of St. Martin le Grand; they have gone
with the buildings, of which only slight traces remain
here and there, such as the porch of St. Alphege,
London Wall, which belonged to Elsing Spital Priory.
Probably they all had burying-grounds within their
.pn +1
.bn 042.jpg
precincts. The crypt of St. Martin’s was opened out
in 1818, and a very perfect stone coffin found in it,
when the present Post Office Buildings in Foster Lane
were erected. The churches themselves were always
much resorted to as places of interment by those who
were not connected with the priories, especially the
four magnificent churches, all of which are now gone,
of the Greyfriars, the Whitefriars, the Blackfriars, and
the Augustine Friars. The Dutch church is the successor
to the nave of the last named. The site of the
Greyfriars’ church is occupied by the present church and
churchyard of Christ Church, Newgate Street. Here
were buried Margaret, second wife of Edward I., Isabella,
Widow of Edward II., Joan Makepeace, wife of David
Bruce, King of Scotland, and Isabella, wife of Lord
Fitzwalter, the Queen of Man, besides the hearts of
Edward II. and Queen Eleanor, the wife of Henry III.,
and, according to Weever, the bodies of “four
duchesses, four countesses, one duke, twenty-eight
barons, and some thirty-five knights,” in all “six
hundred and sixty-three persons of quality.” Malcolm
states that ten tombs and 140 gravestones (the
fine monuments at the east end of the church) were
destroyed and sold, in 1545, by Sir Martin Bowes,
Lord Mayor, for fifty pounds.
I have given a list of the principal convents and
priories outside the city. The site of St. Katharine’s
is buried in the Dock, and that of St. John the Baptist’s,
Holywell (by Curtain Road, Shoreditch), has also gone.
.pn +1
.bn 043.jpg
The churchyards of St. Mary, Bromley, and St.
Saviour, Southwark, are the survivals of the conventual
burying-places; the cemetery of the nuns at
Bromley was on the south side of the church, and
upon its site Sir John Jacob built the Manor House,
the bones being put under the house. But about
two hundred years later (1813) the greater part of this
site was again added to the churchyard, and re-consecrated.
The burial-ground of Westminster Convent,
with the Abbot’s garden, have given place to the district
and market of Covent Garden. The houses in White
Lion Street and Spital Square are on the site of the
cemetery or garth of St. Mary Spital. Here, after it
ceased to be used for interments and before it was
built upon, Spital Square was an open plot of ground
with a pulpit in it and a house for the accommodation
of the Lord Mayor and Corporation when they came on
their annual visit to hear the “Spital Sermon.” Of the
priory church of the Knights Hospitallers of St. John
of Jerusalem, in Clerkenwell, very few traces remain.
The beautiful old crypt, lately cleared of coffins and
restored, is older than the priory church (which was
built over it), and dates from 1080 or 1090. The
truly magnificent church was consecrated in 1185, the
present structure occupying merely the site of the choir,
the nave having probably extended the length of St.
John’s Square, and, together with the other buildings
of the priory, it was pulled down at the Dissolution.
The exact site of the cloisters and burial-ground is
.pn +1
.bn 044.jpg
unknown. The present churchyard of St. John’s
is a small, narrow one at the eastern end, from which
steps lead down into the ancient crypt. Here, between
the years 1738 and 1853, about 325 bodies were
buried, or rather the coffins were stacked, for they
were above the floor. In 1893 a faculty was procured
for their removal, and all the remains were reverently
conveyed to Woking, a vellum document recording the
fact being placed in the vestry of the church. The
crypt is open to the public on the first Saturday in
each month. Its complete restoration is still in hand.
I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. H. W. Fincham
for the picture of St. John’s Crypt, and also for that
of the garden in Benjamin Street, E.C.
The Nuns’ burial-ground at Clerkenwell, and part of
the beautiful cloister, existed until about one hundred
years ago in the garden of the Duke of Newcastle’s
house, and its site is now occupied by the houses on
the west side of St. James’s Walk, a little north-east
of St. James’s Church. The Convent of St. Mary
Rounceval was superseded by Northumberland House,
subsequently pulled down when Northumberland
Avenue was made; and the churchyard of Holy
Trinity, Minories (now merely a part of the road) may
be a relic of the Nunnery of the Minoresses of St.
Clare. The Priory Church of St. Mary Overie (over
the ferry) was purchased from the king by the parish
in 1539, and has since been the parish Church of St.
Saviour, Southwark, henceforth to be the Cathedral of
South London.
.pn +1
.bn 045.jpg
.if h
.il fn=i_045.jpg id=i045 w=600px
.ca
CRYPT OF ST. JOHN’S, CLERKENWELL.
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.if-
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[Illustration: CRYPT OF ST. JOHN’S, CLERKENWELL.]
.if-
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.bn 046.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 047.jpg
In the Crace Collection at the British Museum there
is a plan, made by William Newton, purporting to
show London in Elizabeth’s time, in picture form. He
marks the priories with their burial-grounds, but I
doubt if it is very trustworthy. In Van den Wyngaerde’s
beautiful view (1550), reproduced by the
Topographical Society in 1881, and the original of
which is in the Bodleian Library, several of the conventual
churches appear, not the least interesting being
that of “S. Maria Spital.”
The Cistercian abbey of St. Mary of Grace and the
Carthusian priory of the Salutation were built on plague
burial-grounds. (See #Chapter VI:ch05#.) The former has
disappeared under the site of the Royal Mint, the latter
survives in the Charterhouse. Probably they were very
insanitary, but such, according to Dean Farrar, was the
case with all the conventual establishments, and much
accommodation was provided for sick monks.
Lastly we come to Bermondsey Abbey, the ancient
and once famous settlement of Cluniac monks in the
ea or eye (island) of a Saxon named Bearmund. Almost
all traces of the abbey buildings have disappeared, though
a good deal existed at the commencement of this century.
There are some fragments of old windows and doorways
among the shabby houses south of Grange Walk, and
some pieces of the wall in the churchyard of St. Mary
Magdalene. A considerable portion of the Abbey
burial-ground was added to this churchyard in 1810.
Amongst the benefactors of this establishment were
.pn +1
.bn 048.jpg
William Rufus, Henry I., and King Stephen, and many
eminent people were buried in the priory church, while
much of great historic interest is connected with the
history of Bermondsey Abbey.
.tb
The modern representatives of the ancient monasteries
and nunneries lack the antiquarian flavour which is so
attractive to us, and yet there is a certain interest attaching
to them. But I have only to deal with their
burial-grounds, and therefore need mention very few.
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.il fn=i_048.jpg id=i048 w=600px
.ca
THE REMAINS OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY ABOUT 1800.
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.if t
[Illustration: THE REMAINS OF BERMONDSEY ABBEY ABOUT 1800.]
.if-
The third volume of Knight’s “London” commences
with the following words:—“It is a curious
.pn +1
.bn 049.jpg
circumstance, and one in which the history of many
changes of opinion may be read, that within forty years
after what remained of the magnificent ecclesiastical
foundation of the Abbey of Bermondsey had been
swept away, a new conventual establishment has risen
up, amidst the surrounding desecration of factories and
warehouses, in a large and picturesque pile, with its
stately church, fitted in every way for the residence
and accommodation of thirty or forty inmates—the
convent of the Sisters of Mercy.” The writer of the
article refers to the convent by the Roman Catholic
Chapel in Parker’s Row, built in 1838. The chapel,
with a small graveyard given in 1833 or 1834, existed
previously. The garden of the convent was used for
burials until August, 1853, but there appear to be no
gravestones in it, and it is a neatly-kept ground between
two schools, whereas the graveyard on the east side of
the church is untidy. Another disused burial-ground
is behind the Roman Catholic Chapel in Commercial
Road. Here the tombstones are laid flat, and the
ground forms a garden of considerable size for the use
of the priests.
On the north side of King Street, Hammersmith,
just east of the Broadway Station, is the large red
building known as the Convent of the Sacred Heart,
a seminary and establishment erected by the late Cardinal
Manning on the site of a Benedictine convent
which was founded, according to some authorities,
before the Reformation, and according to others during
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the reign of Charles II., and which included the Sisterhood
of the English Benedictine Dames and a famous
school, where many ladies of distinction received their
early education. Brewer, in his “Beauties of London
and Middlesex” (1816), thus describes the burial-ground
of this convent: “The gravestones are laid flat
on the turf, and the sisters are placed, as usual, with
their feet to the east; the priests alone having the head
towards the altar. There are several inscriptions on
the stones, of which we insert the following specimen:—Here
lies the body of The Right Reverend Lady Mary
Anne Clavering, late Abbess of the English Benedictine
Dames of Pontoise, Who died the 8th day of November,
1795, in the 65th year of her age.” Cardinal Manning
disposed of this little cemetery, which was by the
lane on the east side, when erecting the present buildings.
“It was dug up and done away with,” according
to the statement of one of the sisters at present in the
convent.
But two similar burial-grounds are still to be found
in this immediate neighbourhood, one is disused and
the other is in use. The former is behind the Convent
of the Good Shepherd in Fulham Palace Road, only
about 14 by 12 yards in size, and closed a few years
ago. The latter is at the extreme end of the garden of
Nazareth Home in Hammersmith Road, under the wall
of Great Church Lane. It is even smaller than the one
in Fulham Palace Road, and has been in use for upwards
of forty years, but as only the sisters are interred
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here it would appear to be still available for about another
twenty years. The graves are in neat rows, a small
cross is on each, with the name (or the adopted name)
of the sister whose body lies beneath. It forms a little
enclosure in the large space and garden behind the
buildings of the Home, where many children are taught
and many old people live. Another enclosure contains
their poultry, and another a cow. The whole establishment
is very interesting, and not the least interesting
part of it is this little cemetery, of the existence of
which, in all probability, very few of the inhabitants of
the surrounding streets have any knowledge.
I have visited one other convent burial-ground, and
in each case it is necessary to go through the ceremony
of being peeped at through a grating, and, when
admitted, passed along passages and through rooms
while the doors are locked behind, and only granted
permission to see what I want after some time of waiting
and a large amount of explanation. I have been
since told that I was singularly favoured by being
admitted into the Franciscan Convent in Portobello
Road, where the Mother Superior herself most kindly
took me to see the little cemetery, explaining that it
was “sanctioned by the Home Secretary,”—of which
I was well aware. It is a charming little corner of a
very pretty garden, a triangular grass plot edged with
trees, not above a quarter of an acre in extent. It was
formed in 1862 and first used in 1870, only five
burials taking place in twenty-three years. It is,
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of course, merely for the interment of the nuns who,
having given up the world and shut themselves into
the convent, find their last resting-place within its
precincts.
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.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch03
CHAPTER III||
.pm verse-start
“The Saints are there—the Living Dead,
The Mourners glad and strong;
The sacred floor their quiet bed,
Their beams from every window shed,
Their voice in every song.”
Keble.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
There is one burial-ground in London which has
received a large share of attention, and which has
really been thought worthy of lengthy and detailed
notices in histories of the metropolis—I mean St.
Paul’s Churchyard. The words convey a very distinct
meaning to us now. They suggest Messrs.
Hitchcock and Williams, and a number of other firms
with large premises, a constant stream of vans, carts,
omnibuses, cabs, and bicycles passing between Ludgate
Hill and Cheapside or Cannon Street, and a neat
garden with flower-beds, seats, and pigeons under the
shadow of the great Cathedral—Wren’s “monument”—which
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is so different from any other cathedral, and
yet so suitable for the centre of the largest city in
the world. Just as St. Paul’s Cathedral was not always
as it is now, so St. Paul’s Churchyard is also vastly
changed. Underneath the soil are the graves of
Britons, Saxons, and Romans; and I have already
referred to these, and have pointed out how far back
into obscure history we can trace this particular
graveyard.
.pi
Many books have been written about St. Paul’s;
Dugdale’s is the best old history, and perhaps Dean
Milman’s is the best modern one. The stories of
its foundation, of the shrine of St. Erkenwald, the
disastrous fire of 1136, the Boy Bishops, the chained
bibles and the commotion they aroused, the difficulties
of the Reformation, and finally the other “Great Fire”
of 1666, which led to the rebuilding of the Cathedral,
not again as a Gothic structure, but somewhat after
the style of St. Peter’s at Rome, have all been told
again and again. The crypt of the Cathedral was
the parish church of St. Faith, and that of St.
Gregory stood where the clock tower now is, at the
west end. The site of St. Gregory’s Churchyard is
within the posts in front of the west door, where
Queen Anne’s statue stands, while the parish of St.
Faith had a piece at the eastern end of the Cathedral,
and, according to Newcourt, another piece was allotted
to St. Martin’s, Ludgate Hill. It is to Dugdale that
we are chiefly indebted for a knowledge of what old
.pn +1
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St. Paul’s, with its windows and monuments, was like—and
a splendid church it must have been. He was
an eminent antiquary who, thinking that the chief
ecclesiastical buildings in England would suffer from
the Civil War, made a most noble pilgrimage, and
drew the monuments, copied the epitaphs, and took
notes of the arms in windows, on walls, &c., in St.
Paul’s and Westminster Abbey first, and subsequently
in Ely, Norwich, Peterborough, Lincoln, and a number
of other cathedral, conventual, and parish Churches.
The work he did at St. Paul’s was of exceptional
value, owing to the ravages of the Great Fire.
The Cathedral has been surrounded by such
interesting buildings as a Bishop’s Palace, the Chapter
House and Library, a Bell Tower, several Chantries, a
Charnel House, and St. Paul’s School, founded by
Dean Colet, and which, some years ago, was totally
destroyed, reappearing as a meaty-red structure of
huge dimensions (where the foundation scholars, or
“fish,” are in a small minority), in the uninteresting
district of East Hammersmith, which is misnamed
West Kensington.
St. Paul’s Churchyard extended, especially on its
northern side, farther than it does now. Part of it
was known as Pardon Church Yard, or “Haugh,”
in which was a chapel founded by Gilbert Becket,
rebuilt by Dean Moore in Henry V.’s time, and
surrounded by a rich cloister with pictures of “The
Dance of Death” painted by Machabre in it, somewhat
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like the ones still existing on the bridge at Lucerne,
and with very fine monuments to those buried beneath.
In 1549 the cloister, the chapel, the charnel house,
the paintings, and the tombs were all cleared away by
the Protector Somerset, the materials being used for
his new mansion in the Strand, and the bones from
the charnel house (Stow says one thousand cartloads)
were reinterred in Finsbury Field. The churchyard
seems to have been first entirely enclosed by a
surrounding wall in 1285.
.if h
.il fn=i_057.jpg id=i057 w=600px
.ca
Paul’s Cross and Preaching there
Paul’s Cross or preaching place, was erected in the form it appears
in the plate, about the year 1449. by Thomas Kempe, then Bishop of
London, on the site of a more antient cross, which had been destroyed by
an earthquake in 1382. Its name first occurs in the
year 1259, when Hen. III commanded the Mayor of London to oblige all the
city youth of a certain age to take the oath of allegiance at Paul’s
Cross, to him and his heirs. From this period it was, for several
centuries, used for almost every purpose political as well as
ecclesiastical, and is continually noticed in history. It was destroyed
by the Lord mayor of London, Isaac Pennington, in consequence of a vote
of Parliament, in the year 1643.
.ca-
.il fn=i_057a.jpg w=100px
.ca
PAUL’S CROSS.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: Paul’s Cross and Preaching there
.sp
Paul’s Cross or preaching place, was erected in the form it appears
in the plate, about the year 1449, by Thomas Kempe, then Bishop of
London, on the site of a more antient cross, which had been destroyed by
an earthquake in 1382. Its name first occurs in the
year 1259, when Hen. III commanded the Mayor of London to oblige all the
city youth of a certain age to take the oath of allegiance at Paul’s
Cross, to him and his heirs. From this period it was, for several
centuries, used for almost every purpose political as well as
ecclesiastical, and is continually noticed in history. It was destroyed
by the Lord mayor of London, Isaac Pennington, in consequence of a vote
of Parliament, in the year 1643.
PAUL’S CROSS.]
.if-
.in 0
But perhaps the most interesting object in the
churchyard was Paul’s Cross, which existed as far back
as the reign of Henry III., if not earlier. From that
time until 1643, when it was ruthlessly destroyed by
order of Parliament, it formed a notable monument,
round which the religious history of London and of
England centred itself. Paul’s Cross was an outdoor
pulpit at the north-east corner of the Cathedral—“a
pulpit cross of timber, mounted upon steps of stone
covered with lead,” from which “announcements and
harangues on all such matters as the authorities in
Church or State judged to be of public concern were
poured into the popular ear and heart.” It seems
to have been used to preach sermons from as early
as 1299, and men professing all shades of the Christian
faith have discoursed there, miscreants have done
penance there, bishops and clergy have renounced
heresies, excited throngs have gathered round excited
preachers, and tricks and delusions, called
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.bn 057.jpg
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.bn 059.jpg
miracles, have been exposed there. Latimer and
Ridley frequently occupied the pulpit, and “proclaimed
to crowds of eager listeners that testimony
which they both afterwards sealed with their blood.”
During the time of the reforming struggles of our
Church the pulpit at Paul’s Cross played an active
part, and those who preached there in the reign of
Mary had to be protected from the populace by the
Queen’s guard. In 1628 James I. came in state to
hear a sermon from Bishop King, and Charles I.
listened to another discourse from Paul’s Cross in
1630. It is said that after its demolition an elm-tree
marked its site, but even this has long since
disappeared.
.if h
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.ca
ELM ON SITE OF PAUL’S CROSS.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: ELM ON SITE OF PAUL’S CROSS.]
.if-
Yet the Churchyard was not only a religious centre,
but was also a very worldly one. Many unseemly scenes
used to take place there, and the ground was walled
in because it was becoming the resort of those who
did not behave themselves properly. The following
account from Maitland gives us a sad, if a lively,
picture of the times: “In the year 1569 a Lottery
was set on Foot in St. Paul’s Churchyard, where it
was begun to be drawn at the West Door of the
Church on the 11th of January, and continued incessantly
drawing Day and Night till the 6th of May
following.” The Cathedral itself was put to a variety
of unsuitable uses, and was made a judgment-hall
for foreign heretics who were condemned to be
burnt at Smithfield. The author of a tract written
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.bn 060.jpg
in the second half of the sixteenth century describes
the south aisle as being used “for usury and popery,
the north for simony, and the horse-fair in the midst
for all kinds of bargains, meetings, brawlings, murthers,
conspiracies; and the font for ordinary payments of
money.” Traffic in benefices was largely carried on
there, and the middle aisle (Paul’s Walk) was a
rendezvous, every morning and afternoon, for a
fashionable and eccentric medley. Thus was the
chief temple in London treated as vilely as the
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.bn 061.jpg
Temple at Jerusalem, and there are those now
living amongst us who wish to see our English
churches used for secular purposes!
With one mighty blow the whole building was
destroyed, and the beautiful Gothic Cathedral became
a heap of cinders. It is told in “Parentalia” how,
under the direction of Wren, the new St. Paul’s
arose like a phœnix from the ashes of the old
church. From an interesting print of 1701 it appears
that the churchyard was even then a fashionable
promenade, but it is improbable that the building
itself, in its new form, was ever subjected to such
abuses as the old one had been. I have heard
Wren’s churches described as “religious rather than
Christian,” but as time goes on the architecture seems
to be more appreciated. Wordsworth has said:—
.pm verse-start
“They dreamt not of a perishable home
Who thus could build,”
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
but he has also told us that the Cathedral is—
.pm verse-start
“Filled with mementoes, satiate with its past
Of grateful England’s overflowing Dead”—
.pm verse-end
and herein lies its chief interest.
.pi
No one has done his duty by St. Paul’s who has
not been in the crypt. Dr. Donne’s monument, which
dates from before the fire, has been brought up and
placed in the south aisle of the choir, amongst those of
.pn +1
.bn 062.jpg
bishops and deans, but some fragments of other
tombs from old St. Paul’s are still in the crypt,
besides many tablets and monuments of later date.
There was for many years a prejudice against admitting
memorial monuments in the Cathedral at all,
but one being erected to the memory of John Howard,
the reformer, the spell was broken. Several old stones
on the floor of the crypt have no graves below
them, those they commemorate having been buried
outside in the churchyard, but now the few internments
that take place are under the floor of the building,
Sir Frederic (Lord) Leighton’s being the newest
grave. Here also lie Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir Thomas
Lawrence, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Christopher Wren,
Dean Colet, George Cruikshank, Opie, West, Turner,
Lord Napier of Magdala, Lord Mayor Nottage (who
died in office in 1885), Bishop Piers Claughton, and
many other notable persons. There is one division
where there are gravestones in memory of past vergers
of the Cathedral. Directly under the dome are the
remains of Nelson, in a coffin made from wood of
the Victory, enclosed in a sarcophagus originally intended
for Cardinal Wolsey, but put aside as he
was not considered worthy of it, and subsequently
brought out and altered to suit Lord Nelson. Close
by is a larger sarcophagus containing the remains of
the Duke of Wellington.
.if h
.il fn=i_063.jpg id=i063 w=437px
.ca
ST. MARGARET’S AND THE ABBEY CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1750.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: ST. MARGARET’S AND THE ABBEY CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1750.]
.if-
The Churchyard is no longer a fashionable resort,
but it has been a very useful one since 1879, and many
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.bn 063.jpg
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.bn 064.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 065.jpg
are the visitors who may always be found sitting there,
while the pigeons fly amongst the tall and smoky
columns. The Rev. H. R. Haweis says the Cathedral
should be washed. He is right, no doubt, but “stately
Paule” still remains black.
Neither the graveyard of the Knights Templars,
the great rivals of the Knights Hospitallers at
Clerkenwell, nor the garth of the Abbey of St.
Peter, have had a record so varied as that which clings
round St. Paul’s Churchyard. The Temple Church,
especially the round portion of it, is most ancient and
interesting, but it has been much injured by the
modern representatives of the Templars who have
denuded the walls of many rich old monuments.
The part of the churchyard which is immediately
round the church is closed and turfed and has some
fine old stone coffins in it. The northern part is paved
and gravelled and is added to the public thoroughfare,
the chief object in it of general interest being the grave
and monument of Oliver Goldsmith.
We go on, along the Strand, past Charing Cross,
until we reach the “minster in the west,” or the
Collegiate Church of St. Peter, which was built in the
Island of Thorney. It is probable that the whole
space now occupied by the Abbey and St. Margaret’s
and their churchyards was at one time used for interments.
At present the Abbey Churchyard and that
of St. Margaret’s (where at times a fair used to be
held) are in one. They are neatly turfed and open to
.pn +1
.bn 066.jpg
the public, and they form a simple but suitable base
for the glorious old buildings which rise from them.
On the south side of the Abbey are the large and
small cloisters, with their grass plots and their ancient
stones, while, according to Brayley, a part of Covent
Garden Market is on the site of what used to be the
burial-ground of the Westminster Convent. Portions
of the cloisters are among the most ancient and interesting
corners of the Abbey buildings, and the sight
of them carries us back in thought to the days of the
abbots and monks, who used to pace to and fro under
the vaulted roof.
It is not, however, the burial-places outside the
Abbey, but the church itself, round which the most
thrilling associations gather. Here again the story
has been often repeated, and if there are any of my
readers (though I doubt if there can be one) who do not
know what venerable tombs are contained there, they
would do well to visit the Abbey, and not to rest until
they have been carefully shown the treasures in Henry
VII.’s Chapel. Beaumont sang—
.pm verse-start
“Think how many royal bones
Sleep within these heaps of stones....
Here’s an acre sown indeed
With the richest, royallist seed.”
.pm verse-end
From the shrine of Edward the Confessor and the
tomb of Edward III. to the tablet in memory of
Charles Dickens and the stone over the grave of
.pn +1
.bn 067.jpg
Charles Darwin, they are one and all of the deepest
interest, and it is perfectly needless for me to refer to
the monuments here. Every Englishman is—or
should be—proud of these relics, of the beautiful
Chapel, the Poets’ Corner, and the hallowed nave and
aisles.
.if h
.il fn=i_067.jpg id=i067 w=482px
.ca
GREAT CLOISTER, WESTMINSTER.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: GREAT CLOISTER, WESTMINSTER.]
.if-
It is true that there are too many monuments
in Westminster Abbey; a memorial chapel in which
.pn +1
.bn 068.jpg
some of them (especially the huge statues from the
north transept) could be put, would be very advantageous.
But, at any rate, they are not likely now to be
much further added to, and from the old, royal tombs,
there is not one fragment of mosaic or one splinter of
stone which we should not grieve to lose. Sir Godfrey
Kneller, the painter and the friend of Pope, did not
wish to be interred in the Abbey because “they do
bury fools there.” But his monument is not missed
amongst the tombs of England’s greatest children, her
kings and queens, her bishops and deans, her statesmen,
her soldiers, her poets, her artists, and her philosophers.
The whole building is one grand memorial. There
may be “fools there,” but they sink into utter insignificance,
for “saints are there, the living dead.”
.if h
.il fn=i_069.jpg id=i069 w=600px
.ca
The South East Prospect of the Chapel Royal of S^{t.} Peter in the Tower.
ST. PETER’S CHAPEL IN THE TOWER ABOUT 1750.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration:
The South East Prospect of the Chapel Royal of St. Peter in the Tower.
ST. PETER’S CHAPEL IN THE TOWER ABOUT 1750.]
.if-
To pass from the Abbey to the Tower is like passing
from honour to shame, and yet amongst those who
were imprisoned, executed, and buried in the great
fortress and palace which became the state prison of
England, many were innocent of the crimes for which
they were punished, and many deserved to rest in
Westminster even more than some of those who were
interred there. There were four recognised burial-places
connected with the Tower, the churchyard of
St. Peter ad Vincula, the vaults under the church, the
vaults “behind the church,” and the outer graveyard.
The last named was a narrow strip by the eastern wall,
probably used for the burial of the humbler members
of the numerous households which composed the
.pn +1
.bn 069.jpg
Tower precinct. This ground was demolished when
the Tower Bridge was made, being required for
the wide approach thereto. It is also probable that
burials took place in a somewhat promiscuous fashion
in other parts of the fortress. We know, for instance,
that the young Princes, after they had been smothered,
were buried at the foot of the staircase of the White
Tower, “meetly deep in the ground, under a great
.pn +1
.bn 070.jpg
heap of stones,” from whence their remains, or what was
supposed to be their remains, were moved to Westminster
Abbey in 1674 by Order of King Charles II.
In St. Peter’s Church were buried the headless bodies
of many a noble prisoner who was executed close by,
with the remains of others who died during their
confinement in the Tower—the Earl of Arundel, the
Dukes of Somerset, Monmouth, Norfolk, and Northumberland,
Queen Katherine, poor innocent Anne
Boleyn, her brother, Lord Rochford, the Countess of
Salisbury, Catherine Howard, and a great many more
whose names are recorded in English history. The
chapel is not as beautiful as it might be, and the graveyard
attached to it is little more than a part of the
great Tower courtyard, but the sad memories connected
with it will always hallow this spot. In the quaint
little church of Holy Trinity, Minories, supposed by
some to be a survival of the Abbey of the Minoresses
of St. Clare, there is still shown what is said to be the
head of the Duke of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane
Grey. It is in a glass case, preserved like leather,
some hair still clings to the scalp, while the false blow
of the executioner can be clearly seen just above the
place where the head was severed from the trunk. The
verger keeps this marvellous relic locked up in a pew;
it is a sort of detached fragment of the history of the
Tower.
.if h
.il fn=i_071.jpg id=i071 w=600px
.ca
THREE COFFIN LIDS FROM THE TOWER.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THREE COFFIN LIDS FROM THE TOWER.]
.if-
I feel that I have done but very scant justice to
those London burial-places which contain the ashes of
.pn +1
.bn 071.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 072.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 073.jpg
the most illustrious dead. But I have no wish to go
over ground already trodden by far worthier chroniclers
than myself, and I therefore commend to all who
desire to know more about the Cathedral, the Abbey,
the Temple, and the Tower, the many excellent books
which have been written upon their history, such as
Dean Milman’s “Annals of St. Paul’s Cathedral,”
Dean Stanley’s “Memorials of Westminster Abbey,”
and a number of more ancient and more modern works
which especially relate to these buildings and to the
monuments they contain. The Kyrle Society has
recently published a capital little guide to the Cathedral,
which can be bought with the tickets to view the
crypt, the whispering gallery, &c., and which also
serves as a handbook to the monuments in the nave
and aisles.
.pm verse-start
“Death lays his icy hands on kings:
Sceptre and crown
Must tumble down,
And in the dust be equal made
With the poor crooked scythe and spade.
All heads must come
To the cold tomb,
Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.”
J. Shirley.
.pm verse-end
.pn +1
.bn 074.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch04
CHAPTER IV.||
.pm verse-start
“Such strange churchyards hide in the City of London.”
Dickens.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
I have already referred, in Chapter I., to the different
areas occupied by the City of London at different
periods. But the City, as we know it now, averages,
roughly speaking, a mile and a half from east to west
and three-quarters of a mile from north to south. It
includes a considerable space outside the old wall, and
the boundary line is very irregular, except on the
southern side, where is the “silent highway.” It is
governed by the Corporation, and its ancient wards
are represented by Aldermen, while the Lord Mayor
commences his year of office by a public procession
through the streets on November 9th, supported by
his dignified companions, the Sheriffs.
.pi
The City of London is the Office of the World. Its
highways represent untold wealth, and its byways reek
with poverty and dirt; it contains the most bustling
.pn +1
.bn 075.jpg
thoroughfares and the most retired corners; it is full of
business and affairs up to date, and yet teeming with antiquarian
interest, and relics of ancient history. As on one
side of a busy road we have Cannon Street Station and
on the other side the venerable “London Stone,” so the
City churches, with their old-world churchyards, are
wedged in between huge modern warehouses, offices,
and public buildings; “churchyards sometimes so
entirely detached from churches, always so pressed upon
by houses; so small, so rank, so silent, so forgotten—except
for the few people who ever look down into
them from their smoky windows. As I stand peeping
in through the iron gates and rails I can peel the rusty
metal off, like bark from an old tree. The illegible
tombstones are all lopsided, the grave-mounds lost their
shape in the rains of a hundred years ago, the Lombardy
Poplar or Plane-tree that was once a drysalter’s
daughter and several common-councilmen, has withered
like those worthies, and its departed leaves are dust
beneath it.... Sometimes, the queer hall of some
queer Company gives upon a churchyard such as this,
and, when the Livery dine, you may hear them (if you
are looking in through the iron rails, which you never
are when I am) toasting their own Worshipful prosperity....
Sometimes, the commanding windows are
all blank, and show no more sign of life than the graves
below—not so much, for they tell of what once upon a
time was life undoubtedly.”
Poor little churchyards, they are so insignificant, and
.pn +1
.bn 076.jpg
many of them are even more shrunken than when
Charles Dickens visited them. Thus we hear of an
injunction being sought for to restrain the would-be
reformer from cutting off a two-foot-wide strip of St.
Martin Orgar’s ground to make a dry area behind the
houses in Crooked Lane; and the Commissioners of
Sewers possess the right, and sometimes use it, of
curtailing a churchyard in order to widen a road. In
1884, for instance, they gave £750 for a piece at the
eastern end of Allhallows’ Churchyard, London Wall.
The remainder of that little ground is now a public
garden, laid out in 1894 by the Metropolitan Public
Gardens Association, and is a quiet resting-place in
the busy thoroughfare, with a piece of the ancient
City wall still existing in it. Most of the churchyards
“entirely detached from churches” are the sites of the
burned buildings, which were used as burial-grounds
for the amalgamated parishes—for the mournful calamity
of 1666 visited the churches of London with
“peculiar severity,” 89 of them being destroyed, 51
of which were rebuilt by Wren and his followers,
and 35 of which were not replaced. All the City
churchyards are now protected from being built upon
by the Disused Burial-grounds Act of 1888, but that
Act has not yet been read to include the sites of the
churches themselves which are from time to time removed,
and which have all had interments in the vaults
underneath them. The site of Allhallows’ the Great,
Upper Thames Street, was recently sold to a brewery
.pn +1
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company, but has not yet been built upon, because it
is thought that an injunction will be served upon the
builder and that it will be made a test case.
Of the burial-grounds attached to the Cathedral, the
Temple, and the churches which are the survivals of
the priories, I have already written; apart from these
one of the oldest of the churches founded in the City
is sometimes supposed to be that of St. Mary Woolnoth,
Lombard Street. The present building, which is
threatened by a railway company, is by Hawksmoor,
but a church existed on the site in very early days.
In St. Peter’s, Cornhill, is a tablet, the authenticity of
which is certainly open to grave doubt, recording the
fact that a church was erected on this spot by Lucius in
A.D. 179, but the genuine history of the foundation can
only be traced as far back as 1230. The burial-ground
of St. Benet Sherehog, in Pancras Lane, marks the site
of a church dating from Saxon times, dedicated to St.
Osyth,—Size Lane, which is close by, being a survival of
the name. The City churches still standing, of which
the whole or a part date from before the Great Fire,
are St. Bartholomew’s the Great; Allhallows’, Barking;
the Temple; St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate Street; and
St. Catherine Cree, Leadenhall Street, all connected
with priories; and St. Bartholomew’s the Less; St.
Giles’, Cripplegate; St. Olave’s, Hart Street; St. Ethelburga’s,
Bishopsgate Street; St. Andrew’s Undershaft,
Leadenhall Street; and Allhallows’, Staining, Star
Alley.
.pn +1
.bn 078.jpg
The church of St. Bartholomew the Less, of which
but a very small portion of the tower is ancient, is
within the Hospital enclosure, and the churchyard is
smaller than it was, some of it having been thrown into
the paved courtyard. St. Ethelburga’s churchyard
is a quaint little courtyard with a few tombstones in it,
only approached through the church and vestry. In
St Andrew’s Undershaft (or “under the maypole,”
which used to be suspended on the houses in St. Mary
Axe) the monument of John Stow is to be found—poor
Stow, whose survey of London is the foundation for all
modern histories. The adjoining churchyard is very
small. That of Allhallows’, Barking, has lately been
entirely covered with building materials, owing to the
restoration of the church. It was, according to Stow,
“sometime far larger.”
The churchyard of St. Olave’s, Hart Street (Dickens’
St. Ghastly Grim), is an interesting one. The church
itself is one of the most beautiful pieces of ecclesiastical
architecture in London—a small Gothic building,
admirable in its proportion. The old gate of the
churchyard has skulls and cross bones on it, and
in this ground were interred a vast number of the
victims of the plague of 1665, which is said to
have taken its origin in this parish in the Drapers’
Almshouses.
.if h
.il fn=i_079.jpg id=i079 w=568px
.ca
ALLHALLOWS’, STAINING, 1838.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: ALLHALLOWS’, STAINING, 1838.]
.if-
Of the church of Allhallows’, Staining, only the
tower remains, in the centre of a neatly-kept little
burial-ground. This was the model for the churchtower in
.pn +1
.bn 079.jpg
“Old London” at the exhibition at South
Kensington in 1886.[#] The churchyard of St. Giles’,
Cripplegate, the church which contains the monument
to Milton, has a long and varied history. It is well
known to antiquarians, as the valuable relic, the postern
of the City wall, is situated in it. The story of this
ground is one of additions and encroachments, and it
.pn +1
.bn 080.jpg
has found a careful chronicler in Mr. Baddeley, a
former churchwarden. The addition running south
was called the “Green Churchyard,” a name which we
find repeated in other parishes—for instance, it was
given to the higher portion of the churchyard of St.
James’, Piccadilly, and to the little piece by St.
Bartholomew the Great, approached through the present
south transept. The gravestones at St. Giles’ have been
laid flat, and the ground is neatly kept and generally
open, but not provided with seats for the public.
.pn +1
.bn 081.jpg
Until Michaelmas, 1640, “the military” used to be
trained in this churchyard.[#]
.pm fn-start
In 1873 a crypt was made under the tower, in which were
deposited the remains from Lambe’s Chapel, St. James’s in the Wall,
Monkswell Street.
.pm fn-end
.pm fn-start
Malcolm’s “Londinium Redivivum.”
.pm fn-end
.if h
.il fn=i_080.jpg id=i080 w=600px
.ca
CRIPPLEGATE CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1830.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: CRIPPLEGATE CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1830.]
.if-
There were four churches in the City dedicated to St.
Botolph, a pious Saxon who built a monastery, in 654,
in Lincolnshire. It is a little curious that all the four
churchyards are now public gardens—St. Botolph’s,
Bishopsgate; St. Botolph’s, Aldgate; St. Botolph’s,
Aldersgate; and St. Botolph’s, Billingsgate, The last-named
church was not rebuilt after the Fire, and the site
of one of its churchyards, the “lower ground,” is now
occupied by a new warehouse with red heads on the
frontage, on the south side of Lower Thames Street.
What remains of the “upper ground” is a small,
three-cornered, asphalted court, open to the public, with
seats, a drinking fountain, and a coffee stall. The
charming little garden in Aldersgate Street includes
three churchyards, that of St. Botolph, an additional
one for St. Leonard’s, Foster Lane, and an
additional one for Christ Church, Newgate Street,
which is at the western end, and was given to the parish
in 1825 by the Governors of Christ’s Hospital when
the Great Hall was built and a small burial-ground at
the north-west corner of the buildings could no longer
be used. The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association
laid out Aldgate churchyard in 1892; it is much
appreciated, and is maintained by an annual grant from
the charity funds of the parish. A melancholy incident
.pn +1
.bn 082.jpg
took place here in September, 1838, when two men, a
gravedigger and a fish-dealer, lost their lives in a grave
by being poisoned with the foul air. The grave was a
“common one,” such as was often kept open for two
months until filled with seventeen or eighteen bodies.
It may safely be said that all the City burial-grounds
were crowded to excess. Their limited area would
invite such treatment, and it was only natural that the
City parishioner should choose to be interred in the
parish churchyard, unless the still greater privilege were
afforded him of being buried in the vaults under the
church. The other churchyards in the City which have
been laid out for public recreation are those of St.
Paul’s Cathedral; St. Olave, Silver Street; Allhallows,
London Wall; St. Katherine Coleman, Fenchurch
Street; St. Mary, Aldermanbury; St. Sepulchre,
Holborn; and St. Bride, Fleet Street; while the churchyard
of St. Dunstan in the West, situated in Fetter
Lane, is the playground of the Greystoke Place
Board School; and that of St. James, Duke Street, is
the playground of the Aldgate Ward Schools.
.if h
.il fn=i_083.jpg id=i083 w=376px
.ca
ST. MILDRED’S, BREAD STREET, ABOUT 1825.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: ST. MILDRED’S, BREAD STREET, ABOUT 1825.]
.if-
Most of the remaining City churchyards are quiet
little spaces, surrounded by huge warehouses. Many
are only approached through the churches, and are
invisible from the road. St. Mildred’s, in Bread Street,
is unfortunately used as a store-yard for ladders of all
sizes, and it seems, from the accompanying illustration,
to have been turned to account many years ago, while
the very small piece that remains by the tower of St.
.pn +1
.bn 083.jpg
Mary Somerset, Thames Street, where the Weavers of
Brabant used to hold their meetings, is full of old iron,
&c. One or two are private gardens, such as St.
Michael’s Churchyard, Queenhithe. Others have been
paved and added to the public footway, such as that of
St. Mary Abchurch, their extent being still visible. This
is the Case with the churchyard of St. Michael Bassishaw,
in Basinghall Street. The ground is now part of
.pn +1
.bn 084.jpg
the pavement, but the two large trees which grew in it
are still flourishing. On the site of the churchyard of
St. Benet Fink, in Threadneedle Street, is Peabody’s
statue. The untidy little yard in Farringdon Street,
which is used as a volunteer drill-ground, was once an
additional burying-place for St. Bride’s, Fleet Street.
It was given to the parish in 1610 by the Earl of
Dorset, on condition that no more burials should take
place in the southern part of the churchyard which
was opposite his house. The house was destroyed by
.pn +1
.bn 085.jpg
the Great Fire and the churchyard used again. The
graveyard of St. Christopher le Stocks is the garden of
the Bank of England, and Timbs states, although he
does not vouch for the authenticity of the story, that the
mould for the burial-ground of Whitfield’s Tabernacle
in Tottenham Court Road was brought from this
churchyard, “by which the consecration fees were
saved.”
.if h
.il fn=i_084.jpg id=i084 w=529px
.ca
GROUND PLAN OF ST. BENET FINK IN 1834.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF ST. BENET FINK IN 1834.]
.if-
Of the City churchyards which have been completely
annihilated, apart from other kinds of burial-grounds
within this area, there must have been at least
forty. And this destruction has been due to the dissolution
of the priories, the formation of new streets, and
the invasion of the railways. Norden mentions three
churches in Farringdon Ward Within which have
gone—St. Nicholas in the Fleshshambles (which was
in Newgate Street), St. Ewans (south of Newgate
Street), and St. Genyn within St. Martin le Grand.
When Queen Victoria Street was made the churchyards
of St. Mary Mounthaw, St. Nicholas Olave, and St.
Mary Magdalen, Knightrider Street, disappeared; that
of St. Michael, Crooked Lane, a plot of land given
by one Robert Marsh and consecrated in 1392, was
sacrificed for King William Street; and that of St.
Benet, Paul’s Wharf (now the Welsh Church), where
Inigo Jones was buried, for St. Benet’s Hill. A
complete list of them will be found in the Appendix.
Cannon Street Station of the South Eastern Railway
covers the churchyard of St. Mary Bothaw; and for
.pn +1
.bn 086.jpg
Cannon Street Station of the District Railway that of
St. John’s, Cloak Lane, was destroyed, the human
remains being “dug up, sifted, put in chests with
charcoal, nailed down, put one on the top of the other
in a brick vault and sealed up for ever, or rather till
some others in time come to turn them out again.”
Part of the General Post Office is on the churchyard of
St. Leonard, Foster Lane; the Mercer’s Hall is on
.pn +1
.bn 087.jpg
that of St. Thomas Acons, where the pilgrims were
buried; the Mansion House Station is on that of
Holy Trinity the Less; and the Mansion House itself
is on that of St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, in which a
balance used to stand “for the weighing of wool.”
.if h
.il fn=i_086.jpg id=i086 w=428px
.ca
THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. BENET, PAUL’S WHARF, 1838.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE CHURCHYARD OF ST. BENET, PAUL’S WHARF, 1838.]
.if-
Most of the existing churchyards have but few tombstones
left in them, several have none at all. But some
of them can still boast of fine trees, which add much to
the interest and picturesque appearance of the City
streets, and I hope it may be a long time before those
in Stationers’ Hall Court, under which there were
vaults belonging to St. Martin’s, Ludgate, and in the
churchyards of St. Peter Cheap, Wood Street, and St.
Dunstan in the East, cease to grow and flourish.
We want to see all of these little churchyards opened
to the public and provided with seats. The Metropolitan
Public Gardens Association is always ready to
put them in order, but it is difficult to secure their
maintenance. The parish funds which might be available
for such a purpose have been so cut down and
diverted by the Charity Commissioners that it is, in
many cases, impossible for any provision to be made
for the upkeep of the churchyard, small though the
cost may be. But I trust that this difficulty may be,
before long, removed, and then we may expect a great
improvement in the condition of the City churchyards
which have all been closed for burials for upwards of
forty years, and which are so singularly well suited
for conversion into “outdoor sitting-rooms” for
.pn +1
.bn 088.jpg
those who can take a few moments of rest from
their work in the surrounding offices and warehouses.
And they are worthy of the utmost respect, for they
contain the ashes of some of the noblest citizens of
London, some of its greatest benefactors and its hardest
workers, those who have helped, stone by stone, to
raise the great city to the height to which it has
attained in its influence in the world.
In 1668 the Lord Mayor “issued out a Precept,
commanding, amongst other wholesome orders ...
that the Inhabitants, Householders, and others concerned,
should not throw or suffer any Ashes, Dirt, or
other Filth, to be cast out ... before any Church or
Churchyard ... upon pain of 20 shillings.” But in
1896 we need visit very few of these same churchyards
before we come to one in which rubbish of all kinds is
allowed to accumulate and to remain. Yet they are
sacred spots, consecrated ecclesiastically and historically,
and instead of being permitted to sink into the oblivion
of insignificance they should all be made beautiful in
memory of the dead and for the benefit of the living,
for in them are “the tombs of the wealthy and the
humble heaps of the poor.” The Old Society for the
Protection of City Churches and Churchyards did
something towards their preservation, and lately a new
City Church Preservation Society has been formed, the
Chairman of Council being Mr. H. C. Richards, M.P.,
and the Hon. Secretary the Rev. Rowland B. Hill. It
has already displayed most praiseworthy activity, and
.pn +1
.bn 089.jpg
is, at the present time, endeavouring to save the church
of St. Mary Woolnoth, in Lombard Street (built by
Hawksmoor) from being demolished for a railway
station. There is a very small churchyard attached
to this church.
And it may be interesting here to give particulars
of a case in which the decision arrived at is
valuable to those who are fighting the battle of
protection. In the Session of 1881 the London
School Board, through the Education Department,
introduced a Bill, called the Elementary Education
Provisional Order Confirmation Bill, for the purpose of
acquiring compulsory powers over the burial-ground
in Bream’s Buildings, Fetter Lane, belonging to the
church of St. Dunstan in the West, and which
adjoins the Greystoke Place Board School. The
rector and churchwardens, supported by the vestry
of the parish, entered an opposition to the Bill, and
appeared against it before the Committee of the House
of Lords. Their opposition was entirely successful
(and it must be remembered that the Disused Burial
Grounds Act had not then been passed), and the London
School Board was merely given a right of way to the
school through the graveyard. The costs of the opposition
amounted to £236 12s. 10d., which was charged
upon the poor rate. The auditor disallowed the
charge, but on appeal to the Local Government Board
it was sanctioned.
.pn +1
.bn 090.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch05
CHAPTER V||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“I will lay me in the village ground,
There are the dead respected.”
H. K. White.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
There are few spots in England more peaceful, more
suggestive, and more hallowed than our village churchyards,
when they are treated with that reverence which
is their due. I have many in my mind now, but I will
try to think of one only “where the churchyard, grey
with stone and green with turf, holds its century of
dead,” where “side by side, the poor man and the son
of pride, lie calm and still.” The church is grey and
ivy-grown. Its broad tower, that has weathered many
a storm, is half hidden amongst tall trees bursting into
leaf, which hold, high up in their branches, the nests of
the cawing rooks. Far below winds the gentle river,
between wide stretches of meadow-land, and there is
the old one-span bridge with the picturesque cottages
of the village following each other down to it and up
again, and in the background of the picture are the
.pn +1
.bn 091.jpg
sheltering, sheep-covered hills. An old gabled parsonage
adjoins the church, and the pathway which leads to
it is through the peaceful sleeping-place of those whose
tired bodies have been laid upon “the pillow of the
restful earth.” The birds are making music in the
trees, the gentlest of vernal breezes stirs the air, and
from the seat in the venerable porch I can look out
upon that quiet scene in the “lengthening April day.”
Green grass, long and sweet, is growing amongst the
“grey tombstones with their half-worn epitaphs,” and
is trying to hide the primroses and the early bluebell
buds which are peeping from the ground, for there
.pm verse-start
“the flowers of earth
Their very best make speed to wear,
And e’en the funeral mound gives birth
To wild thyme fresh and violets fair.”
.pm verse-end
It is so green and fresh, so calm and sweet a spot in
which to await the resurrection morn, that we can
understand what Keble felt when he said,
.pm verse-start
“Stoop, little child, nor fear to kiss
The green buds on this bed of death.”
.pm verse-end
As there is “no fear in love,” so there should be no
“fear” in death, for death is but our translation into
the presence of the greater love “which passeth knowledge.”
.pi
Our London churchyards of to-day were once village
.pn +1
.bn 092.jpg
churchyards, and were attached to quiet old churches
which, with a few neighbouring houses, stood far away
from the town and were encircled with fields. There
are many now living who can remember walking from
the City to St. Mary’s, Islington, by a footpath
through the meadows, and such was also at one time
the case with Paddington, St. Pancras, Hackney, Shoreditch,
Stepney, Bow, Bromley, Rotherhithe, Lewisham,
Camberwell, Wandsworth, Battersea, and many other
parishes. It is difficult to realise it now, and yet it is
only in the present century that they have been merged
into the great metropolis, and separated by many miles
of houses from the hedges and fields. Nor is it long
since the village stocks were moved from several of
the churchyard gates.
Most of the original parish churches have been replaced,
some of them more than once. The oldest
ones now in existence are St. Saviour’s, Southwark,
Stepney, Bow, Chelsea, Fulham, the Savoy, Westminster
(St. Margaret’s), Lambeth, Deptford (St.
Nicholas’), and Putney, with the tower of old Hackney
Church. Many of the others belong to the eighteenth
century. In the tenth year of the reign of Queen
Anne the number of houses in the districts adjacent to
the City having increased so rapidly, it was enacted by
Parliament that fifty new churches should be built “for
the better Instruction of all in the Principles of Christianity,”
and for “redressing the inconvenience and
growing mischiefs which resulted from the increase of
.pn +1
.bn 093.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 094.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 095.jpg
Dissenters and Popery.” In order to raise the necessary
funds it was agreed to levy an additional duty of
two shillings per chaldron “upon all Coals and Culm”
that were brought into London, and two shillings per
ton upon weighable coals for a term of 137 days, after
which for eight years the duty was to be three shillings
per chaldron and per ton. But although some old
churches were rebuilt or repaired at that time, only
ten new ones were erected, such as St. Anne’s, Limehouse,
St. George’s in the East, St. Luke’s, Old Street,
and St. John the Evangelist’s, Westminster.
.if h
.il fn=i_093.jpg id=i093 w=600px
.ca
ALL SAINTS, WANDSWORTH, ABOUT 1800.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: ALL SAINTS, WANDSWORTH, ABOUT 1800.]
.if-
Descriptions of the churchyards attached to these
churches are not easy to find, nor were they of any
great interest, except that many notable men were buried
in them. Yet there is one point in connection with them
that is interesting, and it is that although the churches
are in the severe and sometimes almost grotesque
style of architecture of Gibb, Hawksmoor, and others,
yet in the eighteenth century it was customary to erect
headstones over graves with elaborately carved designs.
Eighteenth-century tombstones have hour-glasses,
scythes, cherubs’ heads—blowing or smiling or weeping—elaborate
scenes, generally allegorical of the flight of
time, and epitaphs upon which much thought and care
were expended. With the nineteenth century the
carved tombstones disappeared.[#] St. Paul’s churchyard,
.pm fn-start
This subject has been carefully gone into by Mr. W. T.
Vincent, who has quite lately brought out a book upon the designs
on carved tombstones.
.pm fn-end
.pn +1
.bn 096.jpg
Deptford, contains many quaint specimens, and here
also is a “shelter,” the roof of which was the old
pulpit sounding-board, But the older churchyards,
those which may be more rightly described as the
merged village churchyards, have been pictured from
time to time.
.if h
.il fn=i_096.jpg id=i096 w=393px
.ca
EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TOMBSTONE.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY TOMBSTONE.]
.if-
One of Mr. Loftie’s original ideas is to describe
London as known by Stow, Norden, and Shakespeare,
who lived and wrote at about the same time, i.e., 1600.
I do not mean to say that he tells us what the burial-grounds
.pn +1
.bn 097.jpg
were like in that day, for no historian of
London ever seemed to think it worth while to do
more than refer to one here and one there, or I should
not have ventured to put forward this work at a time
when we are satiated with histories of the metropolis;
but I will, for a moment, adopt his plan. It is impossible
to read Hamlet and the vivid description of the
gravediggers who played at “loggats” with the skulls
and bones, while they drank and sung, without coming
to the conclusion that Shakespeare had witnessed the
.pn +1
.bn 098.jpg
very same practices in the graveyards in his day as
were exposed and stopped no less than two and a half
centuries later, when “skittles” were played with bones
and skulls at St. Ann’s, Soho, and other churchyards.
But I cannot entirely give up the idea that Shakespeare
walked in some churchyards which awoke peaceful and
reverent thoughts in his contemplative mind.
.if h
.il fn=i_097.jpg id=i097 w=389px
.ca
NINETEENTH-CENTURY TOMBSTONE.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: NINETEENTH-CENTURY TOMBSTONE.]
.if-
Stow scarcely mentions the churchyards at all. He
and his later editors give up many pages of his survey
to inscriptions copied from monuments, some being
from tombstones in the churchyards, but most being
from the tablets in the churches, and he occasionally
refers to the gift by citizens of pieces of ground for
graveyards, these being mainly in the City itself.
Perhaps, however, it may not be out of place to quote
from one or two passages which give us an idea of the
condition of the open land immediately adjoining the
City, and which point to the fact that such parish
churches as lay beyond this land must indeed have
been rural and remote.
We read in the edition of 1633 that “filthie
cottages” and alleys extended for “almost halfe a
mile beyond” Whitechapel Church, “into the common
field.” He also refers to the fine houses, with
large gardens, which were being built round the City,
where former generations, more benevolently inclined,
had erected hospitals and almshouses. He mentions
the “wrestlings” that took place at Bartholomewtide
by “Skinners Well, neere unto Clarkes Well.” This
.pn +1
.bn 099.jpg
Clarkes Well, or Clerkenwell, “is curbed about square
with hard stone: not farre from the west end of
Clarkenwell Church, but close without the wall that
encloseth it.” ... “Somewhat north from Holywell
(Shoreditch) is one other well, curbed square with
stone, and is called Dame Annis the cleere; and not
far from it, but somewhat west, is also another cleere
water, called Perilous Pond, because divers youths (by
swimming therein) have been drowned.” Stow most
carefully enumerates the wells and conduits of the City
and its surroundings, several being “neere to the
Church.” And it is a fact that many wells, conduits,
and pumps in and around London were—and some still
are—not only in close proximity to the churchyards,
but actually in them. The water from St. Clement’s
Well and St. Giles’ Well came through the burial-grounds.
The site of the Bride’s Well, which gave
the name to the precinct and the hospital, is still
marked by the pump in an alcove of the wall of St.
Bride’s Churchyard, Fleet Street. There was a pump
by St. Michael le Querne and one in the churchyard
of St. Mary le Bow, against the west wall of the
church. There was a well in the crypt of St. Peter’s,
Walworth, a pump in Stepney Churchyard, and
another in St. George’s in the East, to which his parishioners
used to resort for drinking water until the Rev.
Harry Jones, during a cholera scare, hung a large
placard on it, “Dead Men’s Broth!” and Dickens
used to picture the departed, when he heard the
.pn +1
.bn 100.jpg
churchyard pumps at work, urging their protest,
“Let us lie here in peace; don’t suck us up and
drink us!”
.if h
.il fn=i_100.jpg id=i100 w=421px
.ca
THE VILLAGE OF SHOREDITCH.
(From Aggas’ Plan, 1560.)
.ca-
.il fn=i_101.jpg id=i101 w=600px
.ca
ST. PANCRAS VILLAGE.
(From Rocque’s Plan, 1746.)
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE VILLAGE OF SHOREDITCH.
(From Aggas’ Plan, 1560.)]
.sp 2
[Illustration: ST. PANCRAS VILLAGE.
(From Rocque’s Plan, 1746.)]
.if-
And Norden, what did he say? His plan of
London, like the one by Aggas and later ones, gives
us a picture of the remoteness of the outer parishes.
Here is his description of old St. Pancras Churchyard:
“Pancras Church standeth all alone, as utterly
forsaken, old and wether-beaten, which, for the antiquity
.pn +1
.bn 101.jpg
thereof, it is thought not to yield to Paules in
London. About this church have bin many buildings
now decayed, leaving poor Pancras without companie
or comfort, yet it is now and then visited with Kentishtowne
and Highgate, which are members thereof....
When there is a corpse to be interred, they are forced
to leave the same within this forsaken church or
churchyard, when (no doubt) it resteth as secure
against the day of resurrection as if it laie in stately
Paules.” It would indeed be curious to see what
Norden would think now of this churchyard, with the
.pn +1
.bn 102.jpg
Midland Railway trains unceasingly rushing across it,
and the “dome” and “trophy” of headstones, numbering
496, not to speak of the stacks and walls of
them round about, which were moved into one part
of the ground when the other part (Catholic Pancras)
was acquired by the railway company. Poor Pancras
is not forsaken now, it is in the midst of streets and
houses, and what remains of the churchyard is full of
seats and people.
This particular ground, with others in the same
neighbourhood, were famed later on as the scenes of
the operations of body-snatchers, as is evident from
Tom Hood’s rhyme, entitled “Jack Hall,” from which
one verse will be sufficient:—
.pm verse-start
“At last—it may be, Death took spite,
Or jesting only meant to fright—
He sought for jack night after night
The churchyards round;
And soon they met, the man and sprite,
In Pancras’ ground.”
.pm verse-end
When Jack Hall is himself dying, and twelve M.D.’s
are round him, anxious for his body, he tells them:—
.pm verse-start
“I sold it thrice,
Forgive my crimes!
In short I have received its price
A dozen times.”
.pm verse-end
Timbs in his “Romance of London” gives a
detailed account of the first indictment for body-stealing—the
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.bn 103.jpg
act taking place at St. George the
Martyr ground (behind the Foundling Hospital) in
1777. But it must be remembered that, although at
one time body-snatchers or resurrection-men carried on
a brisk trade, yet where one body may have been disinterred
for hospital use one hundred were removed
to make room for others.
The churchyards in London to which a somewhat
rural flavour still clings are, perhaps, those in the
extreme south east, such as St. Nicholas’, Plumstead,
and St. John the Baptist’s, Eltham, which, together with
Lee and Tooting Churchyards, are still used for interments,
St. Mary’s, Bromley-by-Bow (originally the
chapel of St. Mary in the Convent of St. Leonard),
with its beautiful altar tombs, and St. Mary’s, Stoke
Newington. There is something particularly picturesque
about the last named, with the old church in
its midst. Mrs. Barbauld lies buried here, and a lady
whose death was caused by her clothes catching fire,
upon whose tombstone this very quaint inscription was
placed:—
.pm letter-start
“Reader, if you should ever witness such an afflicting scene,
recollect that the only method to extinguish the flame, is to stifle
it by an immediate covering.”
.pm letter-end
All the parish churches had their churchyards, the
only ones not actually adjoining them being those of
St. George’s, Hanover Square, St. George’s, Bloomsbury,
and St. George the Martyr, Queen Square, where
.pn +1
.bn 104.jpg
the first body interred was that of Robert Nelson,
author of “Fasts and Festivals.” Some were added
to many times, some have been seriously curtailed.
The largest of the churchyards are Stepney, Hackney,
and Camberwell. That of St. Anne’s, Limehouse, had
a strip taken off it in 1800, when Commercial Road
was made, that of St. Paul’s, Hammersmith, was
similarly curtailed in 1884. The present churches of
Hammersmith and Kensington are far larger than their
predecessors, and therefore the churchyards dwindled
when they were built. St. Clement Danes and St.
John’s, Westminster, once stood in fair-sized churchyards;
now, in each case, there is only a railed-in
enclosure round the church. But one of the most
serious shortenings was at St. Martin’s in the Fields.
In fact, of those buried from this particular parish, few
can have been undisturbed, except, perhaps, in the
cemetery in Pratt Street, Camden Town, now a public
garden, which belongs to St. Martin’s. One of the
parochial burial-grounds is under the northern block
of the buildings forming the National Gallery, another
one is lost in Charing Cross Road, while a third one
(now a little garden) in Drury Lane was so disgustingly
overcrowded that no burials could take place there
without the disturbance of other bodies, which were
crowded into pits dug in the ground, and covered with
boards. But to return to the churchyard itself, the
burial-ground immediately surrounding the church,
where Nell Gwynne and Jack Sheppard were buried.
.pn +1
.bn 105.jpg
A strip on the north side and a piece at the east end
still exist, flagged with stones, and were planted with
trees, provided with seats, and opened to the public by
the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in 1887.
But once there was a large piece of ground on the south
side, where now there is none, called the Waterman’s
Churchyard. Its disappearance is accounted for by
the following inscription on a tablet on the church
wall:—
.pm letter-start
“These catacombs were constructed at the expense of the
Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Woods and Forests, in exchange
for part of the burial-ground of this parish, on the south side of the
church, given up for public improvements, and were consecrated
by the Lord Bishop of London on the 7th day of June, 1831.”
.pm letter-end
In The Sunday Times of June 12, 1831, these vaults
are thus described:—
“The new vaults under St. Martin’s burying-ground
are the most capacious structure of the sort in London.
They were opened on Tuesday, at the consecration of
the new burial-ground. They consist of a series of
vaults, running out of one another in various directions;
they are lofty, and when lighted up, as on Tuesday,
really presented something of a comfortable appearance.”
After relating something about the size and
number of the arches, the quantity of coffins they
would hold, &c., the description closes with these
words: “Crowds of ladies perambulated the vaults
for some time, and the whole had more the appearance
.pn +1
.bn 106.jpg
of a fashionable promenade than a grim depository of
decomposing mortality.”
This account reminds me very much of the ceremony
which took place after the opening of St.
Peter’s Churchyard, Walworth, as a garden, in May,
1895. The Rector had kindly provided tea in the
crypt, a huge space under the church where gymnastic
and other classes are held. This crypt used to be
full of coffins lying about at random, with a well
in the centre, but a faculty was obtained for their
removal to a cemetery. The scene on the day to
which I refer was a very gay one. Where, a few
months previously, there had been coffins and dirt,
there was a well white-washed building, lighted with
plenty of gas, lace curtains between the solid pillars
and low arches, a number of little tables with tea,
cakes, &c., and many brightly-attired girls to wait on
the visitors, who enjoyed their refreshment to the
enlivening strains of a piano.
.if h
.il fn=i_107.jpg id=i107 w=600px
.ca
THE VILLAGE OF ST. GILES’ IN THE FIELDS.
(From Aggas’ Plan, 1560.)
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE VILLAGE OF ST. GILES’ IN THE FIELDS.
(From Aggas’ Plan, 1560.)]
.if-
The churchyard of St. Giles’ in the Fields is a very
interesting one. It might well be now called St. Giles’
in the Slums, although of late years the surrounding
streets have been much improved and the worst courts
cleared away. Before there was a church of St. Giles’
there was a lazaretto or leper hospital on the spot, and
what is now the churchyard was the burial-ground
attached thereto. As a parish the settlement seems to
date from 1547, but the hospital was founded 200
years earlier, and was entrusted to the care of the
.pn +1
.bn 107.jpg
Master and Brethren of the Order of Burton St. Lazar
of Jerusalem, in Leicestershire. The churchyard,
which holds many centuries of dead, was frequently
enlarged, Brown’s Gardens being added in 1628, until
the parish secured an additional burial-ground, in 1803,
adjoining that of St. Pancras. And yet it is barely an
acre in extent. It is related in Thornbury’s “Haunted
London” that in 1670 the sexton agreed to furnish
the rector and churchwardens with two fat capons,
ready dressed, every Tuesday se’nnight in return for
being allowed to introduce certain windows into the
.pn +1
.bn 108.jpg
churchyard side of his house. But it could not have
been a pleasant churchyard to look at. It was always
damp, and vast numbers of the poor Irish were buried
in it (the ground having been originally consecrated
by a Roman Catholic), and it is hardly to be wondered
at that the parish of St. Giles’ enjoys the honour of
having started the plague of 1665. And the practices
carried on there at the beginning of this century were
equal to the worst anywhere—revolting ill-treatment
of the dead was the daily custom.
Now the churchyard is a public garden, Pendrell’s
tombstone being an object of historical interest, the
inscription upon which runs as follows:—
.pm letter-start
“Here lieth Richard Pendrell, Preserver and Conductor to his
sacred Majesty King Charles the Second of Great Britain, after his
Escape from Worcester Fight, in the Year 1651, who died Feb. 8,
1671.
.pm letter-end
.pm verse-start
Hold, Passenger, here’s shrouded in this Herse,
Unparalell’d Pendrell, thro’ the Universe.
Like when the Eastern Star From Heaven gave Light
To three lost Kings; so he, in such dark Night,
To Britain’s Monarch, toss’d by adverse War,
On Earth appear’d, a Second Eastern Star,
A Pope, a Stern, in her rebellious Main,
A Film to her Royal Sovereign.
Now to triumph in Heav’n’s eternal Sphere,
He’s hence advanc’d, for his just Steerage here;
Whilst Albion’s Chronicles, with matchless Fame,
Embalm the Story of great Pendrell’s Name.”
.pm verse-end
This ridiculous epitaph belongs to the truly eulogistic
.pn +1
.bn 109.jpg
group. It has its counterpart on a tombstone
in Fulham Churchyard, erected to the memory of a
lady, where the epitaph is “Silence is best,” or in the
following one from Lambeth:—
.pm verse-start
“Here lieth W. W.
Who nevermore will trouble you, trouble you.”
.pm verse-end
Old Chelsea Church is noted for its monuments,
many persons of distinction having been buried there,
and in the churchyard is a great erection in memory
of Sir Hans Sloane, but the ground is closed to the
public, and the tombstones are sadly neglected.
From a dramatic point of view the burial-ground attached
to St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, is most interesting,
as it contains the graves of a large number of
actors.
So many works have been written about monuments
and epitaphs that it is not my intention to refer to
many, but some are interesting as giving a peep into
the life of those they commemorate. There are
several in London which describe the number of times
the deceased person was “tapped for dropsy.” A
tombstone at Stepney is in memory of one “Elizabeth
Goodlad, who died in 1710, aged 99, and her twenty
daughters.” They must have been exemplary daughters
not to have worn out their mother sooner! The Rev.
Matthew Mead was also buried here, a most prolific
writer of sermons and treatises on religion, including
one with this quaint title, “The almost Christian tried
.pn +1
.bn 110.jpg
and cast.” Stepney Churchyard is very old; it is highly
probable that there was a church there in Saxon times.
The other churchyards in East London which can
boast of considerable antiquity are Bromley, Bow,
Whitechapel, and Hackney, although Sir Walter
Besant, in his novel, “All Sorts and Conditions of
Men,” says that the churchyards in East London
“are not even ancient.” No doubt if he re-wrote that
novel now he would alter many of his remarks. It is
hardly possible to think that the eastern districts of
London ever formed a “marvellous, unknown country,”
or that Rotherhithe needed any “discovery.”
By the close of the last century and at the beginning
of this one, the want of additional burial space was
much felt in several parishes. Some had “poor
grounds,” and some, like St. James’s, Clerkenwell, had
a “middle ground,” this particular one being now the
playground of the Bowling Green Lane Board School,
but the extra graveyards were all small and all crowded.
The parishes of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, St.
James’s, Piccadilly, St. Andrew’s, Holborn, St.
James’s, Clerkenwell, St. Marylebone, and St. Mary’s,
Islington, secured additional burial-grounds in which
chapels of ease were erected. These are Christ
Church, Victoria Street, St. James’s, Hampstead
Road, Holy Trinity, Gray’s Inn Road, St. James’s,
Pentonville Road, St. John’s Wood Chapel, and the
Chapel of Ease in Holloway Road, the ground
surrounding which is one of the best kept churchyard
.pn +1
.bn 111.jpg
gardens in London. Many of the district churches,
built at the commencement of this century, also had
graveyards attached. In Bethnal Green, for instance,
not only is there the burial-ground of St. Matthew’s,
which was consecrated in 1746, and has vaults under
the school as well as the church, but there are those of
St. Peter’s, St. Bartholomew’s, and St. James’ the Less,
the two first being laid out as gardens, and the last
being a dreary, swampy waste, containing about ten
sad-looking tombstones and a colony of cocks and
hens.
It is impossible, in a chapter already too long, to
touch upon all the churchyards outside the City, but I
must refer briefly to the four principal parish churches
which have disappeared. The present building of St.
Mary le Strand only dates from 1717; the original
one stood in a “fair cemetery,” much nearer the river,
and was also called the Church of the Innocents. This
ground was enlarged in 1355 by a plot 70 feet by
30 feet in size, but the church and churchyard disappeared
about 1564 to make room for Somerset
House. The church of St. John the Evangelist,
Tybourn, was removed in 1400 by Bishop Braybrooke,
and the first church of St. Marylebone was built to
take its place. Provision was made for the preservation
of the churchyard, but it also disappeared
before long. It was near the site of the present
Court House in Stratford Place, under which, and the
older one, bones were dug up in 1727 and 1822.
.pn +1
.bn 112.jpg
.if h
.il fn=i_112.jpg id=i112 w=552px
.ca
THE SITE OF ST. KATHARINE’S DOCKS.
(From Rocque’s Plan, 1746.)
.ca-
.sp 2
.il fn=i_113.jpg id=i113 w=600px
.ca
ST. MATTHEW’S, BETHNAL GREEN, 1818.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE SITE OF ST. KATHARINE’S DOCKS.
(From Rocque’s Plan, 1746.)]
.sp 2
[Illustration: ST. MATTHEW’S, BETHNAL GREEN, 1818.]
.if-
Tybourn Church was removed because it was in so
lonely a situation, and yet so near the main road from
Oxford to London, that robbers and thieves were
always breaking into it to steal the bells, images,
ornaments, &c. The Church of St. Margaret, Southwark,
stood in the middle of the Borough High
Street, with a much-used graveyard round it, which
was enlarged in 1537. But it was in so inconvenient a
place, and the ground was so much used for holding
.pn +1
.bn 113.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 114.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 115.jpg
markets in, that it was removed about 1600, and the
parish amalgamated with St. Saviour’s. The old
town hall took the place of the church, and the
Borough Market is still held on or near the site of the
churchyard. When St. Katharine’s Docks were made,
in 1827, St. Katharine’s Church, the ruins of the
hospital (dating from 1148), two churchyards of considerable
size, and the whole parish,—inns, streets,
houses and all, were totally annihilated. The church
was a beautiful one; it has been described by Sir
Walter Besant and other chroniclers, and must have
been amongst the finest specimens of ecclesiastical
architecture in London. The whole establishment
was, to a certain extent, rebuilt near Regent’s Park.
It is said that a quantity of the human remains from the
churchyard were used to fill up some old reservoirs, &c.,
in the neighbourhood; but, at any rate, it is a fact that
they were distributed amongst the East-end churchyards,
and several cartloads were taken to Bethnal Green and
deposited in St. Matthew’s ground, where the slope up
to the west door of the church is composed of these
bodies from St. Katharine’s. There were originally
steps leading to the entrance, but the steps are buried
under this artificial hill, the ground having been raised
several inches.
What may be called the parish churchyards in
London, outside the City, number about seventy-two.
Of these no less than forty are now being maintained
as public gardens, and this does not include the
.pn +1
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additional parochial graveyards, nor those attached to
district churches. A few, such as Streatham and
Hampstead, are generally open to the public, but are
not provided with seats, and one of the best kept is
that of St. Bartholomew’s, Sydenham, which, although
not a public garden, is indeed “a thing of beauty.”
The old churchyard at Lee is also attractive, and
contains tombs and effigies belonging to many families
of note, including those of the Ropers, Boones, and
Floodyers, and a monument to the memory of Sir
Fretful Plagiary, of whom, notwithstanding the uncomfortable
name with which he was endowed, his
epitaph says, “He science knew, knew manners, knew
the age.”
.pn +1
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.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch06
CHAPTER VI||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“From plague, pestilence, and famine,
Good Lord, deliver us.”
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
Considering that we have records of the visitation of
London by direful plagues and pestilences at frequent
intervals during ten centuries, and that these visitations
always led to a mortality far in excess of the ordinary
one, it is not to be wondered at that from time to time
special burial-places had to be provided to meet the
special need. In 664, during the time of the Saxon
Heptarchy, London was “ravaged by the plague,” and
from that date forward it returned again and again,
causing the kings, the courtiers and the richer citizens
to be constantly fleeing for safety into the country,
until the final and awful calamity of 1665. According
to some authorities the plague has never re-appeared
since then, although according to others a few cases
occurred annually until the year 1679. But after that
time, although there was a division for “the Plague”
.pn +1
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in the annual Bills of Mortality, there were no entries
against it, and after 1703 we cease even to see the word
recorded. In early days the visitations were so ordinary
that, when mentioned in the histories of London, they
are not taken much account of. Here is one record:
“The plague making its appearance in France in 1361,
the king to guard against the contagion spreading in
London, ordered that all cattle for the use of the city
should be slaughtered either at Stratford on one side
the town, or at Knightsbridge on the other side, to
keep the air free from filthy and putrid smells. This
regulation was certainly wholesome; but the close
dwellings of which the city then consisted, were always
fit receptacles for contagious disorders; the plague
accordingly came over, and in two days destroyed
1,200 persons.” If an infectious disorder were to
carry off 1,200 persons in two days in London now,
when the population is counted by millions instead
of by thousands, there would be a general panic, a
special inquiry, and, perhaps, a Royal Commission.
.pi
In 1349 two large tracts of land were set aside for
the interment of those who then died of the plague,
and as their history is generally well known, I will give
Noorthouck’s somewhat concise account: “At length
it (a great pestilence) reached London, where the
common cemeteries were not capacious enough to
receive the vast number of bodies, so that several well-disposed
persons were induced to purchase ground to
supply that defect. Amongst the rest, Ralph Stratford,
.pn +1
.bn 119.jpg
Bishop of London, bought a piece of ground, called
No-Man’s-Land, which he inclosed with a brick wall,
and dedicated to the burial of the dead. Adjoining to
this was a place called Spittle Croft, the property of
St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, containing thirteen acres
and a rod of ground, which was purchased for the same
use of burying the dead by Sir Walter Manny, and
was long remembered by an inscription fixed on a stone
cross upon the premises. On this burial-ground the
Charterhouse now stands. There was also another piece
of ground purchased at the east end of the City, just
without the wall, by one John Corey, a clergyman, for
the same use; on which spot was afterwards, in this
same reign, founded the Abbey of St. Mary of Grace,
for Cistercian monks; it is now covered by the victualling-office
and adjoining houses. It was asserted that
not one in ten escaped this calamity, and that not less
than 100,000 persons died in the whole.” The next
sentence is characteristic of the way in which, as I have
already said, these visitations were treated. “Notwithstanding
this sad misfortune, the city soon recovered
itself, and advanced greatly in prosperity, as will appear
by a charter it obtained in the year 1354, granting the
privilege of having gold or silver maces carried before
the chief magistrate.” The translation of the Latin
inscription on the stone cross on Sir Walter de
Manny’s ground is as follows:—
.pm letter-start
“A great plague raging in the year of our Lord 1349, this
burial-ground was consecrated, wherein, and within the bounds of the
.pn +1
.bn 120.jpg
present monastery, were buried more than 50,000 bodies of the
dead, beside many others thenceforward to the present time: whose
souls the Lord have mercy upon. Amen.”
.pm letter-end
The space called No-Man’s-Land was three acres in
extent and was afterwards known as the Pardon Churchyard,
being used for the interment of executed people
and suicides. It was in use long after the Cistercian
Monastery was built on the Spittle Croft. Wilderness
Row, now merged into Clerkenwell Road, marks its
site, while the gardens and courts of the Charterhouse,
the Square, the site of a demolished burial-ground
for the pensioners (Sutton’s Ground), and the burial-ground
which still exists at the north end of the precincts,
are all part of the Spittle Croft and of the monastery
burial-ground. There have already been attempts
to do away with the Charterhouse, to substitute streets
and houses for the old buildings, gardens, and courts,
but happily it is not so easy as it once was to tamper
with land consecrated for burials, even though that
land may have been set aside 550 years ago. The
“Victualling-office,” which took the place of St. Mary’s
Abbey, was where the Royal Mint at present stands,
and, if one may trust William Newton’s plan, the abbey
graveyard was where the entrance courtyard is now.
The numbers who died in subsequent visitations
must have helped not a little to fill the parish churchyards,
but it was not until the year of the Great Plague
that there seems to have been any very general provision
of extra ground, although the pest-house ground
.pn +1
.bn 121.jpg
in the Irish Field, “nye” Old Street, was consecrated in
1662, especially for the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate.
But the plague of 1665 taxed the resources, the
patience, and the energy of the Mayor, magistrates,
and citizens of London in a manner that was unprecedented.
All through that fatal summer and autumn,
and on into the commencement of the following year,
did it play havoc with the people. In August and
September it was at its height. The exact number of
persons who died could not be known, for thousands
of deaths were never recorded. Bodies were collected
by the dead carts, which were filled and emptied and
filled again from sunset to dawn, and no account was
kept of the numbers thrown into the pits. At any
rate, between August 6th and October 10th, 49,605
deaths were registered in the Bills of Mortality as from
the Plague, and Defoe, whose “Journal of the Plague”
gives every detail that any one can wish for, considered
that during the visitation at least 100,000 must have
perished, in addition to those who wandered away with
the disease upon them and died in the outlying districts.
“The number of those miserable objects was
great. The country people would go and dig a hole
at a distance from them, and then, with long poles and
hooks at the end of them, drag the bodies into these
pits, and then throw the earth in from as far as they
could cast it, to cover them.” It is pretty certain that
many unrecorded burials took place in the fields of
Stoke Newington.
.pn +1
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London must have been a sad sight. All shows,
pleasures and pastimes were stopped; people crowded
continually into the churches, where dissenting ministers,
notwithstanding the Act of Uniformity which was then
in force, occupied the pulpits of deceased or absent
vicars, and preached to the most attentive listeners;
huge fires were always burning in the streets; children
were kept out of the churchyards; the city was cleared
of all “hogs, dogs, cats, tame pigeons and conies,”
special “dog-killers” being employed; and food and
assistance was daily given to the most needy; while those
who could afford to do so fled into the country, except
a few devoted physicians, justices, and other helpers,
including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Earl of
Craven, Monk (afterwards Duke of Marlborough), and
Gilbert Latey and George Whitehead (Quakers).
The plague, introduced from Holland, first broke
out in Long Acre, and gradually spread all over
London. When it became impossible to bury in the
ordinary way, huge pits were dug in the churchyards
and bodies were deposited in them without coffins.
The chief plague-pit in Aldgate Churchyard was about
40 ft. long, 15 or 16 ft. broad, and 20 ft. deep, and
between the 6th and the 20th of September, 1,114
bodies were thrown into it. But it soon became necessary
to make new burial-grounds and new pits for the
reception of the dead, as the “common graves of every
parish” became full.
.if h
.il fn=i_123.jpg id=i123 w=600px
.ca
THE PEST-HOUSES IN TOTHILL FIELDS.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE PEST-HOUSES IN TOTHILL FIELDS.]
.if-
There were pest-houses in the ground to the north
.pn +1
.bn 123.jpg
of Old Street and in Tothill Fields, Westminster, to
which infected persons were taken. They corresponded
to the isolation hospitals of to-day. But they could only
accommodate, at the most, 300 patients or so, and were
wholly inadequate to meet the need. The pest-houses
in Old Street, or rather Bath Street, were long ago
destroyed; Pest-House Row and Russell Row used to
mark their sites. But a portion of the pest-field exists
in the garden behind the St. Luke’s Lunatic Asylum,
which was used as a burial-ground for the parish of
St. Giles, Cripplegate, until the formation, in 1732, of
St. Luke’s parish, when it became the St Luke’s “poor
ground.” The pest-houses in Tothill Fields were
.pn +1
.bn 124.jpg
standing at the beginning of the present century. They
were known as the “five houses” or the “seven
chimneys,” and were erected in 1642. The Tothill
Fields, no longer being needed as a plague burial-ground,
were subsequently built upon, but not until they had
been used for the burial of 1,200 Scotch military
prisoners with their wives. A considerable portion of
the fields is, however, still open, and is known as Vincent
Square, the playground of the Westminster School boys.
Mackenzie Walcott, in his Memorials of Westminster,
states that Harding’s stoneyard in Earl Street is the
site of the principal plague-pit. This, I believe, is
now the yard of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, Waste
Paper Department.
Defoe gives a very careful description of some of the
plague-pits and burial-grounds which were made in his
immediate neighbourhood. He mentions—
1. “A piece of ground beyond Goswell Street, near
Mount Mill, ... where abundance were buried promiscuously
from the Parishes of Aldersgate, Clerkenwell,
and even out of the city. This ground, as I take
it, was since made a Physick Garden, and after that has
been built upon.” Mount Mill was on the north side
of Seward Street.
2. “A piece of ground just over the Black Ditch, as
it was then called, at the end of Holloway Lane, in
Shoreditch Parish; it has been since made a Yard for
keeping Hogs, and for other ordinary Uses, but is
quite out of Use for a burying-ground.”
.pn +1
.bn 125.jpg
This Holywell Mount burial-ground has been “in
use” again since Defoe’s time, and was also used as a
plague-pit before 1665. Originally the site of a theatre
dating from the time of Shakespeare, and named after
the neighbouring Holywell Convent in King John’s
Court, it afterwards became a burial-ground, famous as
being used for the interment of a great many actors.
There is a small part of it left, but at the outside not
more than a quarter of an acre. It is behind the
church of St. James’, Curtain Road, and is approached
by a passage from Holywell Row. A parish room has
been built on it, and what remains is used as a timber
yard. The piece between the parish room and the
church is bare and untidy.
3. The third place mentioned by Defoe was at “the
Upper end of Hand Alley in Bishopsgate Street, which
was then a green field, and was taken in particularly for
Bishopsgate Parish, tho’ many of the Carts out of
the City brought their dead thither also, particularly
out of the Parish of Allhallows on the Wall.”
He then goes on to describe how this place was very
soon built upon, though the bodies were, in many
cases, still undecomposed, and he states that the remains
of 2,000 persons were put into a pit and railed round
in an adjoining passage. New Street, Bishopsgate
Street, now occupies the site of Hand Alley.
.if h
.il fn=i_126.jpg id=i126 w=600px
.ca
STEPNEY CHURCHYARD.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: STEPNEY CHURCHYARD.]
.if-
4. “Besides this there was a piece of ground in
Moorfields,” &c. Here he refers to the Bethlem
burial-ground, which was not made at that time, but
.pn +1
.bn 126.jpg
enlarged. Defoe finally mentions the extra grounds
which had to be supplied in Stepney, then a very
largely extended parish. They included a piece of
ground adjoining the churchyard, which was afterwards
added to it; and in 1886, in laying out this
churchyard as a public garden, some human remains,
without coffins, and very close to the surface, were
accidentally disturbed at the south-western side of the
ground. Another of the Stepney pest-grounds was in
Spitalfields, “where since a chapel or Tabernacle has
been built for ease to this great parish.” I believe it to
be St. Mary, Spital Square. Another was in Petticoat
.pn +1
.bn 127.jpg
Lane. “There were no less than five other grounds
made use of for the Parish of Stepney at that time, one
where now stands the Parish Church of St. Paul’s, Shadwell,
and the other where now stands the Parish Church
of St. John at Wapping.” The churchyards of these
two churches, the former of which is a public garden,
and the latter of which is still closed, are therefore survivals
of pest-fields. But there are three other places
to account for which Defoe does not localise. One was
possibly in Gower’s Walk, Whitechapel, where human
remains, without coffins, were come upon recently in
digging the foundation for Messrs. Kinloch’s new
buildings. The remains were moved in boxes to a
railway arch in Battersea in the winter of 1893-4. I
saw this excavation myself, the layer of black earth,
intermingled with bones, being between two layers of
excellent gravel soil. One additional ground bought at
the time of the Plague was on the north side of Mile
End Road. By about 1745 it was used as a market-garden,
and now the site is occupied by houses south of
the junction of Lisbon and Collingwood Streets, Cambridge
Road. Besides these it is certain that a large
tract of land south of the London Hospital was also
used for interments, and the Brewer’s Garden and the
site of St. Philip’s Church were probably parts of this
ground, which was known as Stepney Mount. On the
north side of Corporation Row, Clerkenwell, in digging
foundations for artisan’s dwellings, a number of human
remains were recently found. This site may have been
.pn +1
.bn 128.jpg
a plague-pit, or it may have been a burial-ground for
an old Bridewell close by, or an overflow from the
graveyard in Bowling Green Lane.
The chief place of interment for those who died of
the plague in Southwark was the burial-ground in
Deadman’s Place (now called Park Street). Here vast
numbers of bodies were buried. The graveyard was
afterwards attached to an Independent Chapel, and
many eminent Dissenters were buried there, for it soon
became a sort of Bunhill Fields For South London.
Now the carts, the trucks, and the barrels in Messrs.
Barclay and Perkins’ Brewery roll on rails over the
remains of the victims of the plague and the Dissenting
ministers with their flocks.
.pn +1
.bn 129.jpg
.if h
.il fn=i_128.jpg id=i128 w=600px
.ca
THE SITE OF THE BREWER’S GARDEN ABOUT 1830.
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.il fn=i_129.jpg id=i129 w=600px
.ca
DISSENTERS’ BURIAL-GROUND IN DEADMAN’S PLACE.
(From Rocque’s Plan, 1746.)
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE SITE OF THE BREWER’S GARDEN ABOUT 1830.]
.sp 2
[Illustration: DISSENTERS’ BURIAL-GROUND IN DEADMAN’S PLACE.
(From Rocque’s Plan, 1746.)]
.if-
But pest-fields were needed in the west of London,
as well as in the north, south, and east, and in addition
to Tothill Fields there was a large tract of land set
aside near Poland Street, upon the site of which the
St. James’s Workhouse was subsequently built, a piece
of the ground surviving still in the workhouse garden.
Carnaby Market and Marshall Street were also built on
the site about the year 1723, when three acres, known
as Upton Farm, were given in exchange in the fields
of Baynard’s Watering Place (Bayswater), upon which
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.bn 130.jpg
Craven Hill Gardens now stands. There was a plague-pit
near Golden Square, this district being all a part of
the pest-field at one time.
The orchard of Normand House, by Lillie Road,
Fulham, is said, by Mrs. S. C. Hall, to have been
filled with bodies in the year of the Great Plague.
The site of this orchard has almost gone; Lintaine
Grove, and the houses on the north side of Lillie Road
were built upon it. There is still a piece vacant, and
for sale, at the corner of Tilton Street, about three-quarters
of an acre in extent. Knightsbridge Green
(opposite Tattersalls) was also used for the victims of
the Plague, and those who died in the Lazar Hospital.
Such are all the records of plague-pits and pest-fields
which I think sufficiently authentic to record.
There used to be an additional burial-ground for
Aldgate parish in Cartwright Street, E., consecrated
in 1615. This, at the beginning of the present century,
was covered with small houses, and on a part of the site
the Weigh House School was built in 1846. The
rookery was cleared by the Metropolitan Board of
Works nearly forty years later, when Darby Street
was made, and the vacant land was offered as a site
for artisans’ dwellings. I brought the case to the notice
of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, and
the Board was communicated with. At first it was
denied that any part of the site had been a burial-ground,
but excavations were made and human remains
were found. Nor was this really necessary, for the
.pn +1
.bn 131.jpg
workmen who had pulled down the houses, and the
authorities at the school, were well aware of the fact,
and knew of actual tombstones being unearthed, upon
which a date as late as 1806 had been found. The
Board of Works caused the plans for the surrounding
new buildings to be altered, and what is left of the site
of the burial-ground is now an asphalted playground
adjoining the southern block. A certain gentleman
afterwards wrote and circulated a pamphlet, in which
he stated that the Metropolitan Board of Works had
discovered one of the “seites” set apart in Whitechapel
for a pest-ground in 1349, whereas the fact
was that the Board had been driven, somewhat against
its will, to preserve as an open space the site of a
consecrated burial-ground belonging to the parish of
St. Botolph, Aldgate. That it may once have been
a part of a pest-field is likely enough, for they abounded
in the district, but the age of the Aldgate ground was,
I consider, sufficient to account for the driest of the
dry bones found there.
Although the Plague has not re-appeared, there have
been periods of great mortality from other diseases.
Special provisions for burial had to be made at the
time of the cholera visitations. In the outbreak of
1832, 196 bodies were interred in a plot of ground
adjoining the additional burial-ground for Whitechapel
(now the playground of the Davenant Schools). A
large piece of ground by the churchyard of All Saints,
Poplar, on the north side of the Rectory, was also used
.pn +1
.bn 132.jpg
for the purpose, and the circumstance is recorded on
the monument which stands in the middle of it.
The fact that the bodies in the pest-fields and
plague-pits were usually buried without coffins, and
were only wrapped in rugs, sheets, &C., has accelerated
their decay, and it can no longer be thought dangerous
when such pits are opened. Not that I wish in any
way to defend the disturbance of human remains, for I
hold that no ground in which interments have taken
place should be used for any other purpose than that of
an open space, and, apart from the legal and sentimental
aspects of the question, human remains, in
whatever state of decay they may be, are not fit
foundations for buildings, nor is it seemly or proper to
gather them up and burn them in a hole, or to cram
them promiscuously into chests or “black boxes,” to
be padlocked and deposited in other grounds or convenient
vaults. But the old plague-pits, the very crowded
churchyards, and the private grounds where the soil was
saturated with quicklime, the coffins smashed at once,
and decay in every way hurried, are likely now to be
less insalubrious than those grounds where lead and
oaken coffins—specially intended to last for generations—are
still in good preservation, and only occasionally
give way and let out the putrifactive emanations.
.pn +1
.bn 133.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch07
CHAPTER VII||
.sp 1
.pm letter-start
“Methodism was only to be detected as you detect curious
larvæ, by diligent search in dirty corners.”—George Eliot.
.pm letter-end
.sp 2
.ni
Foremost amongst the burial-grounds devoted especially
to Dissenters is Bunhill Fields,—not the New
Bunhill Fields in Newington, nor Little Bunhill Fields
in Islington, nor the City Bunhill Ground in Golden
Lane, not the Quakers’ ground in Bunhill Row—but
the real, genuine, original Bunhill Fields, City Road.
.pi
The land on the north side of the City and south
of Old Street was variously called the Moorfields,
Finsbury Fields, the Artillery Ground, Windmill Hill,
and Bone-hill or Bon-hill. In the year 1549, when
the Charnel Chapel in St. Paul’s Churchyard was
pulled down, “the bones of the dead, couched up in
a charnel under the chapel, were conveyed from thence
into Finsbury Field, by report of him who paid for
the carriage, amounting to more than one thousand
cartloads, and there laid on a moorish ground, which,
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.bn 134.jpg
in a short time after, being raised by the soilage of the
City, was able to bear three windmills.” The number
of windmills was, later on, increased to five, and they
may be seen on many old maps of London. Heretics
used to be interred in Moorfields, and bones from
St. Matthew’s, Friday Street, were moved to Haggerston,
in fact several acres in this district were in use
for the purpose of burying in.
The land north of the Artillery Ground was
known as Bonhill or Bunhill Field, “part whereof,
at present denominated Tindal’s, or the Dissenters’
great Burial-ground, was, by the Mayor and Citizens
of London, in the year 1665, set apart and consecrated
as a common Cemetery, for the interment of such
corps as could not have room in their parochial
burial-grounds in that dreadful year of pestilence.
However, it not being made use of on that occasion,
the said Tindal took a lease thereof, and converted
it into a Burial-ground for the use of Dissenters.”
So wrote Maitland in 1756, but before that time a
large plot was added on the north, and eventually
the whole cemetery measured about five acres.
There at least 100,000 persons found their last
resting-place, including vast numbers of Methodist,
Baptist, Presbyterian, and Independent ministers. In
Walter Wilson’s History of the Dissenting Meeting-houses,
which might be more rightly called a history
of dissenting divines, the burial of the ministers
in Bunhill Fields is constantly mentioned, and the
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elaborate inscriptions from their tombs are given.
These have, however, become much defaced, and
numbers of them are now illegible. The ground
belongs to the Corporation; it is not laid out as a
garden, but paths have been made and seats placed
in it, the gates being open during the day. The
most frequented paths lead to the tombstones of
John Bunyan, on the south side of the public thoroughfare
in “Tyndal’s Ground,” and Daniel Defoe, on
the north side, both being at the eastern end of the
cemetery. Bunyan’s tomb was restored in 1862 by
public subscription, a piece of the original stone being
now in the Congregational Church at Highgate. The
monument to Defoe was raised in 1870 by a subscription
in the Christian World. Amongst other celebrities
buried here were Dr. Williams, the founder of the
Library in Red Cross Street (now in Gordon Square),
Susannah Wesley, mother of John and Charles, Isaac
Watts, Sir Thomas Hardy of Reform Bill fame, and
several members of the Cromwell family. The Corporation
restored the tombstone of Henry Cromwell,
which was found seven feet below the surface.
On the south side of the Thames the largest and
most important of the Dissenters’ burial-grounds was
that attached to the Independent Chapel in Deadman’s
Place (now called Park Street, Southwark), originally
a plague-ground, and very much used for the burial
of the victims. Here many more ministers were buried,
whose names are household words wherever Dissenters
.pn +1
.bn 136.jpg
are gathered together. I cannot say what has become
of their tombstones, but the site of the ground is now
only one of the paved yards in Messrs. Barclay and
Perkins’ Brewery.
If the mantle of Bunhill Fields has fallen anywhere,
I suppose that Abney Park Cemetery claims the distinction.
It was first used in 1840, and has always been
the favourite cemetery of the Dissenters, there being
no separating line in it to mark off a consecrated portion.
Its formation is also associated with the memory of Dr.
Watts, who lived for some years, and who died, in the
neighbourhood, at the house of his friend Sir Thomas
Abney. There is a monument to him in the cemetery,
although he was buried at Bunhill Fields, and there
are many huge monuments to other eminent dissenting
divines of latter days. The tombstones are crowded
together as closely as it seems possible, and yet they are
being constantly added to, although the greater part of
this cemetery is already over-full.
.if h
.il fn=i_137.jpg id=i137 w=600px
.ca
UNION CHAPEL, WOOLWICH.
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.if-
.if t
[Illustration: UNION CHAPEL, WOOLWICH.]
.if-
The first dissenting meeting-houses were in the City
and its immediate neighbourhood. They were frequently
but “upper rooms” in narrow courts, and had no
graveyards attached to them. But when the persecution
of the Dissenters, under the Act of Uniformity, was
relaxed, meeting-houses and chapels sprang up in every
part of London, and these, in some cases, had burial-grounds
adjoining them. A few of the larger grounds,
such as Sheen’s, in Commercial Road, and the one in
Globe Fields, were bought by private individuals and
.pn +1
.bn 137.jpg
carried on as private speculations entirely apart from
the Chapels. They are described in #Chapter IX:ch09#. But
of the genuine Dissenters’ graveyards i.e., the little
grounds attached to chapels and meeting-houses in
London, there must have been at one time or another
about eighty—there may have been more. This number
of course represents but a very small portion of the
meeting-houses themselves, which were in existence at
the beginning of this century. The following remarks
of the Rev. John Blackburn, one of the secretaries of
the Union of Congregational Ministers, show how the
respectable Dissenters repudiated the private burial-grounds:
.pn +1
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“I may with confidence disclaim the imputation
that the graveyards of Dissenters were primarily
and chiefly established with a view to emolument. Many
graveyards that are private property, purchased by
undertakers for their own emolument, are regarded as
dissenting burial-grounds; and we are implicated in
the censures that are pronounced upon the unseemly
and disgusting transactions that have been detected in
them.... By far the greatest portion of the persons
buried in these grounds are not Dissenters at all....
The denomination to which I belong have about 120
chapels in and around London, and I believe there is
not more than a sixth part of them that have graveyards
attached.”
In the returns of the Metropolitan burial-grounds
which were made fifty or sixty years ago, those to
whom the work was entrusted generally expressed their
inability to find out the correct number of the Dissenters’
grounds, and Walker wrote, “I have not been
able to procure any satisfactory accounts of the numbers
interred in burying-grounds unconnected with the
Established Church. By some parties information was
refused, by others the records of the place were stated
to have been lost or neglected, and in some cases the
parties most interested in suppressing, had alone the
power to communicate.” When I first began, twelve
years ago, to make as complete a list as I could of the
London burial-grounds, I wrote to the secretaries at
the centres of the chief dissenting bodies, as I thought
.pn +1
.bn 139.jpg
they might possess information about the burial-grounds
of their own chapels. From the Congregationalists I
had no reply; the Wesleyans kindly answered that
they were endeavouring to procure the information,
but it never came; the Baptists wrote two or three
letters and took some trouble on my behalf, but they
failed even to find the number of their grounds. I
had, therefore, to seek my information in other
ways.
The only body of Nonconformists that has kept a
careful account of its graveyards is the Society of
Friends. They also treated their grounds and the
remains in them with greater respect (except in one
notable case to which I shall refer), and they kept
them neat and clean, and do so still. Walker recognised
this fact as long ago as 1847. A statement
respecting their graveyards was made by representatives
of the Society to the committee which sat in 1843,
showing that they still had considerable room in these
grounds, and that they were careful not to allow less
than 7 feet or 8 feet of earth above each coffin.
The Friends attend to all matters connected with their
meeting-houses and burial-grounds at their six weeks’
meeting, and each of these grounds has been a Quakers’
graveyard from the beginning, not changing hands,
first belonging to one community and then another, as
has been the case with so many of the chapel graveyards.
The members of the Society have also exercised a most
praiseworthy self-control by not wearing mourning,
.pn +1
.bn 140.jpg
by avoiding useless expense at funerals, and ostentatious
tombstones, memorials, or epitaphs. Until
about fifty years ago no tombstones were used at
all, as at Long Lane, S.E.; then they used small flat
ones, as at Hammersmith and Peckham; and finally
they adopted small upright ones, all the same shape,
about a quarter of the size of the ordinary headstones
in cemeteries. These may be seen at Ratcliff and
Stoke Newington, the graveyard at the latter place,
which surrounds the Park Street meeting-house, being
still in use. I wish that every one who intends to erect
a tombstone—and this is a note for Jews as well as
Christians—would, before doing so, pay a visit to a
Quakers’ burial-ground, and ponder on the matter
there. An interesting article on the Society of Friends
has appeared in the Times of January 8, 1896, in which
the following words are quoted, “The Quakers—the
man and the Society—must move or perish.” But I
trust they may not move forward with the times in
adopting more elaborate burial customs.
Four of the Quakers’ graveyards have entirely disappeared.
The burial-ground for the Friends of
Westminster was in Long Acre, by Castle Street. It
passed out of their hands in 1757, and was built upon.
In rebuilding houses on the same spot, about four years
ago, many human remains were disturbed. These were
claimed by the Society, which was allowed to collect
them and bury them at Isleworth. There was a little
meeting-house with a burial-ground attached in Wapping
.pn +1
.bn 141.jpg
Street, which seems to have been used until about
1779, but was then demolished, the worshippers moving
to the meeting in Brook Street, Ratcliff. The other
two burial-grounds which the Friends have lost were in
Worcester Street and Ewer Street, Southwark. The
latter, although it adjoined their Old Park Meeting
(which the King took as a guard house), may never
have been used by them. At any rate in 1839 it was
in private hands, and eventually disappeared under the
railway. The former, which dated from 1666, was
very full, so that in 1733 the surface was raised
above the original level. This was demolished when
Southwark Street was made (1860); and the London
Bridge and Charing Cross Railway also runs over its
site. The Friends then moved the remains and a
number of coffins to their ground in Long Lane,
Bermondsey.[#]
.pm fn-start
A most interesting report upon this removal was made by the
Surveyor to the six weeks’ meeting, in which are contained some
excellent remarks upon the futility of burying in lead coffins, nine
of these being found in the ground. The graveyard had been
disused since 1799.
.pm fn-end
The Quakers of the Bull-and-Mouth and Peel
Divisions used a large ground near Bunhill Fields,
between Checquer Alley and Coleman (now Roscoe)
Street. It was acquired in 1661, and many times
added to, and was used extensively by them at the
time of the Great Plague, when they had their own
special dead-cart. George Fox’s body was carried here
.pn +1
.bn 142.jpg
in 1690, an orderly procession, numbering 4,000 persons,
following to the grave. In 1840 a school was built
in it, and the rest of the tale it grieves me to tell. A
part of the burial-ground exists now, not half an acre in
area. It is neatly laid out as a sort of private garden.
Five thousand bodies were dug up in the other part
and buried, with carbolic acid, in a corner of the
existing piece, and the site from which they were
removed is now covered with a Board School, a coffee palace,
houses, and shops, including the Bunhill Fields
Memorial Buildings, erected in 1881.[#]
.pm fn-start
Although 12,000 Quakers were buried in the Coleman Street
ground, including Edward Burrough and others who died as
martyrs in Newgate Gaol, George Fox’s grave was the only one
marked by a stone,—a small tablet on the wall, with the simple
inscription, “G. F.” This attracted visits from country Friends in
such numbers that a zealous member of the Society named Robert
Howard “pronounced it ‘Nehushtan,’” and caused it to be destroyed.
.pm fn-end
The remainder of the Friends’ burial-grounds are
intact. The one in Baker’s Row, Whitechapel (acquired
in 1687 and used by the Devonshire House Division),
is now a recreation ground; and the one in Long Lane,
Bermondsey, which was bought in 1697 for £120, has
lately been laid out for the use of the public. In addition
to these there are, in London itself, five little
grounds adjoining meeting-houses in High Street,
Deptford, in Brook Street, Ratcliff, in High Street,
Wandsworth (given by Joan Stringer in 1697),
by the Creek, Hammersmith, and in Hanover Street,
.pn +1
.bn 143.jpg
Peckham Rye. The Society acquired the Ratcliff
ground in 1666 or 1667, the land being originally
copyhold, but enfranchised in 1734 for £21. All
these grounds are neatly kept; the one in Peckham,
which dates from 1821, is beautiful, and illustrates
what can be done with a disused and closed graveyard,
not even visible from the road, when it is treated with
proper care and respect. Many of the burial-grounds
just outside London have been sold with the meeting-houses.
There are not many Roman Catholic burial-grounds
in London apart from those attached to conventual
.pn +1
.bn 144.jpg
establishments. St. Mary’s Church, Moorfields, has
a very small churchyard and had two additional
grounds, one in Bethnal Green which has disappeared,
and one in Wades Place, Poplar, now used as a school
playground. This is the case also with a Roman
Catholic burial-ground in Duncan Terrace, Islington,
which has been asphalted for the use of the boys’
school, some tombstones and a figure of the Virgin
Mary being in an enclosure on the north side. There
is a very large ground dedicated to All Souls, by St.
Mary’s Church, Cadogan Terrace, Chelsea, and a small
one by the church in Parker’s Row, Dockhead, S.E.,
the garden here, which is now a recreation ground for
the schools or the sisters, having also been used for
burials. There is one in Woolwich, lately encroached
upon through the enlargement of the school, where
three lonely-looking graves are in a railed-in enclosure
in the middle of a tar-paved yard; and there is also
the ground behind St. Thomas’s, Fulham, which is still
in use.
.if h
.il fn=i_143.jpg id=i143 w=600px
.ca
FRIENDS’ BURIAL-GROUND IN WHITECHAPEL.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: FRIENDS’ BURIAL-GROUND IN WHITECHAPEL.]
.if-
But the burial-grounds adjoining Baptist, Wesleyan,
Independent, and other Chapels, what shall be said of
them? They have suffered terribly in the slaughter,
and although many still exist, a very large number
have entirely disappeared. Only three are open as
public gardens—the Wesleyan ground in Cable Street,
St. George’s in the East, which was added to St.
George’s churchyard garden in 1875; the ground
behind the Independent Chapel by St. Thomas’
.pn +1
.bn 145.jpg
Square, Hackney; and the burial-ground adjoining
Whitfield’s Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road, the
subject of much litigation, which was opened in
February, 1895, by the London County Council.
The original chapel on this site was founded by
George Whitefield in 1756, amongst his supporters
being the Countess of Huntingdon, David Garrick,
and Benjamin Franklin. One other graveyard was laid
out as a garden, that adjoining Trinity Chapel, East
India Dock Road, but it is now closed, no one at
present undertaking its maintenance.
.if h
.il fn=i_145.jpg id=i145 w=600px
.ca
WHITFIELD’S TABERNACLE.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: WHITFIELD’S TABERNACLE.]
.if-
For the rest of the grounds, not only Methodist
but also Congregationalist and above all Baptist, we
must employ the “diligent search in dirty corners,”
but all the seeking in the world will not restore those
that are gone—sold and built upon. The fates of
some of them are recorded in #Appendix B:AppB#. The
.pn +1
.bn 146.jpg
parishes south of the river seem to have been great
strongholds of dissent. Woolwich, Deptford, Walworth,
and Wandsworth are still full of chapels, many of
which have burial-grounds attached. North of the
Thames perhaps Hackney is richest in chapels and
chapel graveyards, including the Unitarian in Chatham
Place. Whitechapel also had a great many. But in
the Borough and other parts of Southwark the little
meeting-houses swarmed at one time, some of which,
with their little burial-grounds, still exist. A few of
the chapels now belong to the Salvation Army; one
in York Street, Walworth, has lately been acquired
as the Robert Browning Hall, and its burial-ground is
to be a public garden; others in Peckham, Woolwich,
and Hammersmith have been converted into schools
(the two last named being board schools), their graveyards
being the playgrounds; and many more have
fallen from their first estate.
It might be instructive to those who are not well
acquainted with South London to take a walk, in
imagination, through Long Lane. It begins at St.
George the Martyr, Borough, of “Little Dorrit” fame,
where the churchyard is a public garden. Close by
this, also on the north side of the lane, there used to
be a Baptist Chapel in Sheer’s Alley, with a burial-ground.
Wilmott’s Buildings occupy the site. Very
little beyond is Collier’s Rents. Here is a chapel
which used to belong to the Baptists, but is now in
the hands of the Congregational Union. Its dreary
.pn +1
.bn 147.jpg
little graveyard is on the north side, behind a high
wall. A little further on, and opposite, is Southwark
Chapel (Wesleyan), built in 1808. It also has a graveyard,
where the chief ornament is a hen-coop amongst
the tumbling tombstones. A short turning to the
north, Nelson Street, takes us to the disused burial-ground
of Guy’s Hospital; and before we come to the
end of the lane there are three more grounds to be
seen, that belonging to the Society of Friends, already
mentioned in this Chapter, and one that adjoins it
and is owned by the trustees of a neighbouring Baptist
Chapel, which is very small and has a minister’s vault
in the middle. This ground originally belonged to
the Independents of Beck Street, and its appellation
when closed was the Neckinger Road Chapel burial-ground.
Lastly we come to St. Mary Magdalene’s,
the parish church of Bermondsey, with a charming
churchyard garden which includes a portion of the
cemetery of Bermondsey Abbey. And yet Long Lane
is only about half a mile in length!
It is a little curious to notice that in the next parish,
Rotherhithe, there are no less than five churchyards, but
not a single burial-ground belonging to the Dissenters.
When visiting the burial-grounds for the London
County Council, I was much struck with three that
seemed particularly neglected and untidy. These were
the Baptist ground in Mare Street, Hackney, which
was being used for the storage of old wood, furniture,
and flower-pots; the ground behind the pretentious
.pn +1
.bn 148.jpg
Congregational Chapel on Stockwell Green, where all
kinds of dirty rubbish, paper, iron-building materials,
the broken top of a lamp-post, &c., were lying about
amongst the sinking graves; and a little ground in
Church Street, Deptford, behind a chapel which belongs
to a General Baptist (Unitarian) connection, whose
creed I do not pretend to understand, but whose
railings were so broken that a far larger visitor than
I could have followed me through the gaps to behold
broken tombstones, collections of unsavoury rubbish,
and another specimen of the worn-out top of a lamp-post.
There were many other very untidy grounds,
such as those by the Wesleyan Chapel in Liverpool
Road, King’s Cross, and the Congregational Chapel in
Esher Street, Lambeth; but I think the three I have
mentioned above would have been—in the Spring of
1895, at any rate—awarded the first, second, and third
prizes in a competition for neglect; and in January,
1896, I find these grounds are in much the same condition
as they were then.
It is pleasant to turn to some of the chapel
grounds which are well kept. The one which adjoins
the Congregational Church in High Street, Deptford,
is generally neat; so is the graveyard of the City Road
Chapel, at any rate at its western end, where John
Wesley’s monument stands; and the same may be said
of the portions that are left of the grounds adjoining
Union Chapel, Streatham Hill, and the New West
End Baptist Chapel in King Street, Hammersmith.
.pn +1
.bn 149.jpg
.if h
.il fn=i_149.jpg id=i149 w=411px
.ca
WESLEY’S MONUMENT IN THE GRAVEYARD OF THE CITY ROAD CHAPEL.
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.if-
.if t
[Illustration: WESLEY’S MONUMENT IN THE GRAVEYARD OF THE CITY ROAD CHAPEL.]
.if-
There was a large burial-ground behind a chapel in
Cannon Street Road, E. The building passed into the
hands of the Rector of St. George’s in the East, but
was afterwards pulled down, and one of Raine’s
Foundation Schools was subsequently erected on its
site. The burial-ground, in which many Lascars[#] were
interred, is now in three parts. One is a small playground
for the school, the largest part is Messrs.
Seaward Brothers’ yard for their carts, and the third
piece is a cooper’s yard belonging to Messrs. Hasted
.pn +1
.bn 150.jpg
and Sons. A similar kind of chapel in Penrose Street,
Walworth, known for a time as St. John’s Episcopal
Chapel, is now the studio of a scenic artist, while the
large burial-ground in the rear is the depôt of the
Newington Vestry, and is full of carts, manure, gravel,
dust, stones, &c.
.pm fn-start
These Lascars used to live in a court near by, and are said to
have been locked in at night.
.pm fn-end
The East London Railway has swallowed up the
graveyards by Rose Lane Chapel, Stepney, and the
Sabbatarian or Seventh Day Baptists’ Chapel in Mill
Yard, by Leman Street; the Medical School of Guy’s
Hospital is on the Mazepond Baptist Chapel-ground;
the site of one which adjoined the London Road
Chapel, S.E., is now occupied by a tailor’s shop, the
next house being on the space where the chapel stood,
and these two shops are easily picked out in the row
as they are higher and newer than their neighbours on
either side. A little Baptist graveyard in Dipping
Alley, Horselydown, which had a baptistery in it,
disappeared very many years ago; the site of the
Baptist Chapel and burial-ground in Worship Street,
Shoreditch, forms a part of the yard used as the goods
depôt of the London and North Western Railway; a
similar one in Broad Street, Wapping, is now, I believe,
a milkman’s yard, and was for many years previously
the parish stoneyard; while the very crowded ground
which used to be behind Buckingham Chapel, Palace
Street, has a brewery on it. There is a little graveyard
in front of Maberley Chapel, Ball’s Pond (now
called Earlham Hall), but the three tombstones that
.pn +1
.bn 151.jpg
are left in it are not only put upon the north wall of
the chapel, but have actually been painted with the
wall.
I have mentioned that a few of the chapels have
been replaced by schools, but I ought also to mention
that the graveyards behind Abney Chapel, Stoke
Newington, N., Denmark Row Chapel, Coldharbour
Lane, S.E., and the chapel in Hanbury Street, Mile
End New Town, E., were only closed for a very few
years before school buildings were erected on them. A
small yard remains of the last named, but practically
nothing is left of the others. The site of the graveyard
in the rear of the chapel in Gloucester Street,
Shoreditch, has, together with that of the chapel itself,
been merged into the premises of the Gaslight and
Coke Company.
These are specimens of the uses to which the
Dissenters’ grounds have been put, and which we want
to prevent in the future, for I hope that it may
not be long before many of those that have not
been entirely lost are “converted” into cheerful
resting-places for the use of the living.
It is the question of their maintenance, when they
are once laid out, that has hitherto caused so much
difficulty, and this not only with the Dissenters’ grounds,
but also with the churchyards. Where the Vestry or
District Board of Works will undertake to maintain a
ground under the Open Spaces Acts it is simple enough,
and in many cases this has been done most effectually.
.pn +1
.bn 152.jpg
But some of these bodies will not accept the responsibility.
The Corporation keeps up St. Paul’s Churchyard
and Bunhill Fields, and the London County
Council maintains Whitfield’s Tabernacle ground and
ten graveyards which were laid out by the Metropolitan
Public Gardens Association. It was with great
difficulty and after a hard fight that the Earl of Meath
managed to induce the Council to take over some of
these grounds (and this only year by year), together with
several squares and playgrounds, the maintenance of
which was too heavy a burden upon the funds of a
voluntary society. Of late years the Association has
not laid out any burial-ground until its future maintenance
is legally secured. A short time ago, soon
after the publication of the return prepared by me for
the Council, the Parks and Open Spaces Committee
recommended that a conference should be held to
consider some general scheme for the treatment of the
burial-grounds which are still closed, their acquisition
for the use of the public, and their maintenance, it
being felt somewhat unjust that while some of the
Metropolitan vestries and boards (such as St. Pancras
and Hackney) were annually expending considerable
sums in the upkeep of graveyard gardens, others (such
as Rotherhithe and Limehouse) declined to do so.
But the recommendation, when it came before the
general meeting of the Council, was withdrawn for
the time being, and the whole question remains in statu
quo ante.
.pn +1
.bn 153.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch08
CHAPTER VIII||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“The very names recorded here are strange,
Of foreign accent, and of different climes;
Alvares and Revira interchange
With Abraham and Jacob of old times.”
Longfellow.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
It is only natural that in London, to which so many
from other countries have fled, and where so many
foreigners have lived, worked, and died, there should
be evidences left of their places of interment. Solitary
cases of their burial among Englishmen are, of course,
to be met with everywhere, and there are many such in
the London graveyards. In Rotherhithe Churchyard
is a well-known tombstone erected to the memory of
Prince Lee-boo of the Pelew Islands, who died in
1784; in St. Ann’s, Soho, there is a tablet to that of
Theodore, the last King of Corsica; there is the grave
of an Indian chief in the burial-ground of St. John’s,
Westminster, in Horseferry Road; and it is said that
the first person interred in a part of Bishopsgate
.pn +1
.bn 154.jpg
Churchyard was a Frenchman named Martin de la
Tour, while this ground also used to contain a very
old altar tomb with a Persian inscription round it to
the memory of Coya Shawsware, a Persian merchant,
who died in 1626. The edition of Stow’s “Survey,”
published in 1633, contains a picture of this monument
and an account of the funeral ceremonies which
took place at the grave. Maitland also refers to it,
but gives a totally different first name to the merchant.
It is evident that for some time after his burial his son
and other friends used to gather at the grave twice a
.pn +1
.bn 155.jpg
day for prayer and funeral devotions, until driven away
by the ridicule of the populace.
.if h
.il fn=i_154.jpg id=i154 w=600px
.ca
JEWISH CEMETERY, MILE END.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: JEWISH CEMETERY, MILE END.]
.if-
.pi
But there have been in London many special burial-grounds
belonging to special groups of foreigners, and
several of them remain. Foremost among these are
the Jewish cemeteries.
Until the year 1177, the time of Henry II., the
Jews in England were only allowed one burial-place.
It was known as the Jews’ Garden and was outside the
wall of London by Cripplegate, several acres being
devoted to the purpose—a neighbourhood subsequently
known by the name of Leyrestowe. When other
burial-places were permitted, this ground was built
upon, but the remembrance of it still lives in the name
of one street in the district, Jewin Street, reminding
us of the time of the bitter persecutions which the
Jews suffered, and which are chronicled, to our shame,
in English history.
.pm verse-start
“Pride and humiliation hand in hand
Walked with them thro’ the world where’er they went;
Trampled and beaten were they as the sand,
And yet unshaken as the continent.”
.pm verse-end
In the first place it is to be noticed that the Jews,
as a race, are particularly pledged to preserve their
burial-places. This is not a law among them—so I
have been told by the Chief Rabbi—but a binding
obligation handed down from the most ancient times,
and any disturbance of the burial-grounds which now
.pn +1
.bn 156.jpg
exist is not permitted. No doubt it was totally beyond
their power to prevent the “Jews’ Garden” from being
covered with streets, its very size and position rendered
it practically impossible to preserve, and it was probably
annihilated during one of those periods when the Jews
were expelled from England. Another exception which
proves the rule is at Oxford, where the Botanic Garden,
which dates from 1622, was made on the site of the
Jewish burial-ground.
They also strictly observed the sanitary laws respecting
burial laid down for them, and their cemeteries
have not been overcrowded. Burial is only allowed
at 6 feet from the surface of the ground, and only one
body is in each grave, one coffin not being placed above
another; and this rule has been carried out in the Jewish
burial-grounds in London—again with one exception.
In the very large, old graveyard in Brady Street,
Bethnal Green (formerly called North Street), there
are walls running through it, and the southern half is
higher than the northern half, having quite a hilly
appearance. The following is the explanation. This
half of the ground was originally allotted to “strangers,”
Jews who belonged to no special congregation. About
thirty years after it was full, a layer of earth, 4 feet in
depth, was added to the ground, and it was used over
again. As the coffins were again placed 6 feet from
the surface, there still remained 4 feet of earth between
them and the old ones beneath. As a result of this
curious and interesting arrangement, there may be seen,
.pn +1
.bn 157.jpg
in several cases, two gravestones standing up back to
back, which represent the two graves below them.
Here lie buried, with other members of the family,
Nathan Mayer de Rothschild, the founder of the
English house of Rothschild, Asher and Benjamin
Goldsmid, and many another Jew famous on ’Change.
Within the Metropolitan area there are at present
nine Jewish graveyards; there are others more lately
acquired, and all still in use, at Willesden, West Ham,
Edmonton, Plashet, and Golders Green, Hendon, The
disused grounds which belong to the United Synagogue
are those in Brady Street, Bethnal Green, E., Hoxton
Street, N., Alderney Road, Mile End, E., and Grove
Street, Hackney, E., and I cannot, unfortunately, call
them well kept, but the neatest is the one in Alderney
Road. In all of them the tombstones are upright,
rather above the average size, and with inscriptions
upon them which are almost invariably in Hebrew.
The one in Hoxton is very small. It was originally
formed for the use of the Hamborough Synagogue,
Fenchurch Street, and was first used about the year
1700. All these grounds are old, part of the one in
Alderney Road dates from about 1700, while the Brady
Street Cemetery was formed in 1795. Many of the
tombstones have at the top a representation of two outstretched
hands with the thumbs joining, the symbol
of descendants of Aaron, the High Priest. Others have
a hand pouring water out of a flagon, and they are
over the graves of the Levites whose duty in the synagogue
.pn +1
.bn 158.jpg
is to pour water upon the hands of the Priests
(the above-mentioned descendants of Aaron), who are
nearly all named Cohen.
.if h
.il fn=i_158.jpg id=i158 w=600px
.ca
JEWISH CEMETERY IN FULHAM ROAD.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: JEWISH CEMETERY IN FULHAM ROAD.]
.if-
In Ball’s Pond, Islington, is the small cemetery of the
West London Congregation of British Jews, which is
still in use. Here some very large and extravagant
tombstones may be seen, and the ground is very neatly
kept. In Fulham Road (Queen’s Elm) is a dreary
little ground belonging to the synagogue in St. Alban’s
Place, S.W. I believe an occasional interment takes
.pn +1
.bn 159.jpg
place here in reserve plots, but the congregation has
provided itself with another cemetery at Edmonton. I
am indebted to the kindness of Mr. R. Proctor for the
photograph of this graveyard. Some few years back,
before the Disused Burial-grounds Act was in force,
a row of shops was built on the west frontage of the
ground, the one body lying in that part being removed
to another place. No doubt the freehold worth of the
land was considerable at that time, and therefore the
congregation disregarded their scruples concerning this
one deceased member. The graveyard can only be
visited between certain hours on Sundays, but the rest
of the Jewish cemeteries have resident caretakers. In
Bancroft Road, Mile End, is another dreary place,
which, although in so crowded a district, is still in use.
When last I visited it I was told there was room for
about four more graves! It belongs to the Maiden
Lane Synagogue. None of these grounds, except that
at Ball’s Pond, have proper paths in them; they have
been entirely filled with graves, between which a few
narrow lines like sheep-tracks wind about the grass.
.if h
.il fn=i_160.jpg id=i160 w=600px
.ca
JEWISH BURIAL-GROUND BEHIND THE BETH HOLIM HOSPITAL, MILE END.
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.if-
.if t
[Illustration: JEWISH BURIAL-GROUND BEHIND THE BETH HOLIM HOSPITAL, MILE END.]
.if-
Lastly, there are the cemeteries of the Spanish and
Portuguese Jews—one, closed for burials, behind the
Beth Holim Hospital in Mile End Road, and one,
nearly five acres in extent and still in use, just beyond
the People’s Palace. These are neatly kept, the former,
or at any rate a part of it, being actually turned into
a sort of garden for the patients in the hospital, with
trees in it, paths and seats. The latter is bare of trees
.pn +1
.bn 160.jpg
or shrubs, but is divided into plots, with paths between.
In both of them the tombstones, unlike those in the
other Jewish grounds, are flat, either slabs on the
ground or low altar tombs; and in the large ground
there are many children’s graves, marked by much
smaller altar tombs dotted amongst the large ones,
which are very unique and interesting. The Hebrew
inscription at the entrance tells us that this is “The
House of the Living,”—“Beth Hayim.” The cemetery
was acquired in 1657, and contains the remains of the
ancestors of Lord Beaconsfield, the Eardley family,
Sampson Gideon, the Samudas, D’Aguilars, Ricardos,
.pn +1
.bn 161.jpg
Lopes, and many others who trace their descent from
Sephardi Jews.
Hitherto it has not been possible to secure any of
the Jewish graveyards as public gardens, the feeling of
the community is against it, but the day may yet come
when the Council of the United Synagogue will allow
the experiment to be tried.
.if h
.il fn=i_161.jpg id=i161 w=600px
.ca
JEWISH CEMETERY, MILE END.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: JEWISH CEMETERY, MILE END.]
.if-
The burial-ground of the Greeks in London is an
enclosure in Norwood Cemetery, where some elaborate
monuments may be seen. The Mohammedans can
practise their rites at Woking.
.pn +1
.bn 162.jpg
There is no special place at the present time, I
believe, where Danes and Swedes are buried, but their
churches, with surrounding graveyards, were situated
close together, in Wellclose and Prince’s Square, E.
The church in Prince’s Square is still the Swedish
church of London (Eleanora), and there is a notice at
the corner of a turning on the south side of Cable
Street, St. George’s in the East,—“Till Svenska Kyrkan.”
Here, in a vault, are the remains of Emmanuel Swedenborg
himself, while the garden contains many tombstones,
especially an inner enclosure which was filled
first. But the building now situated in Wellclose
Square is no longer the Danish or Mariner’s Church,
the site is occupied by schools and mission buildings in
connection with St. Paul’s, Dock Street, the present
seaman’s church. Nor are there any tombstones in
the garden, although it is certain that many Danes and
many sailors were buried under the church, and in a
surrounding graveyard, which was probably an inner
enclosure like that in Prince’s Square. Mention of it
is made by Northook in 1773, and by Malcolm in
1803; and there is a picture of the church in Maitland’s
“History of London.” The following account from
the “Beauties of London and Middlesex (1815)” is
also of interest:—“At the extremity of this parish is
Wellclose Square, which has also borne the name of
Marine Square, from the number of sea officers who
used to reside in it. It is a pretty little neat square;
but its principal ornament is the Danish church in the
.pn +1
.bn 163.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 164.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 165.jpg
centre, in the midst of its churchyard, planted with
trees.... This structure was erected in 1696, at the
expense of Christian V., King of Denmark, as appears
by the inscription: ‘Templem Dano Norwegicum
intercessione et munificentia serenissimi Danorum Regis
Christiani Quinti erectum MDCXCVI.’ Gaius Gabriel
Cibber was the architect, who erected a monument
within this church to the memory of his wife Jane,
daughter of William Colley, Esq., and mother of Colley
Cibber, the famous dramatist. The architect himself is
also buried here.” The Flemish burial-ground was in
the district of St. Olave’s, Southwark. It adjoined a
chapel in Carter Lane, and before its demolition was
used as an additional graveyard by the parishes of St.
Olave and St. John, especially the former. When the
railway to Greenwich was made this ground disappeared,
and part of its site forms the approach to London
Bridge Station.
.if h
.il fn=i_163.jpg id=i163 w=600px
.ca
A South View of QUEEN ELIZABETH’S FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL in Tooley
Street in the Parish of S^t. Olave, Southwark, with a Plan of the
adjacent Neighbourhood
THE FLEMISH BURIAL-GROUND, CARTER LANE, ABOUT 1817.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration:
A South View of QUEEN ELIZABETH’S FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL
in Tooley Street in the Parish of St. Olave, Southwark,
with a Plan of the adjacent Neighbourhood
THE FLEMISH BURIAL-GROUND, CARTER LANE, ABOUT 1817.]
.if-
In Milman’s Row, Chelsea, there is a quaint and
curious burial-ground belonging to the Moravians.
The adjoining buildings have passed out of their
hands, their present chapel being in Fetter Lane,
E.C. In 1750 Count Zinzendorf purchased two
acres of land (a part of the garden and stables of
Beaufort House) of Sir Hans Sloane, about one acre
of which was set aside for burials, and divided into
four parts—the first for male infants and single
brothers, the second for female infants and single
sisters, the third for married brothers and widowers,
.pn +1
.bn 166.jpg
and the fourth for married sisters and widows. The
stones are flat on the grass and very small, not more
than about 11 or 15 inches by 10 or 12 inches in size,
and the ground was closed for interments about the
year 1888.
There is no purely Dutch place of interment in
London now. Besides the Dutch Church in Austin
Friars (the survival of the priory of the Augustine
Friars), which has lost its churchyard, they used to
have a few chapels which seemed to change hands,
sometimes belonging to Dutch and at other times to
German congregations. Such was Zoar chapel, in
Great Alie Street, Whitechapel, which is now a
Baptist conventicle. It had a fair-sized burial-ground
behind it at the beginning of the century, the site
of which is covered by houses and a forge. One
day recently I knocked at the door of this chapel,
hoping to be allowed to look round it, in order to
make sure that no part of the yard was left. The
woman who opened it, when I politely asked if I
might go in, said “No!” and slammed the door
again at once. One meets with varied receptions in
different places, Two German churches, with graveyards
attached, were also in this neighbourhood—the
Lutheran (St. George’s), in Little Alie Street, and
the Protestant Reformed Church, in Hooper Square.
The latter has entirely disappeared, the railway covering
its site. The former church still exists, with the
little yard behind it, separated by a wall from the
.pn +1
.bn 167.jpg
adjoining schoolyard, but the entrance from Little
Alie Street has been bricked up.
The precinct of the Savoy had a distinctly foreign
flavour about it, but the Savoy Chapel itself is now
the only remnant left of the large group of buildings
which were used at different times as palace, hospital,
barracks, and prison, and finally demolished in 1877.
The churchyard is probably even older than the
church. It is now a neat little garden, in the
possession of Her Majesty the Queen, as Duchess
of Lancaster, and laid out, chiefly at her cost, for
the use of the public. This is the burial-ground described
by Dickens, in All the Year Round, with some
of his tenderest touches, and of which he says: “I
think that on summer nights the dew falls here—the
only dew that is shed in all London, beyond the tears
of the homeless.” But the Savoy used to contain one,
if not two, German chapels, besides a French Jesuit
chapel and a meeting-place for Persian worship. The
German church (wrongly called Dutch on Rocque’s
plan) had a burial-ground on its west side, which is
marked on the ordnance maps, except the very latest, as
it survived until 1876, when the human remains were
removed to a cemetery at Colney Hatch. Now its
site is covered by part of the new block of buildings
which include the Savoy Chambers and the Medical
Examination Hall. The Rev. W. Loftie’s book,
“Memorials of the Savoy,” gives a full and interesting
history of the Precinct, and is, as is usual with his
.pn +1
.bn 168.jpg
works, compiled with care and truthfulness; but
beyond simply mentioning the existence of the German
burial-ground he has nothing to tell of it. We should
have liked to know what the gravestones were like,
and whether any persons of distinction were interred
there.
We now turn to the French in London, and these
have to be divided into the Roman Catholics and
the Huguenots. No doubt Frenchmen and Frenchwomen
have been laid to rest in the burial-grounds
attached to all the Roman Catholic churches, and
especially in All Souls Cemetery, behind the chapel
of St. Mary, in Cadogan Place, Chelsea, which chapel
was built by M. Voyaux de Franous, a French Émigré
clergyman, and consecrated in 1811. Large numbers
were also interred at St. Pancras, the eastern end of
the old churchyard receiving, in consequence, the name
of “Catholic Pancras.” But this is the part which
has been so much disturbed and appropriated by the
Midland Railway Company, and what remains of it
is some dreary, dark slips under the railway arches,
and groups and hillocks of tombstones which were
moved into the western part of the ground, where,
amongst other illustrious graves, are those of Dr.
Walker, of dictionary fame, Mary Woolstoncraft
Godwin, and William Woollett, the engraver.
.if h
.il fn=i_169.jpg id=i169 w=600px
.ca
EAST HILL BURIAL-GROUND, WANDSWORTH.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: EAST HILL BURIAL-GROUND, WANDSWORTH.]
.if-
About the year 1687 between thirteen and fourteen
thousand French Protestants, driven from home by
the intolerance of Louis XIV., settled in London,
.pn +1
.bn 169.jpg
some in Spitalfields, others in the district of St. Giles’
and Seven Dials, in Stepney, and in Wandsworth.
There was a French church at Wandsworth, which
subsequently fell into the hands of the Wesleyans,
and the Huguenots who settled in this locality were
chiefly engaged in trade as hatters. As a result of
these settlements we find their graves in Bethnal
Green Churchyard and other places, but especially in
the East Hill burial-ground at Wandsworth, where
many French Protestants of note were interred, and
where there are some fine old headstones and altar
tombs. It is a picturesque ground between the two
.pn +1
.bn 170.jpg
roads, but, with the exception of a pathway through
it, it is not open to the public.
Foreigners now have to be buried in the cemeteries,
and many a strange service or ceremony has been held
at the graveside of those who belong to other climes,
especially, perhaps, in Kensal Green Cemetery, Norwood
Cemetery, and the others that are non-parochial.
The Jews and the Greeks are, I believe, the only
communities of strangers who still keep up separate
burial-grounds of their own in London.
.pn +1
.bn 171.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch09
CHAPTER IX||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“Such ebb and flow must ever be,
Then wherefore should we mourn?”
Wordsworth.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
When the Greyfriars, or Christ’s Hospital, was set
aside for “poor children,” and Bridewell for “the
correction of vagabonds,” St. Bartholomew’s Hospital
in the City and St. Thomas’s in Southwark were
devoted to the care of the “wounded, maimed, sick,
and diseased”; and in these four benevolent institutions,
which owe so much to the short-lived but
truly pious King Edward VI., there was provision
made for the burial of the dead. It must be remembered
that the quadrangle of Christ’s Hospital,
which is still surrounded by cloisters, was the burial-ground
of the Greyfriars, but apart from this, for
the boys of the school or the officers or servants,
there was a small plot of ground set apart as a
graveyard at the north-west corner of the block of
.pn +1
.bn 172.jpg
buildings. This was demolished when the great hall
was built, in 1825, and if any of its site remains
it is only a limited piece of the courtyard on the
north side of the hall and the doctor’s garden. A
few tombstones are preserved in the passage leading
to the doctor’s house. At this time was formed the
additional burial-ground for Christ Church at the
western end of the churchyard of St. Botolph, Aldersgate
Street. But the churchyard adjoining Christ
Church, and even the cloisters themselves, were used
from time to time by the Hospital, and it was the
custom in the last century for a “blue” to be buried
.pn +1
.bn 173.jpg
by torchlight. His schoolfellows passed through the
venerable courtyards and buildings in procession, two
by two, and sang a burial anthem from the 39th Psalm,
which must have been a most solemn and touching sight,
and was “particularly adapted to the monastic territory”
of the Hospital. It will be a sad day when
this noble old school is torn from its rightful home
in the City of London, and when the boys receive a
“modern” education in a trim, new building, and
wear the dull tweed suit and the school cap dragged
on at the back of their heads; and it is well to
impress again and again upon the Charity Commissioners
and the Almoners of the Hospital that a
very considerable portion of the site will not be
available for building upon, as it will come under
the provisions of the Disused Burial-grounds Act.
The same remark applies with even greater force to
the neighbouring hospital, the Charterhouse, where
all the gardens and courtyards, including the Square
itself and the little burial-ground which is still recognisable
as such, have been used at one time or another
for interments. I have explained how this came about
in a former chapter.
.if h
.il fn=i_172.jpg id=i172 w=600px
.ca
A CORNER OF CHRIST’S HOSPITAL, THE GREYFRIARS’ CLOISTERS.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: A CORNER OF CHRIST’S HOSPITAL, THE GREYFRIARS’ CLOISTERS.]
.if-
.pi
I think it probable that when St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital was far smaller than it is now, burials took
place in the cloisters, or rather in the large space in
the middle of which the western wing was built. In a
very interesting old plan of the precincts, dated 1617,
there is not only shown the “Church-yarde for ye
.pn +1
.bn 174.jpg
poore” in two pieces, about where the west wing is
now, but also a large ground which is named Christ
Church Churchyard, to the south of this, but north of
the City wall. The hospital later on used the Bethlem
burial-ground, and the ground set aside eventually as
the hospital graveyard (for the interment of unclaimed
corpses), is in Seward Street, Goswell Road. This was
first used about 1740, and, after being closed for
burials, it was let as a carter’s yard and was full
of sheds and vans. Through the kindness of the
Governors, it fell into the hands of the Metropolitan
Public Gardens Association, and it is now a children’s
recreation ground maintained by St. Luke’s Vestry.
The burial-ground of St. Thomas’s Hospital is at the
corner of Mazepond; on part of it St. Olave’s
Rectory and Messrs. Bevington’s leather warehouse
were built; the remainder is leased to Guy’s Hospital,
and contains the treasurer’s stables and an asphalted
tennis-court for the use of the students. Guy’s
Hospital burial-ground is in Snow’s Fields, Bermondsey,
and is now a large builder’s yard, but there is a reasonable
hope of its being secured before long as a recreation
ground. The “unclaimed corpses” from the London
Hospital found their last resting-place very near home.
In 1849 the whole of the southern part of the
enclosure, quite an acre and a half, was the burial-ground,
and here, although it was closed by order in
Council in 1854, it appears that burials took place until
about 1860, one of the present porters remembering
.pn +1
.bn 175.jpg
his father acting as gravedigger. The medical school,
the chaplain’s house, and the nurse’s home have all
been built upon it, and it is sincerely to be hoped that
no further encroachments will be permitted. The
remaining part is the nurses’ and students’ garden and
tennis-court, where they are in the habit of capering
about in their short times off duty, and where it
sometimes happens that the grass gives way beneath
them—an ordinary occurrence when the subsoil is inhabited
by coffins!
.if h
.il fn=i_175.jpg id=i175 w=600px
.ca
LONDON HOSPITAL BURIAL-GROUND.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: LONDON HOSPITAL BURIAL-GROUND.]
.if-
Bridewell also had its burial-ground, where the lazy
and evil were interred. It is at the corner of Dorset
.pn +1
.bn 176.jpg
and Tudor Streets, near the Thames Embankment, and
is an untidy yard, boarded off from the street with a
high advertisement hoarding, and in the occupation of
a builder.
The Bethlem burial-ground had a more interesting
history. In 1569 Sir Thomas Roe, or Rowe, Merchant
Taylor and Mayor, gave about one acre of land in the
Moorfields “for Burial Ease to such parishes in
London as wanted convenient ground.” It was
especially intended for the parish of St. Botolph’s,
Bishopsgate, and was probably used for the interment of
lunatics from the neighbouring asylum, besides being
used by St. Bartholomew’s Hospital. It was enclosed
with a brick wall at the persuasion of “the Lady his
Wife,” and she was buried there; and it was the custom
upon Whit Sunday for the Lord Mayor and Aldermen
to listen to a sermon delivered in this “new churchyard,
near Bethlem.” We read that in 1584 “a very good
Sermon was preached ... and, by Reason no Plays
were the Same Day (i.e., Whit Sunday, as there used to
be), all the City was quiet.” But the Churchyard
and the Asylum have disappeared, Liverpool Street
Station having taken their place, and hundreds of the
Great Eastern Railway goods vans daily roll over the
mouldering remains of the departed citizens.
.if h
.il fn=i_177.jpg id=i177 w=600px
.ca
CHELSEA HOSPITAL GRAVEYARD.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: CHELSEA HOSPITAL GRAVEYARD.]
.if-
Very different to the fate of these hospital burial-grounds
is that of another one I will mention. Facing
Queen’s Road, Chelsea, is the long, narrow graveyard
of the Chelsea Hospital. It is neatly kept, with good
.pn +1
.bn 177.jpg
grass and trees. Here many a venerable pensioner has
been laid to rest, and, although it can no longer be
used for burials, it still serves to remind the living of
their brethren who have gone before them. There are
some fine monuments and epitaphs to very long-lived
invalids, two aged 112, one 111, one 107, and so on,
and it is one of those quiet and quaint corners of
London which form so marked a contrast to the noisy
streets close by. One pensioner, who died in 1732,
named William Hiseman and aged 112, was “a
veteran, if ever soldier was.” It is recorded that he
took unto himself a wife when he was above 100 years
.pn +1
.bn 178.jpg
old. There is something very peaceful about these old
men’s graves; the grain gathered in by the “Reaper
whose name is Death” was fully ripe:—
.pm verse-start
“It is not quiet, is not ease,
But something deeper far than these;
The separation that is here
Is of the grave; and of austere
Yet happy feelings of the dead.”
.pm verse-end
On the south side of the Thames there are some
other burial-grounds which should be mentioned here.
Greenwich Hospital possesses no less than three
cemeteries. In 1707 Prince George of Denmark gave
a plot of ground for the purpose, measuring 660 by
132 feet. This is on the west side of the Royal Naval
School. It is enclosed and full of tombstones. But
in 1747 an extra two and a half acres, surrounding the
old ground, were appropriated for interments. This
space is well kept, containing some fine trees and only a
few monuments. The gate from the school playground
is generally open. Then there is the Hospital Cemetery
in West Combe, nearly six acres in size, and first used
in 1857. The burial-ground of God’s Gift College
(Dulwich) is at the corner of Court Lane. It dates
from about 1700, and is a picturesque, well-kept little
ground, with several handsome altar tombs in it. The
cemetery of Morden College, Blackheath (founded for
decayed merchants about 1695) also exists. It is about
a quarter of an acre in size, with about eighty tombstones,
.pn +1
.bn 179.jpg
but the graves have been levelled, and the ground,
though still walled round, forms part of the College
gardens.
.if h
.il fn=i_179.jpg id=i179 w=600px
.ca
VIEW FROM THE ALMSHOUSES, WHITE HORSE STREET, STEPNEY.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: VIEW FROM THE ALMSHOUSES, WHITE HORSE STREET, STEPNEY.]
.if-
There were several almshouse graveyards in London,
including the “College yard” for St. Saviour’s Almshouses,
Southwark, which is now a builder’s store-yard
in Park Street, and over which the London, Brighton,
and South Coast Railway passes on arches, and one
behind the Goldsmith’s Almshouses, now covered by
the artisans’ dwellings on the west side of Goldsmith
Row, Shoreditch. The frightfully crowded “almshouse
ground” in Clement’s Lane formed part of
.pn +1
.bn 180.jpg
the site of the new Law Courts; while one in Crown
Street, Soho, adjoining St. Martin’s Almshouses, disappeared
when the French Chapel was built, and has
now been lost in Charing Cross Road. In order to
enter the almshouses in White Horse Street, Stepney,
it is necessary to pass through a graveyard, and it
cannot be a lively outlook for the pensioners, who
have gravestones just under their windows. It was
connected with the Independent Chapel, and first used
in 1781.
Perhaps the most interesting of these burial-grounds
is one which belonged to the Bancroft Almshouses in
Mile End Road. The fate of the asylum itself is well
known; it has been replaced by the People’s Palace,
and the improvement from an antiquarian or architectural
point of view is nil. The recent interest
taken in the proposed destruction of the Trinity
Hospital in Mile End Road points to the fact that the
pendulum of public opinion is now swinging towards
the preservation of historical buildings. The graveyard
of Bancroft’s Almshouses was a long strip on the
eastern side. Part of it has been merged into the
roadway. St. Benet’s Church (consecrated in 1872),
Hall, and Vicarage were built upon it, and the bones of
the pensioners are under the Vicarage garden. The
northernmost point of the graveyard is enclosed and
rooted over, and forms a little yard where flag-staffs,
&c., are stored. But between this and the wall of the
Vicarage there is a piece open to the road, with some
.pn +1
.bn 181.jpg
heaps of stones in it and rubbish. There are, at any
rate, four gravestones left, against the wall, and there
may be others behind the stones; but I daresay it is only
a very small proportion of those who pass in and out of
the Palace who have ever noticed this relic of the
Bancroft Almshouses.
In a large number of the London parishes it was
necessary to have “poor grounds,” i.e., graveyards
where bodies could be interred at a trifling cost or
entirely at the cost of the parish; for, notwithstanding
the great dislike of the poor to “a pauper’s funeral,”
and the efforts they will make to avoid it, there
always have been cases in which no other sort of
funeral can be arranged. Some of the “poor grounds”
were attached to the workhouses, others were merely a
part of the parish churchyards, while others again were
older additional burial-grounds secured by the parishes
before the days of workhouses.
The workhouse of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, was in
Shoe Lane, and in the adjoining graveyard the unfortunate
young genius, Chatterton, was buried. This
ground gave way to the Farringdon Market, which,
in its turn, has been supplanted by a new street called
Farringdon Avenue. The workhouse ground of St.
Sepulchre’s, Holborn, together with another additional
graveyard belonging to the parish, was in Durham
Yard, and the sites of both of them have disappeared
in the goods depôt of the Great Northern Railway.
The burial-grounds by the workhouses of Shoreditch,
.pn +1
.bn 182.jpg
St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, and St. Giles (in Short’s
Gardens) have also disappeared; so also has the one
allotted to the use of St. James’ Workhouse in Poland
Street, which was a part of the old pest-field, although
a remnant of the pest-field exists still as the workhouse
garden. The original Whitechapel Workhouse was
built in 1768 on a burial-ground, and then a plot of
land immediately to the north was set aside for a
poor ground, and consecrated in 1796. This in turn
became the playground of the Davenant Schools, one
of which (facing St. Mary’s Street) was built in it. A
recent addition to the other school has also encroached
on the burial-ground. In 1832 196 cholera cases
were interred in an adjoining piece of ground, which
was probably what is now used as a stoneyard, and is
full of carts. The workhouse graveyard, belonging to
St. Clement Danes, was in Portugal Street. The
workhouse itself was re-adapted and re-opened as
King’s College Hospital, but the burial-ground was
used until its condition was so loathsome, and the
burning of coffins and mutilation of bodies was of
such every-day occurrence, that it must have been
one of the very worst of such places in London. It
is now the garden or courtyard and approach, between
the hospital and Portugal Street. The burial-ground
attached to the Workhouse of St. Saviour’s, Southwark
(which may have been the old Baptist burial-ground
in Bandy Leg Walk which existed in 1729)
has a curious history. The workhouse was supplanted
.pn +1
.bn 183.jpg
by Winchester House, the palace of the bishops
when South London was in their diocese, the old
Winchester House, nearer the river, having been
destroyed. This in time became a hat manufactory,
the burial-ground remaining as a garden situated
between the building and Southwark Bridge Road.
Finally, the site was secured by the Metropolitan
Board of Works for the Central Fire Brigade Station,
and what is now left of the burial-ground is the
garden or courtyard between the new buildings which
face the road and the old house behind them. If the
paupers and the bishops and the factory hands did
not succeed in frightening away the ghosts of the
departed, they must have a sorry time of it now when
the call-bells from all parts of London bring out the
engines and the men who fight the flames.
Of the parochial “poor grounds” not adjoining
workhouses a few are worth noticing. St. Saviour’s,
Southwark, in addition to the workhouse ground, the
College or Almshouse ground, and the churchyard itself,
which was from time to time added to, curtailed and
used for markets, possessed still another graveyard, the
famous Cross Bones ground in Union Street, referred
to by Stow as having been made “far from the Parish
Church,” for the interment of the low women who
frequented the neighbourhood. It subsequently became
the parish poor ground, and after having been in use,
and very much overcrowded, for upwards of 200
years, it was closed by order in Council dated October
.pn +1
.bn 184.jpg
24, 1853. In a report upon the state of this ground
the previous year, it is stated that “it is crowded with
dead, and many fragments of undecayed bones, some
even entire, are mixed up with the earth of the mounds
over the graves,” and it “can be considered only as a
convenient place for getting rid of the dead, but it
bears no marks of ever having been set apart as
a place of Christian sepulture.” The Cross Bones
ground passed out of the hands of the rector several
years ago and was sold as a building site, but building
operations were opposed and stopped. Schools
were erected in it before it was closed for burials. It
has been the subject of much litigation, and it now
stands vacant, waiting for some one to purchase it as a
playground, and used in the meantime as the site for
fairs, merry-go-rounds, and cheap shows.
The “poor ground” for the parish of St. George the
Martyr, Southwark, is a square plot of land, now a
little public garden, in Tabard Street. It was originally
the burial-ground of the adjoining Lock Hospital
before that building was removed in 1809 to Knightsbridge,
whence, later on, it was again removed to
Harrow Road. It is said by some that the little
cemetery was even older than the hospital, and may
have been used for interments during no less than
eight centuries. The Cripplegate “Poor ground,” or
the “upper churchyard of St. Giles,” was in Bear and
Ragged Staff Yard (afterwards called Warwick Place)
out of Whitecross Street, and was first used in 1636.
.pn +1
.bn 185.jpg
It was very much overcrowded, so much so that it
was more than once shut up for a few years as full,
but always re-opened again. A part of the site is now
occupied by the northern half of the church of St.
Mary, Charterhouse, and by its mission-house, there
being only a tar-paved pathway round these buildings
to represent the rest of the ground. The church was
built in 1864. There are human remains within six
inches of the surface of the ground, several having been
dug up and put in a vault which is under the mission-house,
and the entrance to which is closed with a very
large flat stone, bearing the date of 1865. The
mission-house is giving way already, and it has large
cracks in it, for a vault of this kind is not a good
foundation.
The parish of St. James’, Clerkenwell, had a very
small “poor ground,” in Ray Street, which was bought
in 1755 for £340, and was consecrated eight years
later. It was 800 square yards in area, and was
approached through a private house occupied by a
butcher, “who had his slaughter-house and stable at
the back, and immediately adjoining the burial-ground.”
In about the year 1824 it was found that several bodies
had been exhumed and placed in the stable; this caused
a scandal in the neighbourhood, and the man and his
business were ruined. When Farringdon Street and
the Metropolitan Railway were made, the site of the
ground in Ray Street, together with Ray Street itself,
entirely disappeared; and the “sleepers of the railway
.pn +1
.bn 186.jpg
are laid over the sleepers in death.” The burial-ground
had already been done away with, the Clerkenwell
Commissioners, according to Pinks, having taken it
for public improvements, when they collected the
remains into one spot and erected a plain mausoleum
over them.
In early days it seems to have been the custom for
patients entering the large hospitals to pay a sum
of money down for possible funeral expenses, except
in cases of sudden accident. Later on a security given
by a householder was considered sufficient, but now no
such arrangement is needed. The sum demanded at
St. Bartholomew’s was 17s. 6d., and at Guy’s £1 was
paid. At Westminster Hospital and at the Lock
(Hyde Park Corner), from which some patients may have
been buried in what is now called Knightsbridge Green,
no security was asked; but at the Bethlem Hospital
an entrance sum of £100 had to be paid for board,
funeral expenses, &c. In case of death at a London
hospital at the present time, the friends or relations of
the deceased are expected to remove and bury the body,
and this has often led to a good deal of difficulty,
one body being claimed by various people, because
the person who buries it can often secure the insurance
money. Bodies which are now unclaimed (and at St.
Bartholomew’s there are about eight in a year) are
buried in a cemetery at the cost of the hospital.
.pn +1
.bn 187.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch10
CHAPTER X||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“Praises on tombs are trifles vainly spent,
A man’s good name is his best monument.”
Epitaph on Pindar’s monument in St. Botolph’s, Aldersgate\
Street.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
There are two chief senses in which the word “private”
may be taken. It denotes what belongs to a particular
person, family, or institution apart from the general
public—thus we say a “private chapel,” a “private
drive,” and so on. It also means that which has been
set into being by a private individual, and which is,
therefore, a private speculation. Into these two classes
I can divide the graveyards which are to be dealt with
in this chapter.
.pi
The Romans preserved the right of erecting tombs
in their country residences. Their very stringent laws
prevented them from burying the dead inside the cities
(except certain classes of privileged persons), but as long
as the interment took place outside the walls, it seems,
at one time, to have mattered little where a tomb was
.pn +1
.bn 188.jpg
set up. This practice was put a stop to in the time of
Duillius, and sepulchres were no longer allowed in fields
and private grounds, as it was found that the custom
was tending to diminish the area of land available for
cultivation.
I think that such a practice was never general in
London or the surrounding district, but there are a few
cases in which something of the sort took place. In
Wood’s “Ecclesiastical Antiquities” it is stated that
there was a cemetery at Somerset House, Strand, for the
Catholic members of Queen Henrietta Maria’s household
(1626). It is certain that the vaults under the
palace chapel were used, as they were closed for interments
in 1777 (fourteen burials having taken place in
fifty-seven years), and if there was also a cemetery, the
use of which was in this way restricted, it may fairly be
called private. It is possible however that this may
have been a part of the original churchyard of St. Mary
le Strand. The site has now disappeared, the present
building of Somerset House being far more extended
than was the old one.
Another curious private ground, also used by
Romanists, was the garden of Hundsdon House, the
French Embassy, in Blackfriars. In 1623 the floor of
a neighbouring Jesuit chapel gave way, and about 95
persons were killed. Stow says that 20 bodies (of
the poorer people) were buried on the spot. Malcolm
states that 44 were buried in the courtyard before
the Ambassador’s house, and 15 in his garden.
.pn +1
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Brayley’s version is that some were buried in a burying-place
“within the Spanish Ambassador’s house in
Holborn,” and that two great pits were dug, one in
the forecourt of the French Ambassador’s house, 18
feet by 12 feet, where 44 were interred, the other in
the garden behind, 12 feet by 8 feet. Wood gives the
number of those buried in these pits as 47. It was, at
any rate, a curious and summary way of disposing of
the bodies of those who had so suddenly lost their
lives.
I only know of one burial-ground in London which
is so strictly private as to have only one grave in it.
In Retreat Place, Hackney, a quiet corner near the
Unitarian Church, there is a row of twelve almshouses,
founded by Samuel Robinson in 1812, “for the widows
of Dissenting ministers professing Calvinistic doctrines.”
In front of this establishment is a neatly-kept grass plot,
and in the centre of it is a large altar tomb—not erected
for the use of the ministers’ widows, but containing the
mortal remains of Samuel Robinson, who died in 1833,
and of his own widow who survived him three years.
For my own part I should prefer the enclosure without
the grave, but perhaps the widows like to be daily
reminded of their benefactor.
.if h
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.ca
BURIAL-GROUND IN NEWGATE GAOL.
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.if-
.if t
[Illustration: BURIAL-GROUND IN NEWGATE GAOL.]
.if-
There are, no doubt, many private gardens and yards
in London in which burials have taken place, surreptitiously
if not openly. Only recently an undertaker
was remanded for having been in the habit of temporarily
depositing the bodies of stillborn infants in
.pn +1
.bn 190.jpg
his own back premises until such time as there should
be enough to make it worth while for him to give them
a decent burial. But, numerous as these instances may
be, it is difficult to get any record of them.
Convent burial-grounds are very private, but of these
I have already spoken in #Chapter II:ch02#. In Millbank
Penitentiary a space, 432 square yards in extent, was set
aside as a graveyard, in which there was ordinarily
rather over one burial per month. There is a picture
of it in Griffith’s “Memorials of Millbank,” but no
description. This particular plot of ground is to be
preserved as an open space when the new buildings are
erected on the site of the prison; it will probably
belong to the London School Board. Newgate burial-ground
.pn +1
.bn 191.jpg
is still in use. It is a passage in the prison,
10 feet wide and 85 feet long, in which are interred,
with a plentiful supply of quicklime, the bodies of those
who are executed within the walls. This reminds me
of the gallows which stood for so many years at the
Tyburn turnpike, the site of which is still marked by a
stone in the Bayswater Road, a few yards west of the
Marble Arch. Those who were executed here (there
were 24 in 1729) were buried on the spot, and this
extraordinary burial-ground was situated at the point
now occupied by the house at the corner of Edgware
Road and Upper Bryanston Street.[#] Mr. W. J.
Loftie entirely discredits this story, and says that one
jawbone is all that was ever found to represent human
remains on this site. On their way to the gallows the
poor criminals received a present of a large bowl of ale,
called St. Giles’ bowl, from the lazar hospital of St.
Giles, which was situated close to where the church now
stands. And thus they were refreshed on their last sad
journey.
.pm fn-start
Smith’s “St. Marylebone.”
.pm fn-end
By the close of the last century the London churchyards,
and the additional burial-grounds provided by
the parishes, were becoming so overcrowded, that it
occurred to some adventurers to start cemeteries as
private speculations; and it was greatly owing to their
existence and to their abuse that the agitation arose
which finally led to the passing of the “Act to
amend the Laws concerning the Burial of the Dead in
.pn +1
.bn 192.jpg
the Metropolis,” under which the metropolitan burial-grounds
were closed. The speculation was found to be
a successful one, and was imitated in different parts of
London, until by the year 1835 there must have been
at least fourteen burial-grounds in London carried on by
private persons, besides some additional chapels with
vaults under them conducted in the same way. A few
of these grounds originated in connection with neighbouring
places of worship, but were subsequently bought
by private persons. In Central London there were (1)
Spa Fields, Clerkenwell; (2) Thomas’ burial-ground,
Golden Lane; (3) the New City Bunhill Fields, or the
City of London burial-ground, Golden Lane. In
North London there was (4) the New or Little Bunhill
Fields, Church Street, Islington. In East London
there were (5) Sheen’s burial-ground, Whitechapel; (6)
Victoria Park Cemetery, Bethnal Green; (7) the East
London Cemetery or Beaumont’s ground, Mile End;
(8) Globe Fields burial-ground, Mile End Old Town;
(9) the North-east London Cemetery, or Cambridge
Heath burial-ground, or Peel Grove burial-ground, or
Keldy’s Ground, Bethnal Green; (10) Gibraltar Walk
burial-ground, Bethnal Green; (11) Ebenezer Chapel
ground, Ratcliff Highway. And in South London (12)
Butler’s burial-ground, Horselydown, or St. John’s;
(13) the New Bunhill Fields, or Hoole and Martin’s
ground, Deverell Street, New Kent Road; and (14) a
ground in Ewer Street, Southwark.
The charges made for interments in these places were
.pn +1
.bn 193.jpg
generally slightly lower than in the churchyards, in
order to attract customers, and those who officiated at
the funerals were, in many cases, not ministers of
religion at all. In Butler’s burial-ground, for instance,
the person who read the burial service (of the Church
of England) wore a surplice, but he was merely an
employé of the undertaker, who also acted as porter.
In Hoole and Martin’s ground a Mr. Thomas Jenner
was employed to officiate at funerals for £20 a year.
He also read the burial service of the Church of
England, but he was by trade a shoemaker, or a patten-maker,
whose shop was close by. The owners of these
private grounds were naturally tempted to crowd them
to excess, and it is impossible to think of what took
place in some of them without shuddering. No doubt
practices as vile, as unwholesome, and as irreverent
were carried on in many of the churchyards; but the
over-crowding of the private grounds is so associated
with the idea of private gloating over private gains that
it is more repulsive.
One of the most notoriously offensive spots in
London was Enon Chapel, Clement’s Lane. The
chapel was built, and the vaults under it were made,
as a speculation by a dissenting minister named Howse.
The burial-fees were small, and the place was resorted
to by the poor, as many as nine or ten burials often
taking place on a Sunday afternoon. The space available
for coffins was, at the highest computation, 59 feet
by 29 feet, with a depth of 6 feet, and no less than
.pn +1
.bn 194.jpg
20,000 coffins were deposited there. In order to
accomplish this herculean task it was the common
practice to burn the older coffins in the minister’s
house, under his copper and in his fireplaces. Between
the coffins and the floor of the chapel there was nothing
but the boards. In time the effluvium in the chapel
became intolerable, and no one attended the services,
but the vaults were still used for interments, so that
“more money was made from the dead than from the
living”—a state of affairs which existed in many of
the private burial-places of the metropolis. As I shall
have to refer again to the condition of these grounds
in speaking of the closing of graveyards in London, I
will not enlarge upon it any further here, except to
quote from the evidence brought before the Select
Committee which sat in 1842 to consider the question
of Interment in Towns, respecting the Globe Fields
burial-ground in Mile End, which is merely one example
out of sixty-five examinations.
William Miller, called in and examined.
“1615. Chairman. What is your occupation?—A
jobbing, labouring man, when I can get anything to do.”
“1616. Have you been a gravedigger in Globe Fields. Mile End?—Yes.”
“1617. Is that a private burying-ground?—Yes.”
“1618. To whom does it belong?—Mr. Thomas Tagg.”
“1620. Have many pits been dug in it for the depositing
of bodies previously interred?—Yes.”
.pn +1
.bn 195.jpg
“1621. Where did they come from?—Out of the
coffins which were emptied for others to go into the
graves.”
“1623. Were the coffins chucked in with them?—No;
they were broken up and burnt.”
“1624. Were they bones, or bodies, that were interred?—Yes;
the bones and bodies as well.”
“1625. Were they entire, or in a state of decomposition?—Some
were dry bones, and some were perfect.”
“1627. What did you do with them?—Chucked them into the pit.”
“1628. What sort of pit?—A deep, square pit,
about four feet wide and seven or eight feet deep.”
“1629. How many bodies did you chuck in?—I
cannot say, they were so numerous; each pit would
hold about a dozen.”
“1630. How many of these pits did you dig?—I
suppose I dug a matter of 20 myself.”
“1632. How near to the surface of the earth did
these dead bodies or bones come?—Within about two
feet.”
“1638. What is the size of this ground?—It is
rather better than half an acre.”
“1639. How many bodies are buried in that
ground within a year?—I cannot say; I suppose there
are 14,000 have been buried in that ground.”
“1640. How long has it been open?—Since the year 1820.”
.pn +1
.bn 196.jpg
“1641. Do you recollect any circumstance which
occurred there about the month of October, 1839?—Yes.”
“1642. Will you state it to the Committee?—Some
boys were at work there; a policeman on the railroad
happened to see them in the act of taking some bones
out of baskets, and got a policeman in the police force
of the metropolis, and sent him in and seized the boys
with a bag of nails and plates of the coffins, going
away to sell them, and going to sell the bones.”
“1643. To what purpose are the bones applied?—I do not know.”
“1644. What is done with the wood of the coffins?—Burnt for their own private use.”
“1645. By whom?—By the sexton.”
“1648. Mr. Cowper. Is it burnt in the sexton’s house?—Yes.”
“1649. Sir William Clay. What was done with
the iron or metal handles of the coffins?—They were
burnt on the coffins when I was there, and were thrown
out among the ashes about the ground anywhere.”
“1653. Mr. Ainsworth. Who performs the
burial service over the dead?—A gentleman of the
name of Cauch.”
“1654. Does he reside there?—No, he resides opposite.”
“1655. What is he?—I do not know that he is
anything; he has formerly been a shoemaker.”
“1656. Does he put on a gown when he buries the
dead?—Yes, a surplice.”
.pn +1
.bn 197.jpg
“1657. What service does he read?—The regular Church service.”
“1665. Chairman. Were you in the habit of performing
this grave-digging without the use of spirits?—No;
we were obliged to be half groggy to do it, and
we cheered one another and sung to one another.”
“1666. You found the work so disgusting you were
obliged to be half drunk?—Yes.”
And so on. Many of the revelations made to this
committee are so revolting that they are best forgotten.
It is, perhaps, only fair to say that this particular man’s
evidence was contradicted by Mr. Thomas Tagg, the
owner of the ground, but it was subsequently corroborated
by other and disinterested witnesses.
.if h
.il fn=i_198.jpg id=i198 w=600px
.ca
PEEL GROVE BURIAL-GROUND, BETHNAL GREEN.
.ca-
.sp 2
.il fn=i_199.jpg id=i199 w=600px
.ca
VICTORIA PARK CEMETERY BEFORE BEING LAID OUT.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: PEEL GROVE BURIAL-GROUND, BETHNAL GREEN.]
.sp 2
[Illustration: VICTORIA PARK CEMETERY BEFORE BEING LAID OUT.]
.if-
The fate of these fourteen grounds has been a varied
one. Thomas’s has gone, and its site is occupied by a
large building, chiefly a shoe factory, on the north side
of Playhouse Yard, and immediately to the west of the
church known as St. Mary’s Charterhouse. Sheen’s is
now the yard of Messrs. Fairclough, carters, off Commercial
Road, and there are some stables and sheds in
it. It was, some few years back, a cooperage. Peel
Grove burial-ground is smaller than it was, and what is
left is a builder’s yard about an acre in extent, the
remainder of the space having been built upon. The
very small ground by Ebenezer Chapel, near St. George’s
in the East, is also a timber-yard, the chapel itself having
long since fallen into disuse. Over half of the Globe
Fields ground the Great Eastern Railway runs; the
.pn +1
.bn 198.jpg
remainder is a bare yard, with several miserable tombstones
in it and quantities of rubbish. It is fast closed
behind an iron gate of colossal proportions, and it
daily becomes more neglected and untidy. Little
Bunhill Fields in Islington is divided into several
parts; one division belongs to the General Post Office,
and contains parcels-carts, &c., other pieces are let or
sold as builders’ yards or are lying vacant. New Bunhill
Fields, near New Kent Road, has been through
many vicissitudes. It was very much overcrowded
with bodies, and in the vault under the chapel burials
used to take place “on lease,” i.e. £1 would be paid
.pn +1
.bn 199.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 200.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 201.jpg
for a coffin to be deposited for six months, after which
time no inquiries were to be made. As soon as the
ground was closed for burials it became a timber-yard,
and the chapel in it was used as a saw-mill. Now the
sawing goes on in an adjoining shed, and the chapel
belongs to the Salvation Army, the graveyard being
still covered with high stacks of timber. The City of
London ground, in Golden Lane, which was only used
for about twenty years, is divided. The part situated
in the parish of St. Luke’s belongs to Messrs. Sutton
& Co., carriers, and is full of carts, the greater part of
it being roofed in. The part situated within the city
boundary forms the site of the City Mortuary and
Coroner’s Court, with a neatly-kept yard between the
two buildings. Gibraltar Walk burial-ground, Bethnal
Green Road, has only had small slices cut off it and
doled out as yards, &c., for the surrounding houses.
The main portion is a neglected jungle, forming a sort
of private garden to the big house which opens on to
it, and in which the owner of the ground lives. In
order to see Butler’s burial-ground it is necessary to go
down Coxon’s Place, Horselydown, where two yards
will be found. One is a small builder’s yard, with
“Beware of the Dog” on the gate. Once I doubted the
existence of the dog, and pushed open this gate, but
he was there in full vigour, and I speedily fled. The
adjoining yard, which is much larger, is Messrs. Zurhoost’s
cooperage, and is full of barrels. There were
vaults used for burials under three or four of the
.pn +1
.bn 202.jpg
houses. They can still be seen, and are now, apparently,
dwelling-places for the living. The graveyard
in Ewer Street has disappeared under the London
Bridge and Charing Cross Railway.
The East London Cemetery, in Shandy Street, Mile
End, is a recreation ground chiefly for children. So is
Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, which was one of the most
crowded burial-grounds in London, after having been
a fashionable tea-garden, and before being used as a
volunteer drill-ground. Both these grounds were
secured and laid out by the Metropolitan Public
Gardens Association, and are maintained by the London
County Council. Such is also the history of Victoria Park
Cemetery, a space of 11½ acres, and by far the largest
of the private venture burial-grounds. In this ground
it was stated that, on every Sunday in the year 1856,
130 bodies were interred. After years of negotiation
and much difficulty, the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association secured it, and converted it from a dreary
waste of crumbling tombstones and sinking graves into
a most charming little park for the people of Bethnal
Green. It was opened by H.R.H. the Duke of York
in July, 1894, and the County Council maintains it,
having re-christened it Meath Gardens.
.if h
.il fn=i_203.jpg id=i203 w=600px
.ca
VICTORIA PARK CEMETERY WHEN FIRST LAID OUT.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: VICTORIA PARK CEMETERY WHEN FIRST LAID OUT.]
.if-
It need hardly be pointed out that in very few of
the spaces I have just described are any tombstones to
be found. To a casual observer they are utterly
unrecognisable as burial-grounds, and it is many years
since such relics can have existed in them. When, for
.pn +1
.bn 203.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 204.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 205.jpg
instance, a burial-ground becomes a builder’s yard,
tombstones are very much in the way, and they are
soon converted into paving-stones, Some years ago a
few inscriptions were still legible on the stones which
paved the passage to Spa Fields from Exmouth Street,
but by this time even these must be worn away. But
if it is denied by the owners of these yards that they
are burial-grounds there is one method of proving it
which soon dispels all doubt, and that is by digging
down into the soil. It will not be necessary to make
any deep excavation before the spade turns up some
earth mixed with human remains, which, once seen, are
always recognisable.
Archbishop Herring adopted this plan, as he was
anxious to know if any burials had taken place in
what was always known as the “burying-ground” of
Lambeth Palace, on the north side of the chapel,
by the site of the smaller cloisters. In fact he had the
whole space dug over, but without success, for no signs
of human remains were found; and it is probable that
the interments which took place within the palace were
all under the chapel.
.pn +1
.bn 206.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch11
CHAPTER XI||
.pm verse-start
“These laugh at Jeat, and Marble put for signs,
To sever the good fellowship of dust,
And spoil the meeting. What shall point out them,
When they shall bow, and kneel, and fall down flat
To kiss those heaps which now they have in trust?”
George Herbert.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
By the commencement of the present century the minds
of thoughtful men on the Continent, in America, and
in England, began to be exercised about the overcrowded
state of the graveyards in the towns, and
their very unwholesome effect upon those who lived
near them.
.pi
We owe the agitation which finally led to the closing
of the London graveyards mainly to the untiring zeal
of a surgeon of Drury Lane, George Alfred Walker.
His work lay amongst the poor of that district, and he
was led to believe that the frequent occurrence of what
he called typhus fever, and similar maladies, was due in
.pn +1
.bn 207.jpg
great measure to the large number of overcrowded
burial-grounds which existed in the neighbourhood.
He made a very careful study of the subject, he
gathered information from France, Germany, and other
countries, he visited a large number of the worst graveyards
in London, and made searching inquiries respecting
them. Having become familiar with the practices
that were carried on in these places, he brought out a
book dealing with the whole question in the year 1839,
the title-page of which fully explains its purpose. It is
as follows:—
.sp 2
.nf c
“GATHERINGS FROM GRAVEYARDS,
particularly those of London.
With a concise History of the modes of Interment among
different Nations from the earliest periods,
and a detail of dangerous
and fatal results
produced by the unwise and revolting custom
of inhuming the dead in the midst of the living.
By G. A. Walker, Surgeon.”
.nf-
The question was taken up from purely philanthropic
motives. Walker was not connected with, or interested
in, any particular Cemetery, but he was “fully
convinced of the necessity for legislative interference to
destroy the present dangerous system.”
He had precedents to go upon, for as early as the
year 1765 a decree was made by the Parliament of
Paris, closing all cemeteries and churchyards within the
.pn +1
.bn 208.jpg
city, and providing for the formation of eight cemeteries
in the suburbs; and in 1774 a further decree was
made prohibiting the re-opening of vaults, similar
action being subsequently taken in other French towns.
Nor was France alone to be admired. Precautions of
the same kind were adopted from time to time in
Rome and other cities of Italy, in Denmark, in New
York, and even in Dublin; but the London burial-grounds
still continued to be in constant use.
Walker collected details of many cases of death and
illness directly attributable to contact with human remains
in a state of putrefaction. It was certain that
gravediggers held their lives in their hands. The
more experienced of them, when they “bored” or
“tapped” coffins, immediately fled to a distance, and
remained away until they considered that the harmful
exhalations would have been sufficiently distributed
into the air for them to continue their unpleasant work
in comparative safety. Another custom was to burn
papers, &c., in graves and vaults, while some men were
in the habit of holding rue and garlic in their mouths.
But they generally suffered from bad health, were frequently
seriously ill, and sometimes died from the
direct effects of the poison they had inhaled. They
were also much addicted to drink, and very many were
accustomed to say that they could not do their work
without the help of spirits.
After making the following general statement,
Walker carefully described between forty and fifty of
.pn +1
.bn 209.jpg
the most crowded of the metropolitan burial-places, and
especially those in his own district: “Although willing
to admit that the neighbourhood of slaughter-houses—the
decomposition of vegetable substances—the narrowness
of the streets, and the filth and poverty of some of
the inhabitants, greatly contributed to the furtherance
of the mischief (typhus fever), I felt convinced that
the grand cause of all the evil was the immediate
proximity of the burial-places, public as well as private.”
It is quite unnecessary to repeat the descriptions, they
are much alike; I will only give one as a specimen,
which is free from obnoxious details.
“St. Ann’s, Soho.—There is only one burying-ground
belonging to this parish; it is walled in on the side
next to Prince’s Street; close to this wall is the bone
house; rotten coffin wood and fragments of bones are
scattered about. Some graves are only partly filled up,
and left in that state, intended, probably, for paupers.
The ground is very full, and is considerably raised
above its original level; it is overlooked by houses
thickly inhabited. The inhabitants of the neighbourhood
have frequently complained of the past and
present condition of this place. The numbers of dead
here are immense.”
Some of his descriptions were thought at the time to
be exaggerated, but they were fully corroborated in the
evidence given before the Parliamentary Committee
which sat in 1842.
Such a note as the following is instructive: “Ground
.pn +1
.bn 210.jpg
in immediate proximity to this place” (Bermondsey
Churchyard) “is advertised to be let on lease for
building purposes.” And yet some of the very burial-grounds
themselves have since become the sites for
streets and houses!
It would not be fair to give the reader the impression
that Walker was the first to speak of the unwholesome
condition of the London graveyards. Here is a quotation
from a sermon preached by Bishop Latimer in
1552: “The citizens of Naim had their burying-places
without the city, which, no doubt, is a laudable
thing; and I do marvel that London, being so great a
city, hath not a burial-place without: for no doubt it
is an unwholesome thing to bury within the city,
especially at such a time, when there be great sicknesses,
and many die together. I think verily that many a
man taketh his death in St. Paul’s Churchyard, and
this I speak of experience; for I myself, when I have
been there on some mornings to hear the sermons, have
felt such an ill-savoured, unwholesome savour, that I
was the worse for it a great while after; and I think
no less—but it is the occasion of great sickness and
disease.” And from his time onwards allusions were
made, in sermons and discourses, by ministers and
physicians, to the dangers of contact with decaying
animal substances.
.if h
.il fn=i_211.jpg id=i211 w=521px
.ca
CHURCHYARD OF ST. ANN, SOHO, IN 1810.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: CHURCHYARD OF ST. ANN, SOHO, IN 1810.]
.if-
To turn from London for a moment. It is stated
in Roger’s “Social Life in Scotland” that when Queen
Mary visited Dundee in 1594 she found that “the deid
.pn +1
.bn 211.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 212.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 213.jpg
of the Naill burgh is buryit in the midst thereof,
quhairin the common traffic of merchandise is usit, and
that throw occasion of the said burial, pest, and other
contagious sickness is engenderit.” The evil was
remedied by granting to the burgh as a place of
sepulchre the site of the Greyfriars Monastery.
Sir Christopher Wren, when considering the question
of the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire, made
some very wise remarks upon the question of intramural
interments. He wished to see suburban cemeteries
established, and burials in churches and churchyards
discontinued, partly because he considered the
constant raising of the level of a churchyard rendered
the church damp and more liable to premature decay.
But Wren’s plans for rebuilding the city were not
carried out; they were approved by the King and
Parliament, but disapproved by the Corporation; and
this scheme of his respecting the practice of burial fell
through with the rest. The churches were rebuilt on
the old sites, the churchyards were again used, and
the sites of several of those churches which were not
rebuilt became additional burial-grounds for the
parishes. And yet, in the return published in 1833, it
is curious to find that only one place is described as
being “very full of bodies,” the churchyard of St.
John’s, Clerkenwell. There was no great desire on the
part of those connected with the parishes to increase
their burial accommodation.
Walker stuck to his ground manfully. He gathered
.pn +1
.bn 214.jpg
round him a few of the leading men of the day, who
formed themselves into a Society for the Abolition
of Burials in Towns, and he delivered a series of
able lectures upon the subject and continued to make
inquiries and to expose practices carried on in various
grounds. Spa Fields, for instance, was taken as a
specimen, and a pamphlet was issued showing how it
was the custom to burn bodies behind a brick enclosure,
and how the gravestones were moved about to give an
appearance of emptiness in certain parts of the ground.
It was computed that, by burning coffins, mutilating
remains, and using vast quantities of quicklime, at least
80,000 corpses had been put in a space fitted to hold
1,000.
In 1842 and 1843 a Royal Commission was sitting
upon the question of the Health of Towns and the
Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Classes, and a
Select Committee was appointed “to consider the
expediency of framing some Legislative Enactments
(due respect being paid to the rights of the Clergy), to
remedy the evils arising from the Interment of Bodies
within the Precincts of large Towns, or of Places
densely populated.” The following were the members
of the Committee: Mr. Mackinnon (Chairman), Lord
Ashley, Colonel Fox, Mr. Thomas Duncombe, Mr.
Evelyn Denison, Sir William Clay, Sir Robert Harry
Inglis, Mr. Ainsworth, Mr. Beckett, Lord Mahon,
Mr. Cowper, Colonel Acton, Mr. Kemble, Mr. Vernon,
and Mr. Redhead Yorke; and they sat from 17th of
.pn +1
.bn 215.jpg
March till 5th of May, 1842, and conducted sixty-five
examinations. Amongst the witnesses who gave evidence
were clergymen, dissenting ministers, medical
men, including Sir Benjamin Brodie and Mr. Walker,
sextons, gravediggers, residents in the neighbourhood
of burial-grounds and others, with the Bishop of
London (C. J. Blomfield). I have already quoted
from these evidences in the previous chapter, and they
do not vary very much. I will only therefore give a
few extracts from the Report of the Committee:—“After
long and patient investigation, Your Committee
cannot arrive at any other conclusion than that the
nuisance of Interments in large Towns, and the injury
arising to the Health of the Community from the
practice, are fully proved.... No time ought to be
lost by the Legislature in applying a remedy.... The
Evidence has also exhibited the singular instance of the
most wealthy, moral, and civilised community in the
world tolerating a practice and an abuse which has been
corrected for years by nearly all other civilised nations
in every part of the globe.” Then follow resolutions
respecting the provision by parishes, either single or
amalgamated, of cemeteries; the fees which it would
be desirable to charge; the due consideration to be
shown to those who desired burial in unconsecrated
ground; the exceptions to be made in the cases of some
family vaults, of the Cathedral and the Abbey, and of
certain cemeteries which had recently been formed, &c.,
with the final remark: “That the duty of framing and
.pn +1
.bn 216.jpg
introducing a Bill on the principles set forth in the
foregoing Resolutions, would be most efficiently discharged
by Her Majesty’s Government, and that it
is earnestly recommended to them by the Committee.”
And yet it was not until 1852 that Mr. Mackinnon’s
Bill was introduced and the Act of Parliament was
passed, entitled an Act to Amend the Laws concerning
the Burial of the Dead in the Metropolis,
commonly known as the Burials Act, 15 and 16
Victoria.
Then the Home Secretary was besieged with
memorials and letters from those who resided in various
parts of London, praying for the Act to be put in
force in the burial-grounds in their own neighbourhoods,
besides applications for permission to open
cemeteries on the outskirts of the town. The same
dreary and miserable stories of the overcrowding of
graveyards and the indecent practices carried on in
them were again brought to light, and it must not be
supposed that the grounds in the west of London were
any better than those in the centre, the east, or the
south. The description given by the memorialists (five
medical men) of the burial-ground belonging to St.
George’s, Hanover Square, which is situated on the
north side of Bayswater Road, together with the letters
written about it, could hardly be exceeded. And yet
this ground was, or rather is, in a fashionable neighbourhood,
close to the Marble Arch, and surrounded
by houses let at very high rentals. It is certain that it
.pn +1
.bn 217.jpg
was a common custom to move freshly-buried bodies
from the more expensive part of the ground to the
cheaper part, used for paupers and others, thus making
room for more graves for which the higher fees were
paid. Lawrence Sterne, who wrote “The Sentimental
Journey,” was buried here. I hope his remains did
not have an unsentimental one.
From west, east, north, and south the same lament
was heard, and the same petition came from other cities
and towns in England. It was a common topic for
the newspapers and journals, and it is hardly possible to
look through any of them, published between 1850 and
1855, without finding references to the graveyards, or
notices of their being closed by order in Council. An
anonymous poem called “City Graves,” appeared in
Household Words on December 14, 1850. It has seven
verses, of which I will give three:—
.pm verse-start
“Within those walls, the peace of death—
Without, life’s ceaseless din;
The toiler, at his work, can see
The tombs of his mouldering kin;
And the living without grow, day by day,
More like the dead within.
.pm verse-end
.tb
.pm verse-start
“I saw from out the earth peep forth
The white and glistening bones,
With jagged ends of coffin planks,
That e’en the worm disowns;
And once a smooth round skull rolled on,
Like a football, on the stones.
.pn +1
.bn 218.jpg
.pm verse-end
.tb
.pm verse-start
“Too late the wished-for boon has come,
Too late wiped out the stain,—
No Schedule shall restore to health,
No Act give life again
To the thousands whom, in bygone years,
Our City Graves have slain!”
.pm verse-end
On the 13th of January, 1853, Islington Churchyard
was closed for burials, and from that time forward the
notices were issued for the cessation of interments in
vaults and graveyards all over London; and the list
which was printed of all the burial-grounds in London
still open for interments on January 1, 1855 (and in
many of these only the existing vaults were to be used),
was quite a short one. By that date eight of the large
cemeteries had been opened and were in use.
When once closed for burials the question naturally
arose as to what was to be done with the grounds. The
following clause was inserted into one of the Burial
Acts (18 and 19 Vict.):—
“18. In every case in which any order in Council
has been or shall hereafter be issued for the discontinuance
of burials in any churchyard or burial-ground, the
Burial Board or Churchwardens, as the case may be,
shall maintain such churchyard or burial-ground of any
parish in decent order, and also do the necessary repair
of the walls and other fences thereof, and the costs and
expenses shall be repaid by the Overseers, upon the
certificate of the Burial Board or Churchwardens, as
.pn +1
.bn 219.jpg
the case may be, out of the rate made for the relief of
the Poor of the parish or place in which such churchyard
or burial-ground is situate, unless there shall be
some other fund legally chargeable with such costs and
expenses.”
Here at once comes in the difficulty of ownership or
guardianship, and it is not always understood by the
rector or vicar of a church that he, during his incumbency,
has the sole right of using any grounds
enclosed within the churchyard fence or wall, and that
these grounds are not, as is frequently supposed, under
the joint control of the incumbent and churchwardens.
This is clearly set forth in the following quotations
from the book of Church Law, 4th edition, page
322:—
“By his induction into the real and corporeal possession
of his benefice in general, a Rector or Vicar
becomes invested, in particular, with freehold rights in
all the land and buildings which are enclosed within the
churchyard fence or wall.”
“The rights thus acquired carry with them the
exclusive right of access to the Church, and also (saving
any established right of way) to the Churchyard, so
that no one can lawfully exclude him from them, nor
enter them of their own right, but only by his permission,
so long as Incumbent.”
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Yet it is the Burial Board or the churchwardens who
are to see that a burial-ground or a churchyard is kept
“in decent order,” and to repair the walls and fences;
and if a churchyard is not kept in such order, or is
used as a storing yard or for any other unsuitable purposes,
both the incumbent and the churchwardens are
evidently in fault. But although there have been some
cases of gross neglect the London churchyards have,
on the whole, been kept fairly well as far as the walls
or fences and the tombstones are concerned. A few
have certainly degenerated into little less than rubbish
heaps, but others have been maintained with great care.
The Burial Boards have been conscientious in this respect
pretty generally over London, but there are not very
many disused burial-grounds under the control of the
Burial Boards. A few churchyards, chiefly in the City,
have been curtailed for the widening of roads, or altogether
sacrificed for railways or new streets; a few additional
parochial burial-grounds have also disappeared,
and a few, but very few, have been misappropriated and
let or sold as builders’ yards, &c. The case was, however,
far different, where an unconsecrated burial-ground
was in private hands or belonged to three or four chapel
trustees, for then the temptation to raise money on it
was very great. Nearly all the private grounds and a
large number of the Dissenters’ grounds were turned
to account, as I have already shown in #Chapters VII.:ch07#
and #X:ch10#.
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BATTERSEA CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1830.
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[Illustration: BATTERSEA CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1830.]
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So the churchyards remained, useless, closed and
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dreary, no one went into them, the children gazed
through the palings and their parents deposited wastepaper,
dead cats, rotten food, old clothes, &c., in them,
and it was twenty years after they had been shut up
before any of the disused graveyards were converted
into public gardens. It must, of course, be borne in
mind that, when first closed, these grounds were very
unwholesome, but twenty years did, at any rate, a good
deal towards ameliorating their condition, and now that
another twenty years have passed we may safely say
that no evil effects can accrue from letting people walk
about in them, people, that is, who already live with
.pn +1
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these grounds in their midst. And there is no more
sure way of hastening their improvement than by
importing fresh soil and planting trees, shrubs and
flowers.
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ST. JAMES’S, PENTONVILLE, IN JANUARY, 1896.
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[Illustration: ST. JAMES’S, PENTONVILLE, IN JANUARY, 1896.]
.if-
The closing of the burial-grounds included the
closing of the vaults. There is hardly a church in
London, and but few chapels, with a graveyard attached,
which had not also vaults used for interments under
the building, and there are many churches and chapels
which had vaults but not graveyards.
The earliest burials took place in the churchyards,
the south side being always the favourite. It seems
originally to have been customary to bury only stillborn
infants, felons and suicides on the north side of the
building. It became a fashion of later times to bury
in or under the church, and the first place used was the
porch. But when once the custom was established the
inside of the church became the privileged place, and
the most honoured dead were laid nearest the altar.
The ancient crypts, such as those at St. Bartholomew’s
and Clerkenwell, were not, I imagine, originally intended
for burying in, although coffins were put in them
later on. But the vaults, such as those under the City
churches and the parish churches outside the City, were
expressly made for the purpose, a few having been
used for beer or wine instead of bodies.
Many vaults were private, such as “Lady Jersey’s
Vault” and “Holden’s Vault,” both in St. Bride’s,
Fleet Street, and in this same church there is a
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“Doctor’s vault.” St. Clement Danes and other
churches have a “Rector’s vault,” and St. Saviour’s,
Southwark, can boast of a “Bishop’s vault.” The
bodies from under some of the City churches which
have been pulled down were moved to others; the
coffins from St. Michael, Crooked Lane, were divided
between St. Edmund King and Martyr and St. Mary
Woolnoth, and those that went to the latter place have
had a second removal, the vaults having to be cleared
out a few years ago. In many places there were vaults
under the vestries, the adjoining schools, almshouses,
the sextons’ houses, &c., and at Lambeth, among the
places of interment closed by order in Council, was a
“vault under the station-house.” A list of the London
churches and chapels which were provided with burial-vaults,
but not with graveyards, will be found in #Appendix C:AppC#.
It is not unlikely that many of these will
have, in time, to be cleared out. In some cases the
coffins or remains have already been collected and reinterred
in cemeteries, the one at Woking having been
especially favoured. They are very liable to become
a nuisance, and are far more dangerous to the living
than the human remains under the plots of ground
open to the air.
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.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch12
CHAPTER XII||
.sp 1
.pm letter-start
“Some young children sported among the tombs, and hid from each
other, with laughing faces. They had an infant with them, and had laid
it down asleep upon a child’s grave, in a little bed of leaves.... Nell
drew near and asked them whose grave it was. The child answered that
that was not its name; it was a garden—his brother’s. It was greener, he
said, than all the other gardens, and the birds loved it better because
he had been used to feed them.”—From the “Old Curiosity Shop,”
Dickens.
.pm letter-end
.sp 2
.ni
The late Sir Edwin Chadwick, in the Report which he
drew up in 1843 (ten years before the burial-grounds
were closed), wrote the following significant words:—“The
only observation I at present submit upon the
space of ground now occupied (as burial-grounds) is
that it would serve hereafter advantageously to be kept
open as public ground.” Happily he lived long
enough to see some of these very graveyards upon
which he had reported converted into open gardens.
Their conversion and their preservation have gone hand
in hand. Partly to facilitate their being acquired as
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open spaces an Act was framed, by the passing of
which it became illegal to build on any ground that had
been set aside for interments. And there could be no
better way of securing the preservation of a burial-ground
from encroachment or misuse, than by laying it out and
handing it over to a public body to be maintained for
the benefit of the public under the Open Spaces Act.
Once given to the people, the people are not likely to
give up an inch of it again without a struggle.
.pi
By the year 1877 seven disused burial-grounds in
London had been converted into public gardens; those
of St. Botolph’s, Bishopsgate, St. George’s in the East,
and the Wesleyan graveyard adjoining (forming one
ground), the additional ground for St. Martin’s in the
Fields in Drury Lane, St. John’s, Waterloo Bridge
Road, and St. Pancras’ old churchyard, with the adjoining
graveyard belonging to St. Giles’ in the Fields
(forming one ground). These may be called the five
pioneer gardens. But St. Botolph’s was closed again
for several years, and St. Martin’s for a short time, and
St. Pancras’ and St. Giles’ had to have much more done
to them before they became attractive open spaces,
so that the one which really stands out as the recreation
ground that has had the longest existence is St.
George’s, for this has been in constant use for twenty
years. The Rev. Harry Jones, in his books, “East
and West London,” and “Fifty Years,” describes the
difficulties he went through to get the vestry to agree
to the scheme, and to secure a faculty for laying out the
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ground. He and his co-workers were in the Consistory
Court for two days, but they succeeded in the
end, the wall between the churchyard and the Nonconformist
burial-ground was done away with, and a most
valuable new thoroughfare was opened out from Cable
Street to St. George’s Street (Ratcliff Highway). Thus
a precedent was created, and the way was made easier
for others, including the Dean and Chapter of St.
Paul’s, to lay out their churchyards. Since that time,
1875, the part adjoining the church has also been
opened, the whole ground being about three acres in
area, and it is always bright and neat and full of people
enjoying the seats, the grass, the flowers, and the air.
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CHURCHYARD OF ST. GEORGE’S IN THE EAST.
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[Illustration: CHURCHYARD OF ST. GEORGE’S IN THE EAST.]
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Mr. Loftie has written: “Of St. George’s in the
East there is not much to be said.” He refers to the
church, but even this, one of Hawksmoor’s chief works,
is rather too lightly disposed of. Of the parish there
is indeed much to tell. No other church in London
can boast of nineteenth-century riots continued Sunday
after Sunday for eighteen months, necessitating the
presence of police in the sacred building. No other
parish ever contained a Danish and a Swedish church,
with the bones of Emmanuel Swedenborg. St. George’s
is in touch with all corners of the globe, for the London
Docks contain countless stores of treasures from the
east and the west, the north and the south. Here
several of the chief of those commonly known as the
“broad churchmen” of the day have served as curates;
and here the famous life of Father Lowder was lived
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.bn 229.jpg
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.bn 230.jpg
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for twenty-four years, while the famous church of St.
Peter’s, London Docks, arose in the southern part of
the parish,—Father Lowder, of whom the Rev. Harry
Jones, in a memorial sermon, has said: “He was
simply fearless.... He ever meant what he said, and
said what he meant.... The mention of him meets
the most sacred moods of the soul.” And the pioneer
garden is still unique in being an amalgamation of a
churchyard and a dissenting burial-ground. How
different it is from what it was once like may be
gathered from the following description in Household
Words of November 16, 1850: “The graveyard was
dank and clayey, and air blew coldly through the masts
and rigging of the shipping moored in the Thames and
the Docks.” The curate comes to the parish, the
curate who eventually built Christ Church, Watney
Street, dispirited and discouraged. He had fancied it
was to St. George’s, Hanover Square, he was going!
And “the occasional funeral duty of the country was
changed for the constant day by day, week by week,
repetitions of a gorged London graveyard,” to which
“the close courts and poverty-stricken streets of his
parish sent every year many hundred tenants.” Then
the churchyard, like all the others in London, was
closed, and became the usual useless cat-walk, with
high walls around, and blackening tombstones, until
the day when those negotiations began which resulted
in the present charming garden. And this is a story
which has now been repeated in every division of London.
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In the year 1882 the Earl of Meath (then Lord
Brabazon) started the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association. It began on this wise. The Kyrle
Society and the National Health Society had each an
Open Spaces sub-committee, Miss Octavia Hill, of the
Kyrle Society, having always been a prominent supporter
of the movement for promoting open spaces, “outdoor
sitting-rooms” she called them, in poor districts.
But the funds of these committees were very
small, and the work they could accomplish, except in
the matter of influencing public opinion, very limited.
They made grants of seats to a few churchyards which
were being laid out, and joined in deputations to public
bodies respecting open spaces, &c. Lord and Lady
Brabazon had laid out the churchyards of St. John,
Hoxton, and St. Mary, Haggerston, and had taken
much interest in the formation of other grounds, such
as the Brewers’ Garden at Stepney, which mainly owed
its existence to the Rev. Sydney Vatcher, present vicar
of St. Philip’s; and Lord Brabazon felt that there was
room and need for a separate association for preserving,
acquiring, and laying out open spaces, and for promoting
similar objects. He therefore invited representatives of
the Kyrle and National Health Societies, and others
interested in the matter, to meet him and to discuss the
advisability of sinking their own committees in a new
and separate body, or rather of amalgamating their
efforts in the same direction. The National Health
Society only too gladly acquiesced, and from that time
.pn +1
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forward passed on all work connected with open spaces
to the new body, Mr. Ernest Hart, Chairman of
their Council, becoming the first vice-chairman of the
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. There are
now eighteen. But Miss Octavia Hill held back.
And this is the reason why there is still an Open
Spaces branch of the Kyrle Society, and why on the
title-page of the annual reports of the Gardens Association
the words “In connection with the National Health
Society,” are always inserted. The following graveyards
have been laid out as gardens by the Kyrle
Society in London—St. Peter’s, Bethnal Green, E., St.
George’s, Bloomsbury, W. C. (the Metropolitan Public
Gardens Association giving £100 towards the laying
out of each of these), St. George the Martyr, Bloomsbury,
W.C., and the burial-ground of St. Nicholas’,
Deptford, in Wellington Street, S.E.—four very useful
grounds.
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CHURCHYARD OF ST. BOTOLPH, ALDGATE.
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[Illustration: CHURCHYARD OF ST. BOTOLPH, ALDGATE.]
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The new association was formed in November, 1882,
and soon flourished amazingly. By the end of 1895 it
had carried through upwards of 320 successful undertakings,
had 60 other works on hand, and had made
offers and attempts, without success, respecting about
200 schemes. But the indirect work of the Association
has also been most valuable; the tone of public opinion
on the subject of open spaces has entirely changed
during the past twelve years, and this is due, in great
measure, to the untiring exertions of the Earl of Meath
and his co-workers. New Acts of Parliament, including
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.bn 234.jpg
the Disused Burial-grounds Act, have been
passed, useful clauses have been inserted in the Open
Spaces Acts, and several Bills threatening open spaces
have been opposed and extinguished. The Association
has worked with the Commons Preservation and Kyrle
Societies to forward many most important schemes; it
has secured, after much labour, the opening on Saturdays
of upwards of 200 Board School playgrounds, and
its influence upon the work of the public bodies has
been wonderful. It is, for instance, scarcely too much
to say that a week seldom goes by without some communication
.pn +1
.bn 235.jpg
passing between the Association and the
London County Council.
But my subject is graveyards only, and the following
is a list of those that have been laid out as recreation
grounds and opened by the Metropolitan Public
Gardens Association since the Spring of 1885:—
.ta r:3 l:50
1. | St. Bartholomew’s Churchyard, Bethnal Green, E.
2. | The East London Cemetery, E.
3. | Holy Trinity Churchyard, Rotherhithe, S.E.
4. | St. Paul’s Churchyard, Shadwell, E.
5. | Spa Fields, Clerkenwell, E.C.
6. | St. John at Hackney Churchyard, E. (a part).
7. | St. Mary le Strand Ground in Russell Court, W.C.
8. | St. James’s Churchyard, Bermondsey, S.E.
9. | Holy Trinity Churchyard, Mile End, E.
10. | St. Martin’s in the Fields Churchyard, W.C.
11. | St. George’s Churchyard, Camberwell, S.E.
12. | St. Dunstan’s Churchyard, Stepney, E.
13. | St. Anne’s Churchyard, Limehouse, E.
14. | Trinity Chapel-ground, Poplar, E.
15. | St. Alphege Churchyard, Greenwich, S.E.
16. | Seward Street Burial-ground, E.C.
17. | St. James’s Churchyard, Ratcliff, E.
18. | St. Botolph’s Churchyard, Aldgate, E.
19. | St. Ann’s Churchyard, Soho, W.
20. | Shoreditch Old Ground, Hackney Road, E.
21. | Christ Church Churchyard, Spitalfields, E.
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// 236.png
22. | All Saints’ Churchyard, Poplar, E. (a part).
23. | St. Botolph’s Churchyard, Bishopsgate, E.C.
24. | St. Katharine Coleman Churchyard, E.C.
25. | St. Olave’s Churchyard, Silver Street, E.C.
26. | Victoria Park Cemetery, or Meath Gardens, E.
27. | Allhallows’ Churchyard, London Wall, E.C.
28. | St. Mary’s Churchyard, Bow, E. (a part).
29. | St. Peter’s Churchyard, Walworth, S.E.
30. | St. Mary’s Churchyard, Woolwich, S.E.[#]
.ta-
.pm fn-start
The laying out of four more churchyards is in hand.
.pm fn-end
The other grounds laid out by the Association have
been squares, vacant sites, and churchyards not used
for interments. In addition to these, grants have been
given, amounting to many hundred pounds, towards
the laying out of some fourteen graveyards, and seats,
&c., for another twenty-eight, besides which the Association
has secured the opening of many more and has
saved others from being built upon.
One year the income of the Association amounted
to over £11,000. This was due to a shower of wealth
from the Mansion House Fund for the Employment
of the Unemployed. The Earl of Meath, at the
Mansion House Committee, boldly promised, with
a smiling face and a sinking heart, that if a grant
were made to it the Association would find labour at
once and use up the money in wages. I remember
being sent for to Lancaster Gate in this emergency.
It was no easy matter then and there to provide the
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.bn 237.jpg
work, and the money could not be spent on materials.
But within a few weeks hundreds of men were employed,
and their food arranged for into the bargain.
This process was repeated the following winter
(1887-8), but since then the Mansion House Funds
have been smaller and their distribution far more
careful, while the Association has had to depend
for its income upon the subscriptions and donations
of its members and friends.
There are now within the metropolitan area ninety
burial-grounds actually dedicated to the public as
recreation grounds, and being maintained as such under
the Open Spaces Act of 1881, or by trustees, or under
agreement with the vicar, &c., including four that are
Board School playgrounds. To those who remember
these places before they were converted the transformation
is wonderful. One Sunday in the year
1878, the Rev. H. R. Haweis told his congregation
at St. James’s, Westmoreland Street, that in a hasty
walk through their own parish burial-ground in
Paddington Street, Marylebone, he had met “orange-peel,
rotten eggs, cast-off hair-plaits, oyster-shells,
crockery, newspapers with bread and meat, dead
cats and five live ones,” and that on the grave
of one Elizabeth Smith, “in the very centre of the
churchyard,” he found “twelve old kettles, two
coal-scuttles, three old hats, and an umbrella.”
Some of the congregation doubted it, but they went
to look, and found it true. This particular ground
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was laid out as a garden by the St. Marylebone
Vestry in 1886, the Association providing £200 and
the wages of the labourers. I remember, in a paper
I wrote some ten years ago, describing a similar ground
(and there were, and still are, many such in London)—I
think it was St. James’s, Clerkenwell. This is also
now a neat garden, towards the laying out of which,
in 1890, the Association gave £50 and several seats.
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.ca
A CORNER OF ST. JOHN’S GARDEN, BENJAMIN STREET.
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[Illustration: A CORNER OF ST. JOHN’S GARDEN, BENJAMIN STREET.]
.if-
I have already referred, in previous chapters, to
some of the more interesting of the graveyards which
have been laid out as open spaces. There is a very
charming little garden in Benjamin Street, near Farringdon
Road, which belongs to the parish of St.
John’s, Clerkenwell. It was consecrated in 1755 by
the Bishop of Lincoln, acting for the Bishop of
London, having been conveyed to trustees as an
extra parochial burial-ground, the site being a gift
to the parish by the will of Simon Michell, who died
in 1750. After being closed for burials it fell into
the hands of a member of the Clerkenwell Vestry,
and was covered with workshops and rubbish until
the then Rector, the Rev. W. Dawson, instituted
proceedings against him, secured the land, laid it
out by public subscription (in 1881), and maintained
it at his private expense. It is now in the hands of
trustees, and the Holborn District Board of Works
and the Clerkenwell Vestry contribute towards its
upkeep. Several other gardens in London have had
a somewhat similarly checkered history. The burial-ground
.pn +1
.bn 239.jpg
in Hackney Road belonging to Shoreditch has
a quaint old building in it, once the parish watch-house,
and used as a temporary hospital at the time
of the cholera visitation. A new-gateway has lately
been made at St. James’s, Ratcliff, leading into the
churchyard garden, erected as a memorial to the late
vicar, the Rev. R. K. Arbuthnot, who spent very
many years in the parish and died in harness. A
special service was held on November 30, 1895, when
the choir walked in procession through the grounds,
the ceremony ending by the singing of the Rev. H. R.
Haweis’s hymn, “The Homeland.” The gate was
.pn +1
.bn 240.jpg
dedicated by the Rural Dean, Prebendary Turner,
present Rector of St. George’s in the East, and opened
by Sir Walter Besant. Greenwich and Woolwich
Churchyards, which were laid out by the Association,
the cost of the latter being borne by Mr. Passmore
Edwards, are both fine gardens, Woolwich is especially
attractive, as it stands high above the river, with an
extensive view. H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge
opened Greenwich Churchyard, and H.R.H. the
Duchess of Fife opened that of Woolwich. St.
James’s Churchyard, Bermondsey, was extensively used
for airing clothes before the Association laid it out.
In this matter of the conversion of churchyards
into public gardens there has, indeed, been a wonderful
change in public opinion. It used to be
necessary to visit the clergy and to ask them to
allow the grounds to be laid out, with the result,
usually, that the request or offer was declined. But
a new race of clergy seems to be springing up,
and such men as the present Rectors of Woolwich,
Walworth, and Bethnal Green no sooner came into
possession of their livings than they wrote to the
Association, begging that their churchyards might be
taken in hand. The new Rector of Bethnal Green,
already well known as the “head” of Oxford House,
not only asked the Association to lay out his churchyard
but also made a Christmas present of it to the
Vestry, and ere long it will be a most useful open
space. And this has happened in very many places,
.pn +1
.bn 241.jpg
most of the parish churchyards being new public
gardens, except Camberwell, Rotherhithe, Battersea,
Clapham, Wandsworth, Kensington, Wapping, Homerton,
and a few others; but there are still several district
churchyards which it would be very advantageous to
lay out.
To return to some of the quainter spots. In the
burial-ground of St. George the Martyr, Bloomsbury,
there stands a private gentleman’s dissecting-room.
Hackney Churchyard includes the ground surrounding
the tower of the older church (St. Augustine’s), while
Bermondsey Churchyard includes the cemetery of the
Abbey. The little playground in Russell Court, Drury
Lane, which was a graveyard attached to the parish
of St. Mary le Strand, is immortalised as “Tom all
alones” in Dickens’ “Bleak House.” This was “that
there berryin’ ground,” where, said poor Jo, “‘they
laid him as was werry good to me’”—the place
“with houses looking on on every side, save where
a reeking little tunnel of a court gives access to the
iron gate....
“‘He was put there,’ says Jo, holding to the bar
and looking in.
“‘Where? Oh, what a scene of horror!’
“‘There,’ says Jo, pointing, ‘over yinder—among
them piles of bones, and close to that there kitchen
winder! ... Look at the rat! Hi! Look! There
he goes! Ho! into the ground.’”
When the Association got hold of it, it was little
.pn +1
.bn 242.jpg
else than a heap of decaying rubbish thrown from the
surrounding houses, and the carcases of eighteen cats
were removed at once. It is now an asphalted recreation
ground, and is often crowded with children using
the swings and the seats. But it has lately lost its
characteristic appearance, the surrounding houses have
been pulled down, and it is at present “opened out.”
The “kitchen winder” no longer leads into a kitchen,
though the iron gate is still in its original state, with
the worn step upon which Lady Deadlock’s life was
brought to a close.
It must not be supposed that there has been no
opposition to the conversion of graveyards into public
gardens. Many owners have refused to allow it, and
from time to time (though the times are now getting
very few and far between) letters have been written to
the newspapers pointing out the danger of admitting
the public into them. But the burial-grounds are
there—in the midst of crowded streets—whether we
like them or no, and they become far more wholesome
when fresh soil is imported, good gravel paths made, and
the ground drained, and when grass, flowers, trees, and
shrubs take the place of the rotting rubbish. A certain
gentleman, somewhat well known, wrote on several
occasions to the Times, arguing against the laying out
of churchyards, and saying that a “blue haze” hung
about a square in New York which once was a burial-ground.
But no blue haze hangs about our gardens
in London, children are born and bred by the
.pn +1
.bn 243.jpg
.pn +1
.bn 244.jpg
.pn +1
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hundred in those very kitchens whose “winders” look
upon them, and they are of the utmost value as open
spaces in all parts of the town.
.if h
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.ca
THE CHURCHYARD OF ALLHALLOWS, LONDON WALL.
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.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE CHURCHYARD OF ALLHALLOWS, LONDON WALL.]
.if-
On the other hand, every consideration should be
shown for those whose objections to the transformation
have been on sentimental grounds. In Appendix
D will be seen the steps to be taken for laying out and
throwing open to the public a disused churchyard or
burial-ground, and from this those who are not already
aware of it may notice two points—first, that any person
interested in any particular tombstone has the right
and the power to prevent such tombstone from being
moved; second, that the inscriptions on the stones,
and their exact positions in a ground to be laid out,
are preserved in perpetuity in the office of the Registrar
of the Diocese; whereas the actual inscriptions themselves
on the tombstones, whether a ground is closed,
or open, are daily becoming more defaced, and when
it is closed there is no such record of them and no
guarantee that they may not be broken, shifted, or
stolen. Nor must it be imagined that the tombstones
in all graveyard gardens have necessarily to be moved.
It is only where they are standing so thickly that the
ground cannot be laid out otherwise. In some places,
such as Spa Fields, not a single gravestone existed when
it came into the hands of the Association; in others,
such as St. Mary le Strand, there were only a few and
these already on the walls; while in others, again, such
as Holy Trinity, Rotherhithe, there were so few that
.pn +1
.bn 246.jpg
it was not necessary to get a faculty to remove them,
but they were left in situ. There is rather an amusing
tombstone at All Saints’, Poplar. It stands tall
and solitary in the middle of a path, which could not
be diverted because of other stones; and when the path
was made this particular monument was left in the very
centre. I think the best way of disposing of tombstones
is by putting them against the walls, even if it
necessitates two or three rows. They are very dismal
standing in groups, as at St. James’s, Hampstead Road,
and the wall of headstones at St. Luke’s, Chelsea, is
by no means attractive. Nor are the “dome” and
“trophy” at St. Pancras, to which I have already referred.
In St. John’s Garden, Horseferry Road, they
are cemented into an even row against the wall, and
look as if they would last for ever.
I would not say that a converted graveyard is a better
garden than a converted square, but yet there is something
more interesting about it—it is so very human;
and where there are monuments to notable persons
(which naturally are undisturbed) they form something
with an historical flavour about it which is attractive to
look at. At Paddington Churchyard, for instance,
there is the grave of Mrs. Siddons, in front of which
it is said that Miss Mary Anderson, during her first
tour in England, was often seen to stand.
“Isn’t it foine!” said a ragged little urchin to me
on the day when that particular ground was thrown
open to the public. He was simply bursting with
.pn +1
.bn 247.jpg
delight at having a garden to go into. I answered
that I thought it was. This reminds me of another
little denizen of the slums, at Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
He was inside—I had just left the ground after the
opening ceremony. He peeped through the railings,
overflowing with smiles; “You can come in, Miss,”
he said. I was not a Miss, but I thanked him for the
information.
.if h
.il fn=i_247.jpg id=i247 w=600px
.ca
IN THE GRAVEYARD OF ST. JOHN’S IN HORSEFERRY ROAD.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: IN THE GRAVEYARD OF ST. JOHN’S IN HORSEFERRY ROAD.]
.if-
Apart from the question of the moving of tombstones,
there are many people who think it irreverent
for a ground once used for burial ever to be used for
recreation; they do not like the idea of people walking
about over the graves. This feeling is worthy of all
.pn +1
.bn 248.jpg
respect. It is found largely developed among the
Jews, and has prevented them, hitherto, from allowing
any of their graveyards to be laid out as public
gardens. There are other people—and I am thankful
that I do not come across them—who would like our
churches turned into theatres and our churchyards into
“Tivolis.” They do far more harm to the cause of
open spaces than do those who are slow to adapt themselves
to modern ideas. But as far as my experience
goes, I have found that the people who chiefly object
to the conversion of burial-grounds into gardens are
those who stay at home. They have in their mind’s
eye a picture of a well-kept cemetery, where burials
take place every day, or of a sweet village churchyard,
where the grass is soft and green and the graves are
peaceful and undisturbed. One of the last things that
I should ever wish to see is a village churchyard turned
into the village recreation ground; and it was sad to find
as I did a short time ago, that a certain rural churchyard
in West Middlesex was being used as a drying-ground
for clean clothes. But the London disused
graveyards are so different, that I believe it is only
necessary to take these objectors (though they will
never come) into a neglected ground, to point out to
them the sinking graves, to help them to pick their
way so that they may avoid the dirty rubbish lying
about, and the pitfalls into which they may stumble, in
order to convince them that the ground, if turned into
a public garden, would be treated with more reverence
.pn +1
.bn 249.jpg
and in a more seemly manner. Then show them a
graveyard garden; let them sit there for a bit to watch
the people who come in and out, the men who have
a brief rest in the middle of the day, the women who
can snatch a few moments from their crowded and
noisy homes, the big children with the “prams,” and
the little children they have in charge—and the change
in the minds of the objectors will be complete.
The laying out of the churchyards is being carried
out in many large towns besides London, though the
initiative came from the metropolis. Liverpool, Leeds,
Birmingham, Glasgow, and other places are adopting
the plan, and in Norwich there is a young and flourishing
Open Space Society which has already done much
in this direction. As the City of Norwich contains
about fifty churches, nearly all of which have churchyards,
the Society has its work cut out for it, in this
one way alone, for a good many years.
My impression is that amongst the London burial-grounds
which are still closed and useless, there are
fewer very untidy ones than there used to be. The
agitation that has led to the laying out of 80 or 90
as public recreation grounds has also had a beneficial
effect upon those which are not yet laid out. If this is
the case it is very satisfactory, and it is an indirect
result of the labours of the members of the Metropolitan
Public Gardens Association, and of others who
have interested themselves in the matter, which should
be a cause for thankfulness and encouragement.
.pn +1
.bn 250.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch13
CHAPTER XIII||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“With thy rude ploughshare, Death, turn up the sod,
And spread the furrow for the seed we sow;
This is the field and acre of our God,
This is the place where human harvests grow.”
Longfellow.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
Besides the churchyards of Tooting, Plumstead, Lee,
and Eltham, that are still available for interments, and
some others, such as Charlton and Fulham, where
burials in existing graves or vaults are sanctioned on
application to the Home Secretary, ten burial-grounds,
which can hardly be called cemeteries, are still being
used in London. These are the South Street or
Garratt’s Lane ground at Wandsworth, consecrated in
1808, where widows, widowers, and parents of deceased
persons already interred there can be buried, and the Holly
Lane ground in Hampstead, which was consecrated in
1812, and is occasionally used; the graveyard by the
Friends’ Meeting-House in Stoke Newington, those
.pn +1
.bn 251.jpg
in the convents in King Street, Hammersmith, and
Portobello Road, and one in Newgate Gaol (to all of
which I have referred); and a burial-ground crowded
with tombstones behind St. Thomas’ Roman Catholic
Church in Fulham, where new graves are still dug,
although there appears to be no room for more monuments,
and although densely-populated streets are on
every side. The other three are Jewish grounds, one in
Ball’s Pond, N., and two in Mile End, E., and they are
described in #Chapter VIII.:ch07#
.pi
It will be noticed that when the Act was passed, under
which the metropolitan burial-grounds were to be closed,
seven of the new cemeteries were already in use, and
while the burial-grounds were being closed, other cemeteries
were being started.
The Act for the formation of Kensal Green Cemetery
was passed in 1832, after unremitting efforts on
the part of Mr. G. F. Carden. It is situated by the
Harrow Road, not far short of Willesden Junction, and
when first made was practically in the country. Now
it is in the midst of large colonies of small houses. It
has, as is usual, a consecrated and an unconsecrated
portion, with a chapel in each. Its establishment led
the way to the formation of other cemeteries, but most
of the later ones were acquired by the parishes, not
started by companies.
Several of the large cemeteries which have thus sprung
into existence are just outside the metropolitan area,
but the following are within the boundary of the
.pn +1
.bn 252.jpg
County of London, and are tabulated in the order in
which they were established:—
.sp 1
.ta r:3 l:45 |c:7 |c:8
__
|
NAME OF CEMETERY. |
SIZE IN
ACRES.|\
DATE OF
FIRST
INTER-
MENT.
__
1. | All Souls’ Cemetery, Kensal Green, W. | 69¼ | 1833
2. | The South Metropolitan Cemetery, Norwood, S.E. | 40 | 1838
3. | St. James’ Cemetery, Highgate, N.W. | 38 | 1839
4. | Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, N. | 32 | 1840
5. | Brompton Cemetery, or the West London, or London and Westminster Cemetery, W.| 38|1840
6. | All Saints’ Cemetery, Nunhead, S.E. | 50 | 1840
7. | City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery, South Grove, Mile End, E. |33| 1841
8. | Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting Graveney, S.W. | 41 | 1854
9. | Charlton Cemetery, S.E. | 8 | 1855
10. | St. Mary’s Cemetery, Putney, Putney Lower Common, S.W.| 3| 1855
11. | Woolwich Cemetery, Wickham Lane, S.E. | 32 | 1856
12. | Camberwell Cemetery, Peckham Rye. S.E. | 29½ | 1856
13. | Greenwich Hospital Cemetery, Westcombe, S.E. | 6 | 1857
14. | Deptford Cemetery (St. Paul’s), Lewisham, S.E. | 17 | 1858
15. | St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, W.| 30| 1858
16. | Lewisham Cemetery, S.E. | 15½ | 1858
17. | St. Mary’s Cemetery, Battersea, S.W. | 8½ | 1860
18. | Fulham Cemetery, S.W, | 12½ | 1865
19. | Hammersmith Cemetery, Fulham, S.W. | 16½ | 1869
20. | Lee Cemetery, Hither Green, S.E. | 10 | 1873
21. | Hampstead Cemetery, Fortune Green, N.W. | 19¼ | 1876
22. | Wandsworth Cemetery, Magdalen Road, S.W. | 12 | 1878
23. | Plumstead Cemetery, S.E. | 32¼ | 1890
24. | Greenwich Cemetery | 15 |
| Total |608¼ |
__
.ta-
.sp 2
Some of these cemeteries have been added to since they
were first formed, and, considering the rate at which
.pn +1
.bn 253.jpg
they are being used, they will all need to be enlarged
in a very few years—that is if the present mode of
interment continues to be the ordinary one.
.if h
.il fn=i_253.jpg id=i253 w=600px
.ca
SITE OF THE GROUND at WORMWOOD SCRUBS, in the Parish of Hammersmith
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: SITE OF THE GROUND at WORMWOOD SCRUBS,
in the Parish of Hammersmith]
.if-
It must not be imagined that land was secured for
these cemeteries without difficulty. The inhabitants
of the districts in which it was proposed to place them
naturally petitioned against their formation. A huge
scheme for securing ninety-two acres (the Roundwood
Farm Estate), between Willesden and Harlesden, for
the Great Extramural Cemetery Association, was opposed
by the Middlesex magistrates and others, and was not
sanctioned by the Secretary of State. Part of this site
is now a public park. The parish of Kensington applied
.pn +1
.bn 254.jpg
for permission to form a cemetery of thirty acres at
Wormwood SCRUBS, but had eventually to go as far
out of London as Hanwell in order to secure a suitable
plot. Unfortunately some public land was allotted.
I believe that Norwood Cemetery was formerly a part
of Norwood Common, and Putney and Barnes Cemeteries
(the latter being just outside the boundary of
London) are on Putney and Barnes Commons. The
cemetery at Tooting was once meadow-land known as
Baggery Mead, and for most of the others farm land
and fields were taken. Happily it would now be very
difficult to acquire a piece of common or lammas land
for any such purpose, as we know far better than
we did how to preserve our greatest treasures. How
disastrous it would be if, when our village churchyards
.pn +1
.bn 255.jpg
could no longer be used, the village greens were turned
into burial-grounds!
.if h
.il fn=i_254.jpg id=i254 w=600px
.ca
NORWOOD CEMETERY ABOUT 1851.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: NORWOOD CEMETERY ABOUT 1851.]
.if-
The accompanying picture of Norwood Cemetery
was published in 1851, and shows a single row of
tombstones by the paths. Now there is row upon row
behind these, the place seems to be entirely filled, and
“yet there is room.” These grounds are all much
alike, but Norwood is peculiar in containing a small
parochial burial-ground belonging to St. Mary at
Hill, in the City (the church of the Church Army),
and another belonging to the Greeks. Most
dwellers in London are acquainted with one or
other of the cemeteries, some people finding pleasure
in walking about in them, and sitting on the seats
provided for visitors among the tombs; and they are,
on the whole, well looked after and neatly kept. It is
rather to be regretted that the custom of putting quaint
and interesting epitaphs on the stones is so entirely a
thing of the past; the monotonous texts do not take
their place at all.
There is a special interest attached to Kensal Green
Cemetery from its having been the first, but I think it
is also the worst. Mr. Loftie describes it as “the
bleakest, dampest, most melancholy of all the burial-grounds
of London.” I doubt if it is the dampest,
though the soil is a heavy clay, for I think that the
Tower Hamlets Cemetery is probably far damper. Nor
is Kensal Green so overcrowded or untidy as the Tower
Hamlets, where gravestones are tumbling and lying
.pn +1
.bn 256.jpg
about, apparently unclaimed and uncared for, amongst
dead shrubs and rank grass; it has also not quite
so large a proportion of “common graves” (for eight
bodies or so), as there are in some of the other grounds,
and the number of burials per acre has not been quite
so enormous as, for instance, at Tooting, Brompton,
or Abney Park. The last-named ground, when it had
only been opened fifteen years, was described in an
official report as being “a mass of corruption underneath,”
the soil being a “damp, blue clay.” But
Kensal Green Cemetery is truly awful, with its catacombs,
its huge mausoleums, family vaults, statues,
broken pillars, weeping images, and oceans of tombstones,
good, bad, and indifferent. I think the indifferent
are to be preferred, the bad should not be
anywhere, and the good are utterly out of place.
It is also the largest in the metropolis, and as the
Roman Catholic ground joins it there are in this spot,
or there very soon will be, ninety-nine acres of dead
bodies.
.if h
.il fn=i_258.jpg id=i258 w=426px
.ca
THE TOMB OF PRINCESS SOPHIA.
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.if-
.if t
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF PRINCESS SOPHIA.]
.if-
There are many sad sights in London, but to me
there are few so sad as one of these huge graveyards.
Not that the idea of the numbers of dead beneath the
soil produces any thoughts of melancholy, but I feel
inclined to exclaim with the disciples, “To what purpose
is this waste?” Can there be any more profitless mode
of throwing away money than by erecting costly tombstones?
They are of no use to the departed, and they
are grievous burdens laid on the shoulders of succeeding
.pn +1
.bn 257.jpg
generations. The only people who profit by them are
a few marble and granite merchants, and a few monumental
masons—and they might be better employed.
The whole funeral system is an extravagant imposition,
and has been for years. It may be said that the heavy
trappings, the plumes, the scarves, &c., are going out
of fashion; and this is true, but other things are taking
their place. I saw the other day a neat little copy of
the Burial Service, bound in black leather, with a cross
outside. On the fly leaf was printed the name of the
person to be buried, with the date of death, place of
interment, &c. This book was given by the undertaker
to each of those who attended the funeral, and as the
ceremony was conducted by a Nonconformist minister,
who arranged it in accordance with his own individual
predilection, the little book was useless! I merely
mention this as a specimen of the way in which the
expenses of a modern funeral may be mounted up.
The rich lavish their money on costly, almost indestructible
coffins, which it would be far better to do without
altogether, and on masses of flowers that die unseen,
while the poor go into debt to buy mourning, which
they often pawn before a month is over; and many
a widow and family, who have a hard struggle to
provide daily food, deny themselves the necessities of
life, and sow the seeds of disease and want, in order to
set up a tombstone or monument on a grave. And
who sees it? A few people may occasionally go to
Kensal Green to look at the tomb of Princess Sophia,
.pn +1
.bn 258.jpg
the family mausoleum of the Duke of Cambridge,
or the monuments erected to the Duke of Sussex,
Thackeray, Mulready, Tom Hood, George Cruikshank
(whose body has been removed to St. Paul’s
Cathedral), Leigh Hunt, John Leech, Hugh Littlejohn,
or Sydney Smith; but they are utterly spoilt by their
surroundings. It is hardly possible to appreciate such
memorials when they are closely hedged in by others
in all descriptions of stone, of all shapes and sizes, and
in all styles of architecture. And it is appalling to
think of the amount of money that has been spent on
these massive monuments. How many a church or
.pn +1
.bn 259.jpg
chapel might have been built in a growing district;
how many a beautiful old church now falling to decay
might have been restored[#]; how many missionaries
might have been sent to foreign lands; how many
hospital beds might have been endowed; how many
struggling families, or sick members of the same, might
have been given a holiday in the country or by the sea;
how many open spaces might have been secured and
laid out for the people; how many drinking fountains
might have been erected; how many grants might have
been made to voluntary schools or secular institutions
for benefiting mankind; and how many objects of
real beauty and antiquarian interest might have been
preserved! It is impossible to give an answer to these
questions—perhaps one would be sadder still if one
could.
.pm fn-start
Four English Cathedrals are at the present time in urgent need
of funds for restoration.
.pm fn-end
The Jews think a great deal of their tombstones, and
erect very large ones. When one is “set up” they
have a special ceremony, which they advertise beforehand,
and the friends and relations gather at the grave.
I have already referred to the very different custom of
the Society of Friends—the Quakers—and I trust that
they may long preserve the simplicity of their burial
practices, for “it consorts not with our principles,” said
W. Beck and T. F. Ball, in their history of the London
Friends’ Meetings (1869), “unduly to exalt the
honoured dead; their names we canonise not, and o’er
.pn +1
.bn 260.jpg
their graves we raise no costly monument.” It has been
the dying wish of very many of our best men that their
bodies might be laid to rest in quietness, and without
undue expense or show. Unfortunately their wishes
have not always been carried out. Sir John Morden,
who founded Morden College or Almshouses for
decayed Merchants, in Blackheath, left directions in
his will that he should be interred in the chapel of the
college “without any pomp or singing boys, but
decently.” I do not think the singing boys would
have hurt him, but his wish to dispense with “pomp”
was most praiseworthy. His funeral was made the
occasion of a considerable ceremony, but, as it took
place at 9 o’clock in the evening, perhaps it was
unaccompanied by such an institution as a champagne
lunch. His name and his fame have survived by reason
of the noble work he did, There is a deep lesson in Sir
Christopher Wren’s epitaph in St. Paul’s Cathedral:—
.ce
“Si momentum requiris circumspice.”
Longfellow sang the same strain in his well-known
verses:—
.pm verse-start
“Alike are life and death
When life in death survives,
And the interrupted breath
Inspires a thousand lives.
Were a star quenched on high,
For ages would its light,
Still travelling downward from the sky,
Shine on our mortal sight.
.pn +1
.bn 261.jpg
So when a good man dies,
For years beyond our ken,
The light he leaves behind him lies
Upon the paths of men.”
.pm verse-end
And it is reiterated still more beautifully in the
touching conversation between the schoolmaster and
Little Nell in Dickens’ “Old Curiosity Shop,” towards
the close of the fifty-fourth chapter.
.if h
.il fn=i_261.jpg id=i261 w=600px
.ca
IN KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: IN KENSAL GREEN CEMETERY.]
.if-
I cannot conclude this division of my subject without
an earnest appeal to those who are contemplating
erecting a tombstone to the memory of a beloved
relation or friend, to consider beforehand which is the
.pn +1
.bn 262.jpg
wisest way of commemorating the departed,—whether
the simplest memorial is not after all the best, “for
sublimity always is simple,” whether it may not be better
still to have none at all in a cemetery already overcrowded
with monuments, and whether it is well to
add indefinitely to the forests of practically imperishable
gravestones which are gradually surrounding London
and our other large towns.
.pn +1
.bn 263.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=ch14
CHAPTER XIV||
.sp 1
.pm verse-start
“Now our sands are almost run:
More or little, and then dumb.”
Shakespeare.
.pm verse-end
.sp 2
.ni
I acknowledge a hesitation in writing this chapter,
because there are many people who feel very strongly
upon the subject of the disposal of the dead, and whose
feelings I wish in no way to appear to treat with anything
but the greatest consideration.
.pi
The custom of burying the body has been in practice
in England ever since Christianity was established
here, and so completely did burial take the place of
burning that the latter expedient has never been formally
forbidden, or, until 1884, even referred to, in
English law. It is well that this fact should be clearly
understood, viz., that it is not illegal to dispose of a
dead body by other means than by burial in earth
.pn +1
.bn 264.jpg
(unless it should be proved a public nuisance at
common law), nor has it been illegal in England in
the past, but it has merely not been the custom,
“inhumation” having been systematically practised for
a thousand years.
It is natural that many beautiful thoughts should
have been expressed by our greatest writers in connection
with the burial of the dead; it has been a theme
upon which poets have loved to dwell. The mourners,
the lych-gate, the weather-worn stones, the solemn stillness,
the yew-tree—they all furnish subjects for reflection
and for verse. Tennyson refers in terms of
tenderest meaning to the yew-tree in the churchyard
in his “In Memoriam,” and even Tom Hood puts
aside his joking mood when he thinks of it—
.pm verse-start
“How wide the yew-tree spreads its gloom,
And o’er the dead lets fall its dew,
As if in tears it wept for them,
The many human families
That sleep around its stem!”
.pm verse-end
I confess I love these associations dearly, and it would
be hard indeed to give them up. But will they ever
cling around our cemeteries? I think not.
On the other hand, many very curious notions have
arisen in connection with this subject—notions as
groundless as they are quaint. I will mention three
only, which are illustrated by the two following
epitaphs, the first of which is from St. Olave’s, Jewry,
.pn +1
.bn 265.jpg
and the second from Bermondsey, as quoted by Maitland:—
.pm verse-start
1. “Under this Tomb, the sacred Ashes hold,
The drossie Part of more celestiall Gold;
The Body of a Man, a Man of Men,
Whose worth to write at large, would loose my Pen.
Then do thy worst, Death, glut thyself with Dust,
The precious Soul is mounted to the Just.
Yet, Reader, when thou read’st, both read and weep,
That Men so good, so grave, so wise, do sleep.”
2. “Where once the famous Elton did entrust
The Preservation of his sacred Dust,
Lyes pious Whitaker, both justly twined,
Both dead one Grave, both living had one Mind;
And by their dissolution have supply’d
The hungry Grave, and Fame and Heaven beside.
This stone protect their Bones, while Fame enrolls
Their deathless Name, and Heaven embrace their Souls.”
.pm verse-end
In the first we are told to weep because so good a man
has gone, from the second we are led to believe that the
gravestone protects the body of the departed, and both
contain the idea that the grave or earth is anxious to
receive the mortal remains, and is more comfortable for
having done so. First there is the question of the
weeping. It is very usual, on gravestones and monuments,
to find the order given to the reader to “drop a
tear.” And yet how impossible it is to carry it out.
Imagine dropping a tear all along a line of graves of
people of whom one has never heard, and who died
250 years ago! But happily there are quite as many
.pn +1
.bn 266.jpg
injunctions to the contrary, and we are as often told
not to weep:—
.pm verse-start
“Weep not for me, friends, though death us do sever,
I’m going to do nothing for ever and ever.”
.pm verse-end
This epitaph to a poor overworked woman is, perhaps,
flippant. Here is a more serious one, which was in the
church of St. Martin Outwich:—
.pm verse-start
“Reader, thou may’st forbear to put thine Eyes
To charge For Tears, to mourn these Obsequies:
Such charitable Drops would best be given
To those who late, or never, come to Heaven.
But here you would, by weeping on this Dust,
Allay his Happiness with thy Mistrust;
Whose pious closing of his youthful Years
Deserves thy Imitation, not thy Tears.”
(In memory of John Wight, 1633.)
.pm verse-end
Secondly there is the question of the protecting gravestone.
This is also not uncommonly met with. The
poet Gray’s well-known “Elegy in a Country Churchyard”
contains the following verse:—
.pm verse-start
“Yet e’en these bones from insult to protect
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture decked,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.”
.pm verse-end
But there could be few notions more false. Gravestones
have often enough been “moved about to give
more appearance of room,” and oftener still cleared
.pn +1
.bn 267.jpg
away altogether, while the bodies beneath have been
cast out almost as soon as they were buried; and
unfortunately there are many country churchyards
now which are terribly overcrowded. A short time
after the death of Lawrence Sterne his admirers
collected money to put a monument on his grave in St.
George’s burial-ground, Bayswater Road. It was
erected in what was supposed to be about the right
position—no one could point to the exact spot where
the body lay.
Thirdly we have the idea of the hungering grave,
which is carried to a ridiculous point in this passage
from “The Wonderful Yeare 1603, wherein is shewed
the picture of London lying sicke of the Plague.”—“Let
us look forth, and try what consolation rises with
the sun. Not any, not any; for, before the jewel of
the morning be fully set in silver, hundred hungry
graves stand gaping; and every one of them (as at a
breakfast) hath swallowed downe ten or eleven lifeless
carcases. Before dinner, in the same gulfe, are twice
so many more devoured. And, before the Sun takes
his rest, those numbers are doubled.”
.if h
.il fn=i_268.jpg id=i268 w=600px
.ca
SHEEP IN THE SAVOY CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1825.
.ca-
.if-
.if t
[Illustration: SHEEP IN THE SAVOY CHURCHYARD ABOUT 1825.]
.if-
Now the grave is not hungry, and the earth does not
want dead bodies; it is better without them. Yet,
strangely enough, there is a certain benefit to be
derived from a moderate supply, and the most advanced
cremationists advocate the use of the few remaining
ashes as manure for some kinds of farm lands. Sir
Henry Thompson, a cremationist worthy of every
.pn +1
.bn 268.jpg
honour, has referred to the great increase there would
be in the fish supply if burial at sea were generally
practised, a plan approved of by some anti-cremationists.
We have seen that churchyard water has been drunk for
generations, and very bad it is. Churchyard poultry
and churchyard mutton are also common enough, many
a poor parson being glad to earn a few pounds in the
year by allowing sheep to graze among the graves.
This is all very well in some country places, but it used
to be practised in London, and sheep have been actually
killed by swallowing with the grass the poisonous
products of the overfilled ground. In the Charterhouse
graveyard there are some magnificent wall fruit trees,
.pn +1
.bn 269.jpg
such as are seldom seen in crowded towns; one of
the Stepney pest-fields became a market-garden; while
breweries and burial-grounds seem to be closely
associated with each other.
But the question of paramount importance is how to
stop the increase of cemeteries. Are we ever to allow
England to be divided like a chess-board into towns
and burial-places? What we have to consider is how
to dispose of the dead without taking so much valuable
space from the living. In the metropolitan area alone
we have almost filled (and in some places overfilled)
twenty-four new cemeteries within sixty years, with an
area of above six hundred acres; and this is as nothing
compared with the huge extent of land used for
interments just outside the limits of the metropolis. If
the cemeteries are not to extend indefinitely they must
in time be built upon, or they must be used for burial
over and over again, or the ground must revert to its
original state as agricultural land, or we must turn our
parks and commons into cemeteries, and let our
cemeteries be our only recreation grounds—which
Heaven forbid!
I fail to understand how any serious-minded person
can harbour the idea that burning the body can be any
stumbling-block in the way of its resurrection, for the
body returns “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to
dust,” whether the process takes fifty years or fifty
minutes. But many people have a horror of the
notion—they know it is sanitary, but they think it
.pn +1
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irreverent. There are other alternatives, worthy of
careful consideration. Some have advocated burial at
sea; others, and among them Sir Seymour Haden,
have pressed forward the advantages of using perishable
coffins, wicker baskets, and the like—a suggestion as
excellent as it is economical, for the sooner the earth
and the body meet the better it is. Perhaps, in this
scientific generation, some one may invent a totally
new method of disposing of the dead, which will
commend itself both to those who advocate cremation
and to those who dislike it. He would indeed be a
public benefactor, deserving of the Faraday medal.
But that cremation is on the increase cannot be denied.
Even Kensal Green Cemetery has now a “Columbarium,”
which is an elegant name for pigeon-holes for
cinerary urns, built in 1892, with forty-two little
cupboards. Since the decision of Mr. Justice Stephen
in the case of Dr. William Price, in February, 1884, it
has been recognised as legal in England, and the
crematoriums at Woking and elsewhere have been
frequently used. But if the practice is to become at
all general it must be advocated by a different set of
people. It has, to a certain extent, happened hitherto
that those who have been cremated have been more or
less associated (I hope I may not be misunderstood
here) with the advanced school—those that consider
themselves “enlightened,” Radicals, or Socialists, or
persons of little or no professed religious views. This
was not the case with the promoters of cremation, but
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it has been so with some of their disciples, or at any
rate many anti-cremationists think so. The Rev. H.
R. Haweis is excellent in his way—I speak of him
with the greatest respect—but I venture to think that
cremation will not be taken up very largely until a few
such men as the Archbishop of York, the Chief Rabbi,
the Rev. Prebendary Webb Peploe, and Father
Staunton pronounce in its favour. Then it would soon
be necessary to have a crematorium in every cemetery.
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.if h
.il fn=i_271.jpg id=i271 w=424px
.ca
THE COLUMBARIUM AT KENSAL GREEN.
.ca-
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[Illustration: THE COLUMBARIUM AT KENSAL GREEN.]
.if-
It is morbid and useless to make previous preparation
for death, except by life insurance, a proper will, and
other business-like arrangements for the benefit of
survivors. It is foolish to erect, as many have done, a
tomb during lifetime (like the Miller’s tomb on Highdown
Hill, Sussex), to keep a coffin under the bed, or
to have a picture of a skeleton always on the wall.
Such eccentric practices as that of the gentleman who
died in a house by Hyde Park, and, at his wish, had
his body kept in a coffin under a glass case on the roof
of the house, are not to be admired. We can never
forget that our life here will have its ending, our
friends, companions, and neighbours are constantly
leaving us, our daily paper has its daily obituary
column, and surely no artificial method is needed to
remind us of this fact. Cowper has said:
.pm verse-start
“Like crowded forest-trees we stand,
And some are marked to fall;
The axe will smite at God’s command,
And soon shall smite us all.”
.pm verse-end
The utmost we need do, if we do not want our
bodies to rest in the cemeteries, is to tell our friends
that we wish them cremated, or buried in perishable
coffins, or quietly laid in some far-off, rural spot.
All else we may leave—it is in higher hands than
ours; and already the Church on earth, imperfect,
faulty, and divided though she be, has
.pm verse-start
“mystic, sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.”
.pm verse-end
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A few words in closing about the future of the
disused burial-grounds in London. I think they are
tolerably safe now. I have attempted to show how
many there still are, closed and idle, or being used for
a totally wrong purpose, between Hampstead and
Plumstead, Hammersmith and Bow; but they are
surely, if but slowly, being reclaimed and changed, one
by one, into places of rest and recreation for the living.
The public mind has so far awaked to the necessity of
securing all the breathing-spaces which may be had, that
the smallest corner of land in which interments can
have been said to have taken place now forms a subject
of litigation if attempts are made to build upon it.
Preservation is the first step upon the ladder, acquisition
the next, while conversion crowns them all.
I can foresee no better fate for the disused graveyards
than that they should become gardens or playgrounds.
The churchyards must be gardens, as green and bright
and neat as they can be made, for the older people;
and the unconsecrated grounds, detached from places
of worship, will serve as playgrounds, many of them
having to be reclaimed from their present use as
builders’ yards, cooperages, &c. Spa Fields, Clerkenwell,
a burial-ground to the history of which I have
already referred, is a typical London playground, in
the very centre of the town, although surrounded by
courts and streets with such rural names as Rosoman
Street, Wood Street, Pear-tree Court and Vineyard
Walk—grim reminders of what the district was like a
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hundred years or more ago. Exmouth Street, behind
which this open space is situated, is worth a visit.
I was there recently, one Monday afternoon. Trucks
and stalls with wares of all kinds lined the narrow
road, and there seemed scarcely a square yard without
a person on it. One woman was selling old garments,
of which she had only about six, and these were spread
out on the road itself—in the mud. A little farther
on I noticed a stall, where two women were making
purchases of “freshly-boiled horse-flesh at 2d. a lb.”
This was not cut up as for cat’s meat, but was in large,
dark brown, shapeless-looking joints. In the middle
of the street is the Church of the Holy Redeemer, a
huge structure in imitation of an Italian church. It
stands on the site of the Spa Fields Chapel, an old
round building, removed a few years ago, belonging
to the Lady Huntingdon Connexion, which had a
stone obelisk in front of it to the memory of Lady
Huntingdon, who lived in a neighbouring house. Behind
the church is the open space, which is nearly two
acres in extent. Originally taken for a tea-garden
the speculation failed, and the ground was used as a
burial-ground, slightly lower fees being charged than in
the neighbouring churchyards. After being grossly
overcrowded it was closed for interments in 1853.
For several years the space has been used as a drill-ground
by the 3rd Middlesex Artillery and the 39th
Middlesex Rifles; and in 1885 the Metropolitan Public
Gardens Association entered into negotiations with the
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owner, the Marquis of Northampton, and he generously
handed it over at a nominal rental for the purposes
of a children’s playground, and subsequently
added to it half an acre of adjoining land. The
association drained it and carted a large amount of
soil and gravel into it, and put up some gymnastic
apparatus in the additional piece, which was not a part
of the burial-ground. The entrance is from Vineyard
Walk, Farringdon Road. When I last visited the
playground, although it was a chilly afternoon, a great
many children were enjoying themselves, and some
women were swinging their little ones. But after or
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between school-hours is the proper time to see it.
Then it is crowded, and every swing, rope, pole, bar,
ladder, and skipping-rope is in use, and children are
running about all over the open part of the ground.
.if h
.il fn=i_275.jpg id=i275 w=600px
.ca
SPA FIELDS PLAYGROUND.
.ca-
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[Illustration: SPA FIELDS PLAYGROUND.]
.if-
It is a strange-looking place. On the north-west
side is the unfinished apse of the Church of the Holy
Redeemer, and on the south side is the parish mortuary,
the presence of which does not seem to have
any sobering effect upon the children. I watched four
boys on the giant’s stride, and when they had vacated
it a little girl of about eight years, who had been sitting
on a seat with a baby on her lap, and was knitting a
long strip with odd bits of coloured wools, beckoned
to another sad-looking little girl sitting on my seat,
and off they went to take the boys’ places. The baby
was deposited on yet another seat, and it wept copiously.
But the children did not heed its cries; they
had a silent and vigorous turn at the giant’s stride,
each holding on to two ropes. They neither spoke
nor smiled, and, when they had finished, the one returned
to her baby and her knitting and the other
clambered on to the back of the long-suffering and
well-worn vaulting-horse. They are very strong,
some of these poor children, and it is wonderful what
they can do. The shabbiest often seem the most
active. I noticed one little lad, whose clothes were
literally dropping to pieces—shoes, stockings, knickerbockers,
and blouse all in tatters—and he twisted himself
about on the handle swings, putting his toes
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through the handles, and performing all sorts of gyrations
which many a well-fed boy, clad in the best of flannels,
would have given his all to be able to accomplish.
A playground such as Spa Fields is about as different
from an ordinary village green, where country boys
and girls romp and shout, as two things with the same
purpose can well be. For the soft, green grass, you
have gritty gravel; for the cackling geese who waddle
into the pond, you have a few stray cats walking on the
walls; for the picturesque cottages overgrown with roses
and honeysuckle, you have the backs of little houses,
monotonous in structure, in colour, and in dirt; and
instead of resting “underneath the shadow vast of
patriarchal tree,” you must be content with a wooden
bench close to the wall, bearing on its back the name
of the association which laid out the ground. But it
is only necessary to have once seen the joy with which
the children of our crowded cities hail the formation of
such a playground, and the use to which they put it, to
be convinced that the trouble of acquiring it, or the cost
of laying it out, is amply repaid. They are so crowded
at home, so crowded at school, so crowded in the
roads, that it seems hard to lose one opportunity of
securing a piece of ground, however small, where they
can be free to stretch their arms, their legs, and their
lungs, away from the dangers and the sad sights of the
streets, under the charge of a kindly caretaker,
.pm verse-start
“And where beadles and policemen
Never frighten them away.”
.pm verse-end
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And can the dead beneath the soil object to the
little feet above them? I am sure they cannot. Even
Gray, in describing Stoke Pogis Churchyard, which is
surrounded by meadows, rejoiced to see the “little
footsteps lightly print the ground.” Such a space as
Spa Fields may never have been consecrated for the use
of the dead, but perchance the omission is in part redeemed
by its dedication to the living.
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.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=AppA
APPENDIX A.
.sp 2
.in 4
.ti -4
Burial-grounds within the Metropolitan Area, which still
exist, wholly or in part. Abridged from the Return
prepared for the London County Council in the Spring
of 1895, and corrected up to date.
.in 0
.sp 2
.ce
HAMPSTEAD.
1. St. John’s Churchyard.—1½ acres in extent. It is full of
tombstones, but very neatly kept, and although not handed over to
any public authority, nor provided with seats, the gates are usually
open.
2. Burial-ground in Holly Lane.—1¼ acres. This is still used
for interments, and new graves are occasionally dug here. It was
consecrated in 1812. It is tidily kept, and the gates are open whenever
the gardener is on the ground.
3. Hampstead Cemetery.—19½ acres. First used in 1876. Open
daily. It is well kept, except the part nearest to Fortune Green.
4. The Tumulus, Parliament Hill Fields.—Excavated in 1894 by
the London County Council, and said to be an ancient British
burial-place of the early bronze period. Railed round for its protection.
N.B.—There are tumuli in Greenwich Park, and evidences of
Roman cemeteries and other ancient burial-places in several parts
of London.
.sp 2
.ce
ST. MARYLEBONE.
5. St. Marylebone Episcopal Chapel-ground, High Street.—⅓ acre
.pn +1
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This chapel was the parish church until 1816. The churchyard is
full of tombstones, closed and fairly neat.
6. St. Marylebone Burial-ground, Paddington Street, north
side.—¾ acre. A mortuary was built in it a few years ago. The ground
was consecrated in 1772. It is closed to the public, but neatly kept and
used as a garden for the inmates of the adjoining workhouse.
7. St. Marylebone (also called St. George’s)
Burial-ground, Paddington Street, south side.—2¼ acres.
Consecrated in 1733, and very much used. Since 1886 it has been
maintained as a public garden by the vestry, and is well kept.
8. St. John’s Wood Chapel-ground.—An additional burial-ground
for the parish of Marylebone. 6 acres. The tombstones have not
been moved, but the Marylebone Vestry maintains the ground as a
public garden. It has a few seats in it, and is neatly kept.
.sp 2
.ce
PADDINGTON.
9. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—1 acre. The tombstones have not
been moved, but the ground has been neatly laid out, and is kept
open by the vestry.
10. The Old Burial-ground, Paddington.—3 acres. This adjoins
St. Mary’s Churchyard, and was laid out and opened as a public
garden by the vestry in 1885. It contains the site of an older
church, dedicated to St. James.
.sp 2
.ce
KENSINGTON.
11. St. Mary Abbots Churchyard.—About 1¼ acres. The graveyard
is smaller than it was 20 years ago because the present church
is far larger than the original one, and recently a long porch or
cloister has been added. It is neatly laid out but closed to the
public.
12. Holy Trinity Churchyard, Brompton.—3½ acres. There are
public thoroughfares through this ground, but they are railed off,
and the churchyard is closed and has a neglected appearance.
13. Brompton Cemetery, also called West London Cemetery and
London and Westminster Cemetery.—38 acres. First used in
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1840. By 1889 upwards of 155,000 bodies had been interred
there. It is crowded with tombstones, and is in the midst of a
thickly populated district.
14. All Souls Cemetery, Kensal Green, partly in Hammersmith.—69
acres. Open daily and neatly kept. This cemetery has been
in use since 1833, and it is crowded with tombstones and contains
catacombs and numerous vaults and mausoleums.
15. Burial-ground of the Franciscan Convent of St. Elizabeth,
Portobello Road.—This is a triangular grass plot, not above ¼ acre
in size, in the garden behind the convent. It is surrounded by
trees and neatly kept. It was sanctioned by the Home Secretary
in 1862, and is only used for the interment of nuns, of whom
five have been buried here, the first in 1870 and the last in 1893.
.sp 2
.ce
HAMMERSMITH.
16. St. Paul’s Churchyard.—1 acre. This is smaller than it used
to be, the present church being larger than the old one, and a piece
of the ground having been taken in 1884 to widen the road. It is
neatly laid out and often open, but not a public recreation ground.
It was consecrated in 1631, and frequently enlarged.
17. St. Peter’s Churchyard, Black Lion Lane.—1,800 square
yards. Closed and untidy.
18. New West End Baptist Chapel-ground, King Street.—¼ acre.
This is north and south of the chapel, the northern part having
been encroached upon. Closed and neatly kept.
19. Wesleyan Chapel Burial-ground, Waterloo Street.—The
chapel has been supplanted by a Board School, and the playground
is the site of the burial-ground. It is tar-paved, has a few trees in
it, and is about 500 square yards in size.
20. Friends Burial-ground, near the Creek.—300 square yards.
This is on the north side of the Friends meeting-house, and is
closed, but very neat. There are a few flat tombstones, and burials
took place until about 1865.
21. St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green.—30
acres. The first interment was in 1858, and it is now crowded
with vaults, tombstones, &c. It is open daily and neatly kept.
.pn +1
.bn 282.jpg
22. The Cemetery of the Benedictine Nunnery, Fulham Palace
Road.—This is a small burial-ground in the garden. According to
a report from the Home Office it is about 14 by 12 yards in extent.
It was in use before 1829, but was closed for interment some years
ago.
23. The Cemetery of the Convent (Nazareth Home), in
Hammersmith Road.—This is at the extreme end of the garden, under the
wall of Great Church Lane. It is not more than 12 yards by 9 yards, and
is used for the interment of the sisters, burials only taking place at
considerable intervals. This ground has been in use for upwards of 40
years.
.sp 2
.ce
FULHAM.
24. All Saints’ Churchyard.—Two acres or more. This is kept
open during the summer months, and has seats in it, but the gravestones
have not been moved, nor has the ground been handed over
to any public authority for maintenance. It is neatly kept. No
new graves are dug in it, but where the rights can be proved certain
old vaults are still occasionally used.
25. St. Mary’s Churchyard, Hammersmith Road.—Size ½ acre.
This ground is closed, but fairly tidy. Several of the tombstones
have been moved.
26. St. John’s Churchyard, Walham Green.—½ acre. There are
only a few tombstones on the north side of the church and none on
the south side, and the ground is closed and appears neglected.
27. St. Thomas’s Roman Catholic Churchyard, Fulham.—2,600
square yards. This ground was closed by order in Council in
1857, but only partially, for new graves are still dug in it, in the
midst of a densely-populated district of new streets. The gate is
usually open.
28. Lillie Road pest-field (the orchard of Normand House).—The
site of this orchard, then 4 acres in extent, was used extensively
for burials at the time of the Great Plague. Lintaine Grove
now occupies part of it, and a row of houses in Lillie Road. Only
about ¾ acre is still unbuilt upon, at the corner of Tilton Street,
and this is offered for sale.
.pn +1
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29. Fulham Cemetery.—12½ acres. First used in 1865. Open
daily.
30. Hammersmith Cemetery, in Fulham Fields.—16½ acres. First
used in 1869. Open daily.
.sp 2
.ce
CHELSEA.
31. St. Luke’s Churchyard (the old church on the Embankment).—¼
acre. This ground is closed and neglected.
32. St. Luke’s Churchyard (the new church in Robert Street).—2¼
acres. This ground was consecrated in 1812, and contains
vaults and catacombs. It was laid out as a public garden and is
maintained by the Chelsea Vestry.
33. Old Burial-ground, King’s Road.—¾ acre. Given to the
parish of Chelsea by Sir Hans Sloane, consecrated in 1736, and
enlarged in 1790. A mortuary has been built in it. It is laid out
as a garden for the use of the inmates of the adjoining workhouse.
Fragments of an old chapel and graveyard have been found here.
34. Chelsea Hospital Graveyard, Queen’s Road.—1⅓ acres. This
ground was used for the interment of the pensioners. It is closed,
but neatly kept.
35. All Souls Roman Catholic Burial-ground, Cadogan
Terrace.—1½ acres. The adjoining chapel (St. Mary’s) was consecrated
in 1811. The ground is closed and full of tombstones.
36. Moravian Burial-ground, Milman’s Row.—The part actually
used for interments is fenced in and closed. It is neatly kept, the
tombstones being very small flat ones. It belongs to the Congregation
of the Moravian Church in Fetter Lane, E.C., and was closed
by order in Council about 8 years ago.
37. Jewish Burial-ground, Fulham Road.—½ acre. It belongs
to the Western Synagogue, St. Alban’s Place, S.W., and was first
used in 1813. It is closed to the public except between 11 and 4
on Sundays.
.sp 2
.ce
ST. GEORGE’S, HANOVER SQUARE.
38. St. George’s Burial-ground, Mount Street.—1¼ acres. Laid
out as a public garden, and beautifully kept by the vestry. The
ground dates from about 1730, but there are very few tombstones.
.pn +1
.bn 284.jpg
39. St. George’s Burial-Ground, Bayswater Road.—Laid out by
the vestry, the gravestones having been placed round the walls.
The approaches to this ground are its chief drawback, and it is not
visible from any public road. One entrance is through the chapel
facing Hyde Park, and the other is in a mews. It is about 5 acres
in extent.
.sp 2
.ce
WESTMINSTER (ST. MARGARET AND ST. JOHN).
40. The Churchyard of Westminster Abbey.—What remains of the
extensive burial-ground which once occupied this site is the piece
of land on the north side of the Abbey, and the cloisters. (See St.
Margaret’s.)
41. St. Margaret’s Churchyard.—This was laid out as a public
garden, and forms one ground with the Abbey churchyard. It is
well kept up by the burial board of the parish. The size of the
churchyard, with the ground used for interments which belongs to
the Abbey, is about 2¼ acres.
42. Christ Church Churchyard, Victoria Street (also called St.
Margaret’s burying-ground).—This church was a chapel of ease to
St. Margaret’s. The adjoining graveyard has had a vicarage built
in it. What remains is 7,000 square yards in size, closed, with flat
tombstones and grass.
43. St. John the Evangelist Churchyard, Smith Square.—This
churchyard used to extend, at the beginning of the century, for
some distance on the south side of the church, but was thrown into
the road. Now all that remains is a very small bare enclosure, not
¼ acre in size, railed in round the church.
44. Additional ground for St. John’s Parish, Horseferry
Road.—Walled in in 1627, and very much used, especially for the burial
of soldiers. It is 1½ acres in size, and has been laid out as public
garden. It is neatly kept by the vestry, and much frequented.
45. Vincent Square.—8 acres. This is what remains of the
Tothill Fields pest-field. It is the playground of Westminster
School, and some buildings have been erected in it. A stone-paved
yard in Earl Street is said to be the site of the plague-pits.
46. Millbank Penitentiary Burial-ground.—432 square yards in
.pn +1
.bn 285.jpg
size. In 1830-33 there were an average of 14 interments per
annum, but at times it was more used. The site of this graveyard
will be preserved when the space which used to be occupied by the
prison is built upon.
47. Knightsbridge Green.—Victims of the plague from the leper
hospital and elsewhere were buried here. A grassy, closed triangle
opposite Tattersalls.
.sp 2
.ce
ST. MARTIN’S IN THE FIELDS.
48. St. Martin’s Churchyard.—⅓ acre. This is stone-paved, has
trees and seats in it supplied by the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association, and is maintained by the vestry.
49. Additional ground in Drury Lane.—Less than ¼ acre. Laid
out as a public garden, and now maintained by the vestry. It is
well kept, and contains some gymnastic apparatus for the use of the
children. Also called the Tavistock burial-ground.
.sp 2
.ce
ST. JAMES’S, WESTMINSTER.
50. St. James’s Churchyard, Piccadilly.—½ acre. This is a
dreary ground, and might be made very attractive. The part where
most burials took place is considerably raised above the rest. The
yard on the north side of the church is entirely paved with stones,
amongst which are many tombstones. In the upper part tombstones
form the walks, the walls, &c. One gate is often unlatched.
51. St. James’s Workhouse Ground, Poland Street.—The workhouse
was built upon a “common cemetery” where, at the time of the plague,
many thousands of bodies were interred. A small part of it was kept as
the workhouse burial-ground, but this has now disappeared, and all that
is left of the original ground used for interments is the garden or
courtyard of the workhouse. It is a pleasant recreation ground for the
inmates, and is well supplied with seats, being about ¼ acre in
extent.
.sp 2
.ce
THE STRAND.
52. St. Mary le Strand Churchyard.—At the west end of the
church, about 200 square yards in size, closed and not well kept.
.pn +1
.bn 286.jpg
53. Additional ground, Russell Court, Catherine Street.—430
square yards. It is probable that few grounds in London were more
overcrowded with bodies than this one, which was entirely surrounded
by the backs of small houses. When closed in 1853 it
was in a very disgusting and unwholesome condition, and it continued
to be most wretched until the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association asphalted it in 1886. It is maintained as a children’s
playground by the London County Council. This is the scene of
“Tom all alone’s” in “Bleak House.” There are 6 gravestones
against the wall.
54. St. Clement Danes Churchyard.—This is now ¼ acre in
extent, having been curtailed when the Strand was altered. It is
closed.
55. Additional ground, Portugal Street.—This was called the
“Green-ground,” and was crowded with bodies. A corner of
King’s College Hospital was built upon the ground. The remaining
piece is nearly ½ acre in size, between the hospital and Portugal
Street. It is now the entrance drive and a grass plot. It is neatly
kept, with some trees and seats in it, and is used solely by the
hospital.
56. St. Paul’s Churchyard, Covent Garden.—¾ acre. Given by
the Earl of Bedford in 1631. It is closed and very neat, the
tombstones forming a flat paved yard round the church, while the
rest of the ground is turfed.
57. St. Ann’s Churchyard, Soho.—½ acre. It is estimated that in
this small ground and the vaults under the church 110,240 bodies
were interred during 160 years. It was laid out by the Metropolitan
Public Gardens Association in 1892, and is maintained as a
recreation ground in very good order by the Strand District Board
of Works.
58. The Churchyard of the Chapel Royal (St. Mary’s),
Savoy.—¼ acre. This ground was much used for the internment of
soldiers. It belongs to Her Majesty the Queen, as Duchess of Lancaster,
and was laid out as a public garden at the cost of the Queen, the Earl
of Meath, and others. It is well maintained by the parish.
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ST. GILES IN THE FIELDS.
59. St. Giles’ Churchyard.—Nearly an acre. This ground being
originally consecrated by a Roman Catholic, was much used by the
poor Irish. It was enlarged in 1628, and at various subsequent
dates, and was very much overcrowded, and it occupies the site of
an ancient graveyard attached to a leper hospital. It has been laid
out as a public garden, and is maintained by the St. Giles’ District
Board of Works. The brightest part of the ground is north of the
church, and this is only opened at the discretion of the caretaker.
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HOLBORN.
60. Additional ground for St. John’s, Clerkenwell, in Benjamin
Street.—This land, which is nearly ¼ acre in extent, was consecrated
in 1775. It was laid out as a public garden ten years ago,
and is maintained by trustees with help from the Holborn District
Board of Works and the Clerkenwell Vestry. Very well kept.
61. Charterhouse Square.—This garden is a part of the site of a
burial-ground dating back to 1349, when Sir Walter de Manny
purchased from St. Bartholomew’s Hospital 13 acres of land, known
as the Spittle Croft, for the burial of those who died in the plague
of that time. In 20 years 50,000 bodies were interred there. In
1371 the Carthusian Monastery was built upon it. This Pardon
Churchyard was a space of three acres acquired a year earlier, to
which the plague-ground was added. This Pardon Churchyard
survived longer, being used for suicides and executed people.
Charterhouse Square is 1¼ acres.
62. The old Charterhouse Graveyard.—In 1828 to 1830, when the
present Pensioners’ Court and other buildings were erected, part of
this ground was built upon; but part exists in the courtyard on
each side of the Pensioners’ Courts, being about ⅓ acre in extent.
All the open land has been used at one time or another for burials.
63. The new Charterhouse Burial-ground.—When the above
ground was done away with, a smaller piece to the north was set
aside for the interment of the pensioners. This remains still, and
is very neatly kept. There are a few gravestones on the wall and
splendid fruit trees. It is about ¼ acre in extent.
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CLERKENWELL.
64. St. James’s Churchyard.—¾ acre. This ground was purchased
in 1673, enlarged in 1677, and is now laid out as a public
garden and maintained by the vestry.
65. Additional ground, Bowling Green Lane (called St. James’s
middle ground).—This was leased by the parish, with the adjoining
“Cherry Tree” public-house, in 1775 for 99 years. It is ¼ acre in
size, situated at the corner of Rosoman Street and Bowling Green Lane.
The London School Board secured it when the lease ran out, and it is now
the playground of the Bowling Green Lane School.
66. The Burial-ground of St. James’s, Pentonville Road.––This
was formed as an additional ground for the parish of St. James,
Clerkenwell. It is nearly an acre in extent, full of tombstones and
very untidy, but the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association has
undertaken to convert it into a public garden.
67. St. John’s Churchyard.—What exists of this is between the
church and St. John Street, a narrow strip, about 320 square yards
in extent, closed and paved with tiles and tombstones. Its laying out
by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association is in hand.
68. Spa Fields Burial-ground, Exmouth Street.—Originally a
tea-garden, afterwards a burial-ground, managed by a private individual.
It is the property of the Marquis of Northampton, is about 1¾ acres
in extent, and in the evenings is occasionally used as a volunteer
drill-ground. In 1885 the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association laid
it out as a playground, and the London County Council maintains it.
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ST. PANCRAS.
69. St. Pancras Burial-ground, Pancras Road.
70. St. Giles in The Fields Burial-ground, Pancras Road.—These
two grounds now form one garden, about 6 acres in extent, maintained
with much care for the use of the public by St. Pancras
Vestry. St. Giles’ ground dates from 1803, but the other is much
older. In 1889 part of St. Pancras ground was acquired under a
special Act by the Midland Railway Company. This part was, in
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1791, assigned to the French Émigrés, and many celebrated
Frenchmen and Roman Catholics were buried there. Part of it has not
actually been built upon, as the railway goes over it on arches. There
are many high stacks of tombstones in the garden, and a “trophy” and a
“dome” of headstones, numbering 496, which were taken from the part
acquired by the railway.
71. St. Martin’s in the Fields Burial-ground in Pratt
Street.—1¾ acres. This was consecrated in 1805. It is now a well-kept
public garden under the control of the St. Pancras Vestry. A part
appears to have been appropriated as a private garden for the almshouses
and as a site for a chapel and other buildings.
72. St. James’s Burial-ground, Hampstead Road.—This belongs to
the parish of St. James, Piccadilly. It was laid out as a public garden
in 1887, and is maintained by the St. Pancras Vestry, a large slice at
the east end having been taken off for public improvements. The
remaining portion measures about 3 acres.
73. St. Andrew’s Burial-ground, Gray’s Inn Road.—1¼ acres.
This ground belongs to the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, adjoins
the church of Holy Trinity, and is maintained as a public garden
by the St. Pancras Vestry. It is well kept, except a railed-off
piece south of the church, which is a sort of lumber-room.
74. The Burial-ground of St. George’s, Bloomsbury.
75. The Burial-ground of St. George the Martyr, Bloomsbury.—These
are out of Wakefield Street, Gray’s Inn Road, and together
form one public garden maintained by the St. Pancras Vestry, and
very well kept. A part of the latter, which was consecrated in
1714, is still closed. Each ground is 1¼ acres in extent. There
are vaults under the church in Hart Street.
76. Whitfield’s Tabernacle Burial-ground, Tottenham Court
Road.—Somewhat less than ½ acre. The London County Council opened it
as a public garden in February, 1895. It is said that in 97 years
upwards of 30,000 bodies were interred in this ground.
77. Wesleyan Chapel-ground, Liverpool Street, King’s Cross.—An
untidy little closed yard at the west end of the chapel containing
two tombstones and much rubbish, and measuring about 225 square
yards.
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78. St. James’s Cemetery, Highgate.—38 acres. First used in
1839. In 50 years 76,000 interments had taken place. It is in
two portions and situated on a steep slope. Open daily.
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ISLINGTON.
79. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—1⅓ acres. This ground was enlarged
in 1793, and was laid out as a public garden in 1885. It is maintained
by the vicar and churchwardens.
80. Additional ground round the Chapel of Ease in Holloway
Road.—4 acres. This is also laid out as a public garden, and is
beautifully kept by the Islington Vestry.
81. Burial-ground of St. John’s Roman Catholic Church, Duncan
Row.—½ acre. A strip at the northern end of this ground is railed
off with some tombstones in it, the remainder being tar-paved and
used as a playground for the boys’ Roman Catholic school.
82. Islington Chapel-ground, Church Street (also called Little
Bunhill Fields).—The original chapel was built in 1788, and had a
small graveyard. In 1817 the Rev. Evan Jones bought the garden
of 5, Church Row, and added it to this graveyard, the whole ground
being nearly 1 acre in extent. It is now in several divisions, part
is a yard belonging to the General Post Office, and the other parts
are let and sold as builders’ yards, or are vacant.
83. Maberley Chapel-ground, Ball’s Pond Road.—Now called Earlham
Hall. The ground is about 270 square yards, between the
chapel and the road. It is closed and bare.
84. Jewish Burial-ground, Ball’s Pond.—1¼ acres. This belongs
to the West London Synagogue, is very neatly kept, and is still in
use. It is full of very large tombstones.
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ST. LUKE’S.
85. St. Luke’s Churchyard, Old Street.—In two parts. Size of the
whole ground, nearly 1¾ acres. The piece round the church is closed,
and full of large altar tombs, ivy being planted most profusely. There
is a great deal of rubbish in it. The part on the north side was laid
out as a public garden in 1878, and is maintained by the vestry.
86. The Poor ground, Bath Street.—¼ acre. This was originally
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larger than it is now. It was consecrated in 1662 for the parish of
St. Giles, Cripplegate, and called the pest-house ground. After
1732, when St. Luke’s parish was formed, it was used by that
parish. Now it is neatly laid out and used as a recreation
ground by the patients of the St. Luke’s Asylum. It is ¼ acre
in extent.
87. Wesleyan Chapel-ground, City Road.—½ acre. The part in
front of the chapel is neatly kept, but the part behind is closed
and not so tidy. Wesley himself was buried in a vault here.
88. Bunhill Fields.—5 or 6 acres. This was originally two
grounds, the southern part having been intended for burials in the Great
Plague, but not being used was let by the Corporation to a Mr. John
Tyndall, who carried it on as a private cemetery. Subsequently the
northern part was added, and the whole ground extensively used for the
interment of Dissenters. The Corporation maintain it as a public garden,
but the tombstones have not been moved, and only the gates at the
eastern end are generally open.
89. The Friends Burial-ground, Bunhill Row.—Acquired in 1661,
many times added to, and chiefly used by the Friends of the Peel
and Bull-and-Mouth divisions. In 1840 a school was built in it.
The existing portion is about ½ acre in size, and is neatly kept as a
private garden; but the remainder was used as the site for a Board
School, a coffee palace, houses and shops, including the Bunhill
Fields Memorial Buildings, erected in 1881.
90. St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Ground, Seward Street.—⅓ acre.
This was used for the interment of the unclaimed bodies. After
being closed it was let as a carter’s yard until it was laid out as a
public playground by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association
in 1891. It is maintained by St. Luke’s Vestry.
91. Cripplegate Poor ground, Whitecross Street.—It was called
the “upper churchyard” of St. Giles, and was first used in 1636.
It was very much overcrowded, the fees being low. A part of
the site is occupied by the church and mission-house of St. Mary,
Charterhouse, erected in 1864, and only a very small courtyard
now exists between these buildings, with a large vault.
92. The City Bunhill (or Golden Lane) Burial-ground.—¼ acres.
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This was the site of a brewery, and set aside for burials in 1833.
About one-third of it is in the City. It is now divided. One part
is in the occupation of Messrs. Sutton and Co., carriers, and is full
of sheds and carts, the greater part being roofed in, and the southern
part has the City mortuary and coroner’s court on it. What is
unbuilt upon is a neat, private yard between these two buildings.
It was closed for burials in 1853.
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SHOREDITCH.
93. St. Leonard’s Churchyard.—1½ acres. Maintained as a public
garden by the Shoreditch Vestry. It is, I believe, partly in Bethnal
Green.
94. Old Burial-ground, Hackney Road.—½ acre. This has an
ancient watch-house in it, which was subsequently used as a cholera
hospital. In 1892 the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association
laid it out as a public playground, and it is maintained by the Burial
Board.
95. Holywell Mount Burial-ground.—Behind St. James’s Church,
Curtain Road, which occupies the site of a theatre of Shakespeare’s
time. The ground is very old, and was much used at the time of plagues,
and many actors are buried there. There is only about ⅓ acre left, the
greater part having been used as the site for a parish room, and this is
a timber-yard approached from Holywell Row.
96. St. Mary’s Churchyard, Haggerston.—1⅓ acre. This is
maintained by the Shoreditch Burial Board as a public garden, open
during the summer. It was laid out by the Earl and Countess of
Meath in 1882.
97. St. John’s Churchyard, Hoxton.—1¼ acres. Also maintained
by the Shoreditch Burial Board, and laid out by the Earl and Countess
of Meath.
98. Jewish Burial-ground, Hoxton Street.—¼ acre. This belongs
to the United Synagogue, and was used from 1700 till 1795. There
is no grass, but many tombstones, and some one is sent four times a
year to clear away the weeds, &c. It is not a tidy ground.
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HACKNEY.
99. St. John at Hackney Churchyard.—6 acres. This includes
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an older ground, attached to the original church of St. Augustine,
of which the tower still remains. Part of the churchyard is laid
out as a public garden, and is neatly kept by the Hackney District
Board of Works, but the newer part to the south of the church is
still full of tombstones and rather untidy grass. The newest part
of all, “the poor ground,” which is at the extreme southern end, is
laid out for the use of children.
100. West Hackney Churchyard, Stoke Newington Road.—Nearly
1½ acres. This was consecrated in 1824, and laid out as a public
garden in 1885. It is maintained by the Hackney District Board of
Works.
101. St. Barnabas’s Churchyard, Homerton.—¾ acre. This
ground is not open, but a good deal of care is shown in its management.
In 1884 the Easter offerings were devoted to its improvement,
and many tombstones were then laid flat.
102. St. John of Jerusalem Churchyard, South Hackney.—About
¾ acre. This was consecrated in 1831. It is full of tombstones,
and the grass is not well kept, but it is usually open for people to
pass through. It was closed for burials in 1868.
103. Wells Street Burial-ground.—This contains the site of the
original South Hackney Church. It was laid out as a public garden
in 1885, and is very neatly kept by the Hackney District Board of
Works. Nearly ¾ acre.
104. Independent Chapel-ground, Mare Street (also called St.
Thomas’ Square Burial-ground).—⅔ acre. Laid out in 1888, and
maintained by the Hackney District Board of Works, who paid, £100
for a passage to join this ground with No. 103, one caretaker
managing both of them. It is very bright and neat. The ornamental
shelter occupies the site of a previous building.
105. Baptist Chapel-ground, Mare Street.—About 500 square
yards at the back of the chapel. There are several tombstones
tumbling about, and the ground is very untidy.
106. New Gravel Pit Chapel-ground, Chatham Place, attached to
the Unitarian Church.—¾ acre. This is full of tombstones and fairly
tidy. The gate is usually open, the chapel-keeper living behind the
chapel, and having a green-house and fowl-house, &c., in the ground.
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107. Retreat Place.—A garden in front of 12 almshouses, founded
in 1812 “for the widows of Dissenting ministers professing Calvinistic
doctrines.” Samuel Robinson, the founder, and his wife, are buried
in the middle of the garden.
108. Jewish Burial-ground, Grove-street.—2¼ acres. This
belongs to the United Synagogue, and was purchased in 1788.
It is closed and full of erect tombstones, and has some trees and
flower-beds near the entrance.
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STOKE NEWINGTON.
109. St. Mary’s Churchyard, Stoke Newington.—¾ acre. A very
pretty ground round the old church, but not laid out or opened.
110. Friend’s Burial-ground, Park Street, Stoke Newington,
adjoining the meeting-house.—¾ acre. This was bought in 1827, and
enlarged in 1849. It is still in use and neatly kept, but not open to
the public.
111. Abney Park Cemetery.—32 acres. First used in 1840.
Neatly kept and open daily, being chiefly used by Dissenters. It is
crowded with tombstones.
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BETHNAL GREEN.
112. St. Matthew’s Churchyard.—About 2 acres. This was
consecrated in 1746, and was much overcrowded. A mortuary was built in
it some years ago. There are vaults under the schools as well as the
church. It is closed, but negotiations are on foot respecting its
conversion into a garden.
113. St. Peter’s Churchyard, Hackney Road.—¼ acre. This
churchyard is maintained as a public garden by the vicar, who opens
it during the summer months. There are not many tombstones.
114. St. Bartholomew’s Churchyard, near Cambridge Road.—Nearly
an acre. This was laid out by the Metropolitan Public
Gardens Association in 1885, and is maintained by the London
County Council. It is immensely appreciated.
115. St. James the Less Churchyard, Old Ford Road.—Over an
acre. Closed and considerably below the church. It contains
about 10 tombstones, and several cocks and hens live in it. It is
bare and damp.
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116. Providence Chapel Burial-ground, Shoreditch Tabernacle,
Hackney Road, was built on the site of the chapel. Part of the
graveyard exists as a tar-paved yard or passage by the Tabernacle,
with 4 tombstones against the walls.
117. Victoria Park Cemetery.—11 acres. This is maintained
as a public garden by the London County Council, having been
laid out in 1894 by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association.
It was formed in 1845, and used for 40 years. Before being laid
out it was a most dreary, neglected-looking place; the soil is a heavy
clay, and there used to be large wet lumps lying about all over the
ground. At a burial in 1884 the clerk brought a handful of earth
out of his pocket to throw upon the coffin. Now it is a bright,
useful, little park, and is called Meath Gardens.
118. Peel Grove Burial-ground (also called North-East London
Cemetery, Cambridge Heath or Road Burial-ground and Keldy’s
Ground). According to a return in 1855 it was 4 acres in extent,
but now there is hardly one acre. It is in the occupation
of J. Glover and Sons, dealers in building materials, and is full of
wood, pipes, &c. There are some sheds in it. It was a private
ground, formed 100 years ago, and was very much crowded. The
late Metropolitan Board of Works saved the existing part from being
built over. Before its present use it was often let out for shows,
fairs, &c.
119. Gibraltar Walk Burial-ground, Bethnal Green Road.—Another
private ground, formed about 100 years ago. It belongs
to a lady who lives in the house which opens into it, and who has
let pieces of it as yards for the shops and houses round. It is full
of shrubs, trees, and weeds, and covered with rubbish, and is about
¾ acre in size.
120. Jewish Burial-ground, Brady Street.—This existed 100
years ago, and belongs to the United Synagogue. I believe it is
about 4 acres. It is crowded with upright gravestones, and there
are no properly made paths, but it is covered with neglected grass.
Part of it is higher than the rest, the soil having been raised and
the ground having been used a second time. This was the
“Strangers’” portion.
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WHITECHAPEL.
121. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—¾ acre. This is a very old
churchyard, and was much overcrowded. It is maintained by the rector as
a garden, but a charge of 1d. is made for entrance. It is neatly laid
out.
122. Additional ground, Whitechapel Road, entrance in St. Mary’s
Street.—This was called the workhouse burial-ground, the workhouse
having been built in 1768 upon a former graveyard, and
this piece to the north of it having then been set aside for interments
and consecrated in 1796. The workhouse site was built
upon some years ago, and the burial-ground became the playground
of the Davenant Schools, one of which, the one facing St. Mary’s
Street, was built in it. In the order for closing it, dated May
9, 1853, it is called the Whitechapel Workhouse and Schools
Ground. It is difficult to say exactly how far east the burial-ground
extended, but from the Ordnance map and some older plans it
would appear that the recent addition to the school in Whitechapel
Road has been built in the burial-ground. In 1833 the size was
given as 2,776 square yards, but it was stated that in 1832 196
cholera cases were interred in an adjoining piece of ground. This
is probably what is now used as a stoneyard, with carts in it.
123. Christ Church Churchyard, Spitalfields.—1¾ acres. Laid
out as a public garden by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association
in 1892, the association having undertaken to maintain it for
5 years.
124. St. Peter and Vincula Churchyard, in the Tower.—This, with
the vaults under the church, was used for the interment of distinguished
prisoners. It is a part of the great courtyard, and is
about 525 square yards in extent.
125. Holy Trinity Churchyard, Minories.—A burial-ground
possibly dating back to 1348. It has been added to the roadway
of Church Street, some posts showing its boundaries. It was
about 302 square yards in extent. Part has been built upon.
126. Aldgate Burial-ground, Cartwright Street.—This belongs to
the parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate, and was consecrated in 1615.
At the beginning of this century it was covered with small houses,
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the Weigh House School being built on it in 1846. The rookery
was cleared by the Metropolitan Board of Works, and Darby Street
was made, gravestones and remains being then discovered. The
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association informed the Board of
the former existence of a burial-ground, with the result that what
remained of the burial-ground was not built upon, but was made
into an asphalted playground, about ⅛ acre in extent, for the
children of the adjoining block of tenements.
127. German Lutheran Church, Little Alie Street.—A small yard
exists at the back of the church. Closed.
128. Friends Burial-ground, Baker’s Row.—Very nearly an acre.
This belonged to the Friends of the Devonshire House division, who
acquired it in 1687. It is leased by the society to the Whitechapel
District Board of Works, who maintain it as a public
recreation ground. It is well laid out and well kept, being chiefly
used by children.
129. Mile End New Town Burial-ground, Hanbury Street.—This
adjoined the chapel, and extended from Hanbury Street to
Old Montague Street. A school and other buildings have been
erected in it, and all that is left is a paved yard, about 250 square
yards in size, on the west side of the chapel.
130. Sheen’s Burial-ground, Church Lane.—A private ground,
immensely used. It seems to have been at one time used by the
congregation of the Baptists in Little Alie Street, and was then
called “Mr. Brittain’s burial-ground.” If so it existed in 1763.
After being closed for burials it was used as a cooperage, and now
it is Messrs. Fairclough’s yard, and full of carts and sheds, &c. A
new stable was built in 1894, but the London County Council
declined to prevent its erection. The size of the ground is about
½ acre.
131. The Landon Hospital Burial-ground.—In a plan of 1849 the
whole of the southern part of the enclosure is marked as a
burial-ground, which would be 1½ acres in extent. It was closed on
November 25, 1853, but at the hospital it is stated that bodies were
interred there after 1859, though not after 1864. Since then the medical
school, the chaplain’s house, and the nurses’ home have
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been built in it. The remaining part of the ground is used as
a garden and tennis-lawn for the students and nurses.
.ce
ST. GEORGE’S IN THE EAST.
132. St. George’s Churchyard.—Dates from about 1730. The
wall between this ground and the next one was taken down in
1875, and the two grounds were laid out as a public garden. They
are maintained by the vestry, and, although in a densely crowded
district, are beautifully kept. The size of the whole garden, consisting
of the two graveyards, is about 3 acres.
133. St. George’s Wesleyan Chapel-ground, Cable Street.—This
forms one garden with the above.
134. New Road Congregational Chapel-yard, Cannon Street Road,
between Lower and Upper Chapman Streets.—This was a much-used
burial-ground, part of which has been covered with sheds
and houses. What is left is about ⅓ acre in extent. The chapel
was bought in 1832, and became Trinity Episcopal Chapel, and
was subsequently removed and its site used for the new building of
Raine’s School. The burial-ground is in three parts, viz., the playground
of the school, a cooper’s yard, belonging to Messrs. Hasted
and Sons, and a carter’s yard of Messrs. Seaward Brothers.
135. Danish Burial-ground, Wellclose Square.—The Danish (or
Mariners’) Church has been supplanted by the Schools of St. Paul’s,
London Docks, and the whole of the garden is neatly laid out, and
used as a private ground for the people who look after the schools,
the crèche, &c. There are no tombstones now, and it is possible
that only an enclosure round the church was used, like the railed-in
enclosure in Prince’s Square.
136. Swedish Burial-ground, Prince’s Square.—Round the Eleanora
Church, over ½ acre in size. It is very neatly laid out and well
kept, and contains many tombstones.
137. Ebenezer Chapel Burial-ground, St. George’s Street.—This
was described in 1839 as being very much overcrowded. The
chapel has been used us a school, but is now deserted, the small
yard on the south side of it is used as a timber-yard and closed.
About 220 square yards.
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138. Congregational Chapel-ground, Old Gravel Lane.—140
square yards. Closed, bare, and untidy, with two gravestones
against the wall.
139. Baptist Burial-ground, Broad Street, Wapping.—Mentioned
by Maitland in 1756, and shown on Rocque’s plan. The chapel
has gone, but part of the adjoining yard exists as a small yard
belonging to a milkman. Before he bought it it was the parish
stoneyard. It is about 200 square yards in size. I have little
doubt that this is a burial-ground.
140. Roman Catholic Burial-ground, Commercial Road.—The
tombstones are flat and the ground is used as a private garden for
the priests. It is about ½ acre in extent.
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LIMEHOUSE.
141. St. Anne’s Churchyard.—3 acres. Consecrated 1730, and
since enlarged, but in 1800 a piece was cut of for Commercial
Road, the bodies being removed south of the church. Laid out as
a public garden by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in
1887, and now maintained by the London County Council. It is
nearly kept, except the private passage to the mortuary.
142. St. Paul’s Churchyard, Shadwell.—¾ acre. Consecrated in
1671, but used before that as a pest-field for Stepney. Laid out by
the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in 1886, and now
maintained and kept in good order by the London County Council.
143. St. James’s Churchyard, Ratcliff.—Nearly 1 acre. Laid
out as a public garden by the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association in 1891, and maintained by the vicar.
144. St. John’s Churchyard, Wapping.—600 square yards.
Consecrated in 1617. This ground used to be very low and full of water.
It is closed and fairly tidy, having many large altar tombs in it.
145. Additional ground opposite St. John’s Church.—Rather over
½ acre. This was one of the Stepney pest-fields. It is closed, but
tidy. There are quantities of tombstones in this ground, many of
which seem to be falling to pieces, and an unusual number of trees
and flowering shrubs.
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146. Friends Burial-ground, Brook Street. Ratcliff.—800 square
yards. This is approached through the house on the south side of
the meeting-house. It was acquired by the Society of Friends in
1666 or 1667, the land being originally copyhold, but enfranchised
in 1734 for £21. It is neatly kept, and has four small upright
stones.
147. Brunswick Wesleyan Chapel-ground, Three Colt
Lane.—Approached by a passage at the back of the chapel. It is about 450
square yards in size, and is used as a private garden. There are vaults
under the chapel and three tombstones. It is said that about 1,000
bodies were buried here, the last interment taking place in 1849.
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MILE END OLD TOWN.
148. St. Dunstan’s Churchyard Stepney.—About 6 acres, or
rather more. At the time of the Great Plague about 150 bodies
were interred here daily, and several extra grounds were provided
for the parish. It was laid out as a public garden in 1887 by the
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. It is a most useful and
shady ground, and is very neatly kept by the London County
Council.
149. Stepney Meeting-House Burial-ground, White Horse Street
(also called the Almshouse ground and Ratcliff Workhouse ground).—There
are many tombstones and the ground is fairly tidy. The
gate is generally open, as the entrance to the almshouses is through
it. Size ½ acre.
150. Holy Trinity Churchyard, Tredegar Square.—¾ acre. Laid
out by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in 1887, and
maintained by the London County Council. The gravestones have
not been moved, and some of the graves are still occasionally used,
though no new ones are dug.
151. Wycliffe Chapel Burial-ground, Philport Street, Stepney.—¾
acre. This dates From 1831, and is behind the chapel and the
Scotch church. It is full of tombstones, closed and untidy. Chadwick
divides it into a part belonging to the chapel and a larger part
belonging to the Scotch church, but it appears to be all one now,
and is in the hands of the elders of Wycliffe Chapel.
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152. Globe Road Chapel Burial-ground, also called Mile End
Cemetery.—The chapel is now Gordon Hall, and belongs to Dr.
Stephenson of the Children’s Homes. The burial-ground is in
private hands. The ground was very much overcrowded, and
there were vaults under the chapel, the schools and the sexton’s
house, but all the part south of the chapel was taken by the Great
Eastern Railway Company. The existing piece is about 670
square yards in extent, is closed and most untidy, quantities of
rubbish lying about amongst the tombstones.
153. East London Cemetery, Shandy Street, also called the
Beaumont Burial-ground.—2¼ acres. This was much crowded. It was laid
out as a playground by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in
1885, and is maintained by the London County Council.
154. Burial-ground of the Bancroft Almshouses, Mile End Road.—The
People’s Palace is on the site of the almshouses, and part of the
burial-ground has been merged into the roadway on the east side of the
palace. St. Benet’s Church, Hall and Vicarage were built in this ground,
the church being consecrated in 1872. Three pieces still exist, in all
less than ½ acre; one is the vicarage garden, another is open to the
road, and the northern point is closed and roofed over, forming a little
yard where flag-staff’s, &c., are stored. The open part is also a
store-yard, having heaps of stones in it, besides much rubbish. There
are gravestones against the wall.
155. Stepney Pest-field.—Many acres to the south of the London
Hospital were used for interments at the time of the plague, and
the Brewers’ Garden and the space by St. Philip’s Church are,
according to some authorities, part of the site originally called
Stepney Mount. At the Home Office it is believed that there
have been no burials in the ground round St. Philip’s, nor have
there since it was St. Philip’s churchyard; but I think there were
long before the first St. Philip’s Church or the Brewers’ Almshouses
existed. The Brewers’ Garden is open to the public at a charge
of 1d.
156. Jewish Burial-ground, 70, Bancroft Road.—About 1,650
square yards. This ground belongs to the Maiden Lane Synagogue,
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and is crowded with upright gravestones. The grass is neglected.
Burials still take place. It is in a densely-populated district.
157. Jewish Burial-ground, Alderney Road.—1 acre. Formed
in 1700, enlarged in 1733. Belongs to the United Synagogue.
The tombstones are upright, and they are not so thick as in most
of the Jewish grounds, while the grass is kept more neatly.
158. Jewish Burial-ground, Mile End Road.—This ground is
nearly ¾ acre in extent, and is at the back of the Beth Holim
Hospital. It belongs to the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, the
tombstones are flat, there are several trees, and the ground is very
neatly kept. Part of the graveyard (where it is said that there have
been no interments) has some seats in it, and is used by the patients
of the hospital as a garden.
159. Jewish Cemetery, Mile End Road.—4¾ acres. This
belongs to the Spanish and Portuguese Jews, and is still in use.
The gravestones are flat ones and low altar tombs, and the ground
is neatly kept, although very bare.
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POPLAR.
160. All Saints’ Churchyard.—Size, with that part which was
used for the burial of cholera victims, on the other side of the
road, 4 acres. The northern part of the churchyard was laid out
by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in 1893, the rector
having undertaken to maintain it for a few years. It is much
appreciated and well kept.
161. St. Matthias’s Churchyard.—(This church was the chapel of
the East India Dock Company, and is sometimes called Poplar
Chapel.) 1¼ acres. It is in the middle of the Poplar Recreation
Ground, closed and fairly tidy. There are many tombstones.
162. St. Mary’s Churchyard, Bow.—2,716 square yards. This
is in two portions, the eastern one is closed, but the western one
has been laid out by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association
and provided with seats, the rector maintaining it.
163. St. Mary’s Churchyard, Bromley-by-Bow, or Bromley St.
Leonard.—This churchyard is 1¼ acres in size and is closed, but
very neatly kept up by the parish, and has some tombstones of
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artistic value in it. Its opening as a public garden is under
consideration.
164. Baptist Chapel-ground, Bow.—⅓ acre. Part of this ground
is railed off as a private garden, the rest is used as a thoroughfare by
the school-children. There are several tombstones, some of which
have been put against the walls.
165. Trinity Congregational Chapel-ground, East India Dock
Road.—⅓ acre. This was laid out in 1888 as a public garden, the
minister of the chapel maintaining it. On his removal from the district
it was closed and has not been re-opened.
166. Roman Catholic ground, Wade’s Place.—1,300 square yards.
This belonged to St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church in Finsbury
Circus, Moorfields, and was chiefly used for the poor Irish. It
was a very damp, unwholesome ground. It is now used as a playground
for the adjoining Roman Catholic school.
167. City of London and Tower Hamlets Cemetery (partly in Mile
End).—33 acres. First used in 1841. By 1889, 247,000 bodies
had been interred here, many being buried in common graves. It
is still in use and open daily, a regular ocean of tombstones, many
of which are lying about, apparently uncared for and unclaimed;
in fact, most of the graves, except those at the edges of the walks,
look utterly neglected, and parts of the ground are very untidy.
It is situated in a densely-populated district.
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WANDSWORTH.
168. All Saints’ Churchyard, High Street.—¼ acre. This is
closed, and is much more tidy at the eastern end than the western
end.
169. East Hill Burial-ground, Wandsworth Road.—½ acre. This
was consecrated in 1680, and many French Huguenots were buried
in it. It is closed and fairly tidy.
170. Garratt Lane Cemetery, South Street, Wandsworth.—1¾
acres. This was consecrated in 1808. It is closed to the public,
and closed for interments with the exception of widows, widowers,
and parents of deceased persons already interred there. It is maintained
by the Wandsworth Burial Board.
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171. Friends Burial-ground, High Street, Wandsworth.—400
square yards. This is attached to the meeting-house, is closed and
very neatly kept. There are a few upright tombstones.
172. Baptist Burial-ground, North Street, Wandsworth.—An
untidy little closed yard with no tombstones in it and neglected
grass. The chapel now belongs to the Salvation Army. I doubt
if it was much used for burials, but, at any rate, there was one
interment in 1854. It is about the same size as the Friends’
ground.
173. Independent Burial-ground, Wandsworth.—This is now a
small tar-paved yard adjoining Memorial Hall, which was built on
the site of an old chapel or school-house. There are a few trees.
174. St. Mary’s Churchyard, Putney.—½ acre. Closed and
neatly kept.
175. Putney Burial-ground, Upper Richmond Road.—1 acre.
This was a gift to the parish from the Rev. R. Pettiwand, and
consecrated in 1763. It was laid out in 1886, but the tombstones
were not moved, and many of them are dilapidated brick altar
tombs. It is maintained for the public by the Putney Burial
Board.
176. St. Nicholas Churchyard, Lower Tooting.—2 acres. This
is still in use. It is open daily and kept in good order.
177. Lower Tooting Chapel-ground.—231 square yards behind the
chapel (Congregational in High Street) and about 30 square yards
in front. Some tombstones. Chapel dates from 1688, and was
founded by Daniel Defoe.
178. St. Leonard’s Churchyard, Streatham.—1¼ acres. The
present church dates from 1831, but the churchyard is at least
100 years older. It is closed for burials and well planted with
flowers, grass, and trees. The gates are sometimes open.
179. St. Paul’s Churchyard, Clapham, in the Wandsworth Road.—1½
acres. This is closed, and very full of tombstones. It is
maintained by the Clapham Burial Board, but it is in a rather
jungly condition.
180. Union Chapel-ground, Streatham Hill.—About 500 square
yards. This is a neat little garden between the chapel and the
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schools, both of which have been rebuilt, the schools in 1878.
There is a row of tombstones against the walls. It is generally
closed.
181. Wandsworth Cemetery.—12 acres. First used in 1878.
Open daily.
182. Lambeth Cemetery, Tooting Graveney.—41 acres. First
used in 1854. Open daily.
183. Putney Cemetery.—3 acres. First used in 1855. This is
an encroachment on a common.
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BATTERSEA.
184. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—¾ acre. Closed. The laying out
of this ground is under consideration.
185. St. George’s Churchyard, Battersea Park Road.—¾ acre.
This is closed, and in a very neglected condition. There are not
many gravestones.
186. Battersea Cemetery, Bolingbroke Grove.—8½ acres. First
used in 1860. Open daily.
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LAMBETH.
187. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—½ acre. A very old ground,
enlarged in 1623 and 1820. It is very neatly laid out and the
gates are left open, though there are no seats in it.
188. Additional ground in High Street (also called Paradise Row
burial-ground).—1½ acres. Given to the parish by Archbishop
Tenison, and consecrated in 1705. It was laid out in 1884 by
the Lambeth Vestry, who maintain it efficiently.
189. St. John’s Churchyard, Waterloo Bridge Road.—An acre in
size. This was laid out as a garden and playground in 1877, and is
well kept up by the Lambeth Vestry.
190. St. Mark’s Churchyard, Kennington.—1¾ acres. This is
closed and full of tombstones, but neatly kept.
191. Regent Street Baptist Chapel-ground, Kennington Road.—A
little ground at the back of the chapel, with a few tombstones
and one great vault in it.
192. Esher Street Congregational Chapel-ground, Upper Kennington
Lane.—About 480 square yards, closed, and very untidy.
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193. St. Matthew’s Churchyard, Brixton.—2 acres. This dates
from 1824. It is closed, but neatly kept.
194. Denmark Row Chapel-ground, Coldharbour Lane.—This has
been partly built upon, and there is now only a small yard behind
the chapel.
195. Stockwell Green Congregational Chapel-ground.—¼ acre, or
rather more. This is behind the chapel, and is a particularly
neglected and untidy graveyard.
196. St. Luke’s Churchyard, Norwood.—1 acre. This dates from
1825. It is tidily kept, except the part near the station. The gate
is generally open. The gravestones are in situ.
197. Congregational Chapel-ground, Chapel Road, Lower Norwood.—About
⅓ acre behind the chapel. It is closed, and has
grass and a few tombstones in it.
198. Norwood Cemetery, 40 acres.—First used in 1838. Open
daily, and fairly well kept. It is crowded with tombstones, and it
includes a Greek cemetery and a burial-ground belonging to the
parish of St. Mary at Hill, each about 550 square yards in size.
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CAMBERWELL.
199. St. Giles’s Churchyard.—3¼ acres. Enlarged in 1717, 1803,
and 1825. Closed, full of tombstones, and not well kept.
200. St. George’s Churchyard, Well Street, Camberwell.—The
church was consecrated in 1824, the ground being given by Mr.
John Rolls. The churchyard measures about an acre, and was laid
out in 1886 by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. It is
maintained by the vestry. A mortuary has been built on it.
201. Dulwich Burial-ground, Court Lane, the graveyard of God’s
Gift College.—Size, 1½ roods. This ground dates from about 1700.
It is closed and very neatly kept. There are several large altar
tombs in it, and it is a most rural and picturesque spot.
202. Wesleyan Chapel-ground. Stafford Street, Peckham.—336
square yards. The chapel in now a school, the burial-ground being
the playground, a paved yard.
203. Friends Burial-ground, Peckham Rye.—About 470 square
yards. This ground was purchased in 1821, it is behind the meeting-house
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in Hanover Street, has some small flat gravestones in it,
and is closed. It is most beautifully kept with neatly mown grass
and a border of flowers.
204. Camberwell Cemetery, Forest Hill Road.—29½ acres. First
used in 1856. Open daily.
205. Nunhead Cemetery (All Saints’).—50 acres. First used
in 1840. Open daily.
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NEWINGTON.
206. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—1¼ acres. This was enlarged in
1757 and 1834, and is now maintained as a public garden by the
burial board, the freehold being vested in the rector. It is well
laid out.
207. St. Peter’s Churchyard, Walworth.—1¼ acres. This is also
maintained as a public garden by the Newington Burial Board,
having been laid out by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association,
at the sole cost of the Goldsmiths’ Company, and opened in
May, 1895.
208. Sutherland Congregational Chapel-ground, Walworth.—This
is close to St. Peter’s, about 300 square yards in size, and closed.
It has been somewhat encroached on by the school, which was
enlarged in 1889. A few tombstones exist in the passage on the
north side of the chapel and in the ground at the back. It is
fairly tidy.
209. York Street Chapel-ground, Walworth.—About 700 square
yards at the rear of the chapel and not visible from the street. It
is closed and full of tombstones, but is to be laid out.
210. East Street Baptist Chapel-ground, Walworth.—About 400
square yards, with one tombstone in it. It is closed and very
untidy.
211. St. John’s Episcopal Chapel-ground, Walworth.—In 1843 it
was estimated at 6,400 square yards. The chapel is in Penrose
Street, and is now the workshop of a scenic artist, the front wall
having been heightened for the purpose of advertising the South
London Press. The burial-ground is approached from Occupation
Road, Manor Place, the railway line going across it on arches, and
it is now the vestry depôt for carts, manure, gravel, &c. An
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adjoining plot is the site for the baths and washhouses. This
ground is in danger of being encroached upon, and new bays for
dust and other erections of the sort are often built in it.
212. New Bunhill Fields, Deverell Street, New Kent Road (also
called Hoole and Martin’s).—¾ acre. This was a private speculation,
and was most indecently crowded. Between 1820 and 1838
10,000 bodies were buried here, the vault under the chapel containing
1,800 coffins. The ground was closed in 1853, and it then
became a timber-yard. The chapel now belongs to the Salvation
Army, but the burial-ground is still “Deverell’s timber-yard,” and
is covered with high stacks of timber. There are many sheds in it,
and iron bars, &c.
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ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR.
213. St. George’s Churchyard, Borough.—This is about an acre
in size, and is maintained as a public garden by the rector and
churchwardens, having been laid out in 1882. It is much used.
214. St. George’s Recreation ground, Tabard Street (the Lock
burial-ground).—Rather over ¼ acre. This was originally the
burial-ground of the Lock Hospital, which was pulled down in
1809, a portion of the site of the hospital and ground having been
before then consecrated as a parish burial-ground. It was chiefly
used for pauper burials, and was crowded with bodies. It is now
a neat public garden, laid out by the vestry in 1887, and in the
possession of the rector and churchwardens of St. George’s.
215. Chapel Graveyard, Collier’s Rents, Long Lane.—This is
about 620 square yards in extent, and is on the north side of an old
Baptist chapel, which now belongs to the Congregational Union.
The ground dates from before 1719, and is closed. There are a
few tombstones and grass, but it is not very well kept.
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ST. SAVIOR’S, SOUTHWARK.
216. St. Saviour’s Churchyard.—This ancient ground has been
often enlarged and curtailed, and at times was used as a marketplace.
What now exists is about ½ acre on the south side of the
church, which is at present under restoration.
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217. Additional ground for St. Saviour’s, called the College Yard
or St. Saviour’s Almshouse Burial-ground, Park Street.—This existed
before 1732. Size, ¼ acre. The London, Brighton and South
Coast Railway goes over it on arches, and it is now the store-yard
of Messrs. Stone and Humphries, builders. Most of it is roofed in,
but it is not actually covered with buildings.
218. Additional ground for St. Saviour’s, called the Cross Bones,
Redcross Street.—This was made, at least 250 years ago, “far from
the parish church,” for the interment of the low women who
frequented the neighbourhood. It was subsequently used as the
pauper ground, and was crowded to excess. Nevertheless two
schools were built in it. The remaining piece is about 1,000
square yards. It has frequently been offered for sale as a building
site, and has formed the subject for much litigation. It is made a
partial use of by being let for fairs, swings, &c. It was sold as a
building site in 1883, but, not having been used by 1884, the sale
was declared (under the Disused Burial-grounds Act) null and void.
219. Christ Church Churchyard, Blackfriars Bridge Road.—1½
acres. This dates from about 1737, and has been enlarged. An
infant school was built in it. It is closed, and not laid out.
220. Deadman’s Place Burial-ground. Deadman’s Place is now
called Park Street.—This ground was originally used for the interment
of large numbers of victims to the plague. Then it became
the graveyard of an adjoining Independent chapel, and was extensively
used for the interment of ministers, being a sort of Bunhill
Fields for South London. Now it is merely one of the yards over
which trucks run on rails, in the middle of the large brewery belonging
to Messrs. Barclay and Perkins, about ½ acre in extent. It
existed as a burial-ground in 1839, but not, I believe, in 1843.
221. Baptist Burial-ground, Bandy Leg Walk (subsequently
called Guildford Street).—There was such a ground in 1729. In
1807 there existed the St. Saviour’s Workhouse, with a burial-ground
on the east side of it which, from its position, may have
coincided with the Baptists’ ground, and what is now left of the
burial-ground is a garden or courtyard, about 1,000 square yards in
size, between the new buildings of the Central Fire Brigade Station,
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Southwark Bridge Road, and the old house behind them. It is
entered through the large archway.
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ST. OLAVE’S.
222. St. Olave’s Churchyard, Tooley Street.—A stone-paved
yard, 634 square yards in extent, between the church and the
river. Closed.
223. Additional ground to St. Olave’s and to St. John’s,
Horselydown, near St. John’s Church.—About ½ acre, with a few
tombstones in it. This was laid out in 1888, being chiefly asphalted,
and is maintained as a recreation ground by the Board of Works For the
St. Olave’s District. It is well used and neatly kept.
224. St. John’s Churchyard, Horselydown.—Nearly 2 acres.
Laid out as a public garden in 1882, and maintained by the St.
Olave’s Board.
225. St. Thomas’s Churchyard.—This does not adjoin the church,
but is behind the houses opposite. Size about 787 square yards. It
belongs to St. Thomas’s Hospital, and is used as a private garden by a
house in St. Thomas’ Street.
226. St. Thomas’s Hospital Burial-ground, St. Thomas’
Street.—Part of this has been covered by St. Olave’s Rectory and Messrs.
Bevington’s leather warehouse. The remaining piece measures about 1,770
square yards, and is an asphalted tennis-court and garden for the
students of Guy’s Hospital, the building in it being the treasurer’s
stables. It belongs to St. Thomas’s Hospital, and is leased to Guy’s.
227. Butler’s Burial-ground, Horselydown.—This was made
about 1822, the entrance being in Coxon’s (late Butler’s) Place,
and was 1,440 square yards in size. It is now Zurhoorst’s cooperage
and is full of barrels. A small piece, which I believe was a part of
the burial-ground, is a yard belonging to a builder named Field.
There were vaults running under four dwelling-houses. These
still exist, and are under the houses next to the entrance to Mr.
Field’s yard.
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BERMONDSEY.
228. St. Mary Magdalene’s Churchyard.—Rather over 1½ acres.
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This was enlarged in 1783 and 1810, and contains the remains of
an ancient cemetery belonging to Bermondsey Abbey. It is maintained
as a public garden by the vestry, the rector reserving certain
rights. It is well laid out, and forms a most useful and attractive
garden.
229. St. James’s Churchyard, Bermondsey, Jamaica Road.—1¾
acres. It was extensively used for a drying-ground for clean clothes
when the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association secured it in
1886, and laid it out as a garden. It is maintained by the vestry.
230. Roman Catholic Ground, Parker’s Row.—The land was given
for the purpose in 1833 or 1834. The ground between the church
and the road measures about 300 square yards, and was very much
overcrowded. It is closed and untidy, with no tombstones. Burials
also took place in the garden, which is used as a recreation ground
for the schools, and is neatly kept.
231. Southwark Chapel Graveyard (Wesleyan), Long Lane.—900
square yards. This is on the west side of the chapel, which dates from
1808. It is closed, and contains a few gravestones and a hen-coop.
232. Guy’s Hospital Burial-ground, Nelson Street.—This is
nearly 200 years old, and is rather over ½ acre. Since being closed
for burials it has been let as a builder’s yard. The Bermondsey
Vestry is now negotiating for its purchase as a recreation ground.
233. Friends Burial-ground, Long Lane.—¼ acre. This was
bought in 1697 for £120. It was closed in 1844, but in 1860 a
large number of coffins, &c., were brought there and interred when
Southwark Street was made and the Worcester Street burial-ground
annihilated. It is being laid out for the public, and will be maintained
by the Bermondsey Vestry, who have it on lease from the
Society of Friends. There are no gravestones in it.
234. Ebenezer Burial-ground, Long Lane.—This adjoins the
above ground, and it is hoped that it may eventually be added to
the garden. It was formed about 100 years ago. It originally belonged
to the Independent Chapel in Beck Street, Horselydown,
and subsequently to the trustees of Ebenezer Baptist Chapel. There
is a “minister’s vault” in the centre. It is closed and untidy, 220
square yards in extent.
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ROTHERHITHE.
235. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—¾ acre. This is closed, except on
Sundays. It is full of tombstones and kept in good order.
236. Additional ground in Church Street.—1¼ acres. This is
also only open on Sundays, and is fairly tidy.
237. Christ Church Churchyard, Union Road.—700 square yards.
This is closed, and there are no tombstones on the north side of the
church. The south side is rather untidy, except round the grave
of General Sir William Gomm, who gave the ground for the church
(being Lord of the Manor), where there is a patch of good grass and
flowers.
238. All Saints’ Churchyard, Deptford Lower Road.—Nearly 1
acre. This land was given by Sir William Gomm in 1840, and was
used for 17 years. It is closed, and wooden palings separate it from
the ground in front of the church. It is not well kept.
239. Holy Trinity Churchyard, near Commercial Docks Pier.—About
1 acre. Consecrated in 1838. This ground was also only
used for 20 years; a part of it is railed of for the vicarage garden,
where probably no interments took place. It was laid out by the
Metropolitan Public Gardens Association in 1885, and taken over
by the London County Council in 1896. It is a very attractive,
shady garden.
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GREENWICH.
240. St. Alphege Churchyard.—Enlarged in 1716, 1774, and
1808. Size 2,740 square yards. This was laid out by the Metropolitan
Public Gardens Association in 1889, and is maintained by
the Greenwich District Board of Works. There are no seats in it.
241. Additional ground, separated from the above by a public
footpath.—This is 2½ acres, and was consecrated in 1833. It was
laid out in 1889 by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association,
and is maintained by the Greenwich District Board of Works.
There are plenty of seats in it, and it is well used and neatly kept.
242. St. Nicholas Churchyard, Deptford.—¾ acre. This is closed
and full of tombstones, but fairly tidy.
243. Additional ground, Wellington Street.—¾ acre. This
ground, belonging to the parish of St. Nicholas, was laid out in
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1884 by the Kyrle Society, and is very well kept up by the Greenwich
District Board of Works, who have lately acquired a piece of
adjoining land to be added to the recreation ground.
244. St. Paul’s Churchyard, Deptford.—2½ acres. This is vested
in the rector, and maintained by the Deptford Burial Board. The
gravestones are not moved, but there are a few seats in the ground,
which is open to the public.
245. Baptist (Unitarian) Chapel Burial-ground, Church
Street.—This touches the above, and is about ¼ acre. It is closed, the
railings and gravestones are broken, and there is a quantity of rubbish
lying about.
246. Friends Burial-ground, High Street, Deptford.—About 360
square yards. This is behind the meeting-house and closed. It is
neatly kept and only contains one gravestone.
247. Congregational Chapel Burial-ground, High Street,
Deptford.—About 400 square yards. This is closed, but neatly laid out,
and there are gravestones against the walls.
248. Congregational Chapel-ground, Greenwich Road.—¼ acre, or
rather less. This dates from 1800. The gate is often open, and the
gravestones are flat or against the walls, but it is a bare,
uninteresting-looking ground.
249. Congregational Chapel-ground, Maze Hill, Greenwich.—A
rather neglected-looking ground in Park Place, with several flat
tombstones, about 500 square yards in size.
250. Greenwich Hospital Burial-ground.—This adjoins the Royal
Naval Schools, and measures about 4 acres. An inner enclosure is
full of tombstones, but the outer part has only some monuments in
it. It is very well kept, with splendid trees and good grass, and the
gate from the school playground is generally open.
251. Greenwich Hospital Cemetery.––In Westcombe. This is
nearly 6 acres in size, and was first used in 1857.
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LEWISHAM.
252. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—2 acres. Laid out as a public
garden in 1886, and maintained by the Lewisham District Board
of Works.
.pn +1
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253. St. Bartholomew’s Churchyard, Sydenham.—¾ acre. Closed
for interments. This is beautifully kept and is a very pretty ground.
The gates are generally open, but there are no seats.
254. Deptford Cemetery.—17 acres. First used in 1858. By
1889, 50,000 bodies had been interred there.
255. Lewisham Cemetery.––15½ acres, of which 4 are reserved
and let as a market-garden. First used 1858.
256. Lee Cemetery.—In Hither Green. 10 acres, of which 4 are
in reserve. First used 1873. These are open daily.
.ce
PLUMSTEAD.
257. St. Nicholas’s Churchyard.—Still in use for burials, but
under regulation. It is open daily, and measures about 4 acres.
258. Woolwich Cemetery, Wickham Lane. (Partly outside the
boundary of Plumstead.)—32 acres. First used in 1856. Open
daily.
259. Plumstead Cemetery, Wickham Lane.—32¼ acres. First
used 1890. Open daily.
.sp 2
.ce
LEE.
260. St. John the Baptist Churchyard, Lee, Eltham.—3 acres.
This is also in use, but under regulation, and is open daily.
261. St. Margaret’s Churchyard, Lee.—Still in use, open daily,
and very neatly kept. It is about 1½ acres in size.
262. The Old Churchyard, Lee.—This is opposite St. Margaret’s,
and contains the ruins of the old church. It is full of tombstones
and neatly kept. It is generally open, but has no seats in it.
263. St. Luke’s Churchyard, Charlton.—½ acre. This is full of
tombstones and closed, but very neatly kept. Burials occasionally
take place in existing vaults, but in each case permission has to be
obtained from the Home Secretary.
264. St. Thomas’s Churchyard, Charlton.—On the borders of
Woolwich. Nearly an acre. This churchyard was in use for
burials in 1854 when it was put under regulation.
265. Morden College Cemetery, Blackheath.—¼ acre. Closed.
Neatly kept. Contains about 80 tombstones. The college was
founded about 1695.
.pn +1
.bn 315.jpg
266. Charlton Cemetery.—8 acres. First used in 1855. Open
daily.
267. Greenwich Cemetery.—15 acres. Open daily.
.sp 2
.ce
WOOLWICH.
268. St. Mary’s Churchyard.—Over 3 acres. In a fine situation
overlooking the river. Laid out as a public garden by the Metropolitan
Public Gardens Association, at the cost of Mr. Passmore
Edwards, and opened in May, 1895. It is maintained by the
Woolwich Local Board.
269. Enon Chapel-yard, High Street.—112 square yards. A
tar-paved and closed yard, with some tombstones against the
walls.
270. Union Chapel Graveyard, Sun Street.—⅓ acre. This is
closed. There is a very bad fence round it, and it looks uncared
for. Negotiations are on foot to secure it for the public.
271. Salem Chapel-yard, Powis Street.—300 square yards.
Eighteen or twenty years ago the London School Board took the
chapel and adapted it as a school. It is now the infant school,
other buildings having been added, and the graveyard is a tar-paved
passage used as a playground.
272. Wesleyan Chapel-yard, William Street.—¼ acre. Here a
school building has evidently encroached upon the burial-ground.
There are several gravestones, and it is fairly tidy, the gate being
often open.
273. Roman Catholic Ground, New Road.—This also has probably
been encroached upon. What now exists is a yard, ¼ acre in size,
between the school and the Roman Catholic church, with three
graves in one enclosure in the middle. The gate is open during
school hours.
.sp 2
.ce
THE CITY.
I. Burial-grounds which are laid out as public recreation grounds—
274. St. Paul’s Cathedral Churchyard.—Used as a burial-place
since Roman times. It includes the Pardon Churchyard, the
.pn +1
.bn 316.jpg
burial-grounds for the parishes of St. Faith and St. Gregory, and
a piece allotted to St. Martin, Ludgate. Size, 1½ acres. Maintained
by the Corporation. Laid out in 1878-1879.
275. St. Botolph’s Churchyard, Aldersgate Street.
276. Additional ground for Christ Church, Newgate Street.
277. Additional ground for St. Leonard’s, Foster Lane.—These
three form together one public garden, rather more than ½ acre in
extent. Very neatly kept up with parochial funds.
278. St. Olave’s Churchyard, Silver Street.—Site of the burned
church.
279. Allhallows’ Churchyard, London Wall.
280. St. Katharine Coleman Churchyard, Fenchurch Street.
281. St. Botolph’s Churchyard, Aldgate.—¼ acre.—Four grounds
laid out by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association.
281. St. Botolph’s Churchyard, Bishopsgate. Size nearly ½ acre.
283. St. Botolph’s, Billingsgate, upper burial-ground, Botolph
lane.
284. St. Mary Aldermanbury Churchyard.
285. St. Sepulchre’s Churchyard, Holborn.
286. St. Bride’s Churchyard, Fleet Street.—Five small grounds
laid out with the assistance of the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association. No. 282 was laid out by the Association, but the
entire cost was borne by the parish.
287. Additional ground for St. Dunstan’s in the West, in Fetter
Lane. Asphalted and used as a playground for the Greystoke Place
Board School. Some tombstones remain in an enclosure at the
edge. 4,750 square feet in area.
II. Burial-grounds that are not laid out as open spaces for the
public use, although most of them are neatly kept, while a few are
used as store-yards, &c., and others are open at times—
288. The Temple Churchyard.—Partly public thoroughfare, partly
closed.
The churchyards of—
289. St. Andrew, Holborn.
290. Christ Church, Newgate Street.—On the site of the western
end of the church of the Greyfriars.
291. St. Ann, Blackfriars.—Two grounds. The western one is
the site of the burned church.
.pn +1
.bn 317.jpg
292. St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, Queen Victoria Street. Very
little left.
293. St. Bartholomew the Great.—On the site of the ancient
nave, the Green-ground on the site of the south transept, and a
remnant of the Poor ground on the north side.
294. St. Dionys Backchurch, Lime Street.
295. St. Bartholomew the Less.—In the hospital. At one time it
extended further south.
296. St. Giles, Cripplegate, with the Green-ground, an
extension to the south. Often Open. Neatly kept.
297. St. Alphege, London Wall.—The churchyard does not
adjoin the church. It contains a portion of the old wall.
298. St. Ann and St. Agnes, Gresham Street.
299. St. John Zachary, Gresham Street.—Site of burned church.
300. St. Mary Staining, Oat Lane.—Site of burned church.
301. St. Alban’s, Wood Street.
302. St. Peter Cheap, Wand Street.—Site of burned church.
303. St. Vedast, Foster Lane.
304. St. Mildred, Bread Street.—Yard full at ladders.
305. St. Mary Somerset, Thames Street.—Store-yard for old iron,
behind the tower. Most of this ground has gone.
306. St. Peter, Paul’s Wharf.—Site of burned church.
307. St. Martin Vintry, Queen Street.—No church.
308. St. Thomas the Apostle, Queen Street.—Little left except
a large vault.
309. St. Mary Aldermary, Watling Street.
310. St. Antholin, Watling Street.—Very little left except one
great vault.
311. St. Pancras, Pancras Lane.—Site of burned church.
312. St. Benet Sherehog, Pancras Lane.—Site of burned church.
313. St. Martin Pomeroy (St. Olave, Jewry), Ironmonger Lane.—The
site of St. Martin’s Church, used as St. Olave’s Churchyard,
when that became a private garden.
314. St. Stephen, Coleman Street.
315. St. Mildred, Poultry.—Given by Thomas Morsted 1420.
Almost lost in 1594. Abridged before 1633, and enlarged 1693.
.pn +1
.bn 318.jpg
316. St. Matthew, Friday Street.
317. St. John, Watling Street.—Site of burned church.
318. St. Michael, Queenhithe.—Private garden for St. James’s
Rectory.
319. St. Martin, Ludgate.—Stationers’ Hall Court. The vaults
are under the ground.
320. St. Christopher le Stocks.—Garden of the Bank of England
since 1780.
321. St. Michael, Cornhill.—Some shops were built in this
ground in 1690.
322. St. Peter, Cornhill.
323. St. Stephen, Walbrook.—Encroached upon in 1693.
324. St. Margaret, Lothbury.—Improved and planted at the
expense of Dr. Edwin Freshfield, F.S.A.
325. St. Martin Outwich, Camomile Street.—The burial-ground
of the priory of St. Augustine Papey. Given by Robert Hyde 1538.
326. St. Michael Paternoster Royal, College Hill.
327. St. James, Garlickhithe.
328. St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, Queen Victoria Street.—Very
little left.
329. St. Swithin, Cannon Street.—Additional ground. One
adjoining the church has gone.
330. Allhallows the Great, Upper Thames Street.
331. Allhallows the Less, Upper Thames Street.—Site of
burned church.
332. St. Lawrence Pountney, Cannon Street.—Two grounds.
One is the site of the burned church.
333. St. Martin Orgar, Cannon Street.—Site of burned church.
334. St. George, Botolph Lane.
335. St. Mary at Hill, Eastcheap.—Saved by the City Church
and Churchyard Protection Society 1879.
336. St. Andrew Undershaft, Leadenhall Street.
337. St. Catherine Cree, Leadenhall Street.—A part of the
cemetery of Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate.
338. St. Helen, Bishopsgate.—This is very often open, but not
provided with seats.
.pn +1
.bn 319.jpg
339. St. Ethelburga, Bishopsgate.
340. St. Clement, Eastcheap.
341. St. Leonard, Fish Street Hill.—Site of burned church.
342. St. Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge.
343. St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street.—In danger at the
present time.
344. St. Nicholas Acons, Lombard Street.
345. St. Edmund King and Martyr, Lombard Street. The property
of the Salters’ Company. Laid out as a garden with seats.
346. Allhallows, Lombard Street.—Closed in the cholera year,
1849.
347. St. Gabriel, Fenchurch Street.—The gift of Helming
Legget.
348. Allhallows, Staining, Mark Lane.—Church destroyed in
1870 except the tower. The property of the Clothworkers’ Company.
349. St. Olave’s, Hart Street.
350. Allhallows, Barking, Town Hill.
351. St. Dunstan’s in the East, Lower Thames Street.—Its opening
is under consideration.
352. The Burial-ground of Christ’s Hospital.—This has been
almost covered with buildings, but a small piece remains as a yard
near the great hall.
353. The Burial-ground of the Greyfriars.—This is a courtyard,
surrounded by the cloisters, in Christ’s Hospital, used as a playground
by the boys.
354. St. James’s Churchyard, Duke Street.—This is used as a
playground for the Aldgate Ward Schools.
355. Additional ground for St. Bride’s, Fleet Street.—This is off
Farringdon Street, is about 750 square yards in extent, and used
as a volunteer drill-ground. There are no tombstones, and the
ground is untidy. Consecrated 1610. Given by the Earl of Dorset.
356. St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church ground, Finsbury
Square.—Very little left.
357. Bridewell Burial-ground.—This is about 900 square yards
in size, and is at the corner of Tudor and Dorset Streets. It was
.pn +1
.bn 320.jpg
the burial-ground of the hospital, which has been removed. It is
now a very untidy yard, boarded up with a rough advertisement
hoarding, in the occupation of H. S. Foster, builder, 7, Tudor
Street. It would make a good public playground.
III. Burial-grounds which have been paved and added to the
public footway, but are still traceable. The churchyards of—
358. St. Mary, Abchurch Lane.—This was thrown into the
pavement about 160 years ago, with posts round it.
359. St. Margaret Pattens, Rood Lane.
360. St. Lawrence Jewry, by the Guildhall.
361. St. Michael Bassishaw, Basinghall Street.—Two good trees.
362. St. Benet Fink, Threadneedle Street.—Railed in, with
Peabody’s statue in it.
363. The Cloisters of the Augustine Friars.—Lately discovered on
the north side of the Dutch Church, Austin Friars Square
forming part of the site.
IV. Burial-ground still in use—
364. Newgate Burial-ground.—A passage in the prison, used for
the interment of those who are executed; 10 feet wide and 85 feet
long.
.pn +1
.bn 321.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=AppB
APPENDIX B.
.in 4
.ti -4
Burial-grounds in London which have been entirely demolished
for New Streets, Railway Lines, Public Buildings, Private
Houses, &c.
.in 0
.ce
THE CITY.
Name of Churchyard or Burial-ground. What occupies the\
Site.
.in 2
.ta r:3 |l:65
1.\_|\_There were Roman Cemeteries in various parts of the City.
2.\_|\_\_Sepulchral remains have been found in Newgate Street,
3.\_|\_\_Ludgate, Camomile Street, St. Mary at Hill, St. Dunstan’s
4.\_|\_\_in the East, St. Paul’s Churchyard, and Bishopsgate
5.\_|\_\_Churchyard (the last named being very ancient, possibly of
6.\_|\_\_British origin). See also #Whitechapel:whitechapel#, #Limehouse:limehouse#,\
#Bermondsey:bermondsey#,
7.\_|\_\_and #Lewisham:lewisham#.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ta h:30 h:30
Name of Churchyard or Burial-ground | What\
occupies the Site
8. Burial-grounds of St. Martin le Grand and St. Lennard, Foster Lane\
| The General Post Office.
9. Jews original Burial-ground | Jewin St. and neighbourhood.
10. St. Nicholas Shambles | Newgate Street.
11. St. Benet, Paul’s Wharf | Thrown into St. Benet’s Hill.
12. The Workhouse Ground, Shoe Lane, belonging to St. Andrew’s,\
Holborn | The Farringdon Market occupied the site, and a street\
has now taken its place
.pn +1
.bn 322.jpg
13. Allhallows’, Honey Lane | The Old City of London School was\
built on its site.
14. St. Mary le Bow | Warehouses and street full of vans, called Bow\
Churchyard.
15. St. John, Cloak Lane | Taken by District Railway in 1879 for\
Cannon\ Street Station, &c.
16. St. Mary Bothaw | Cannon Street Station, S.E.R.
17. St. Mary Mounthaw | Taken for Queen Victoria St.
18. St. Nicholas Olave | Taken for Queen Victoria St.
19. St. Mary Magdalen | Taken for Queen Victoria St.
20. Elsing Spital Priory | Warehouses, London Wall.
21. St. Peter le Poer, Broad St. | Houses in Broad Street.
22. St. Thomas Acons | Mercer’s Hall.
23. St. Bartholomew’s Priory, Smithfield | This had a cemetery\
attached, which is covered by the buildings near the south transept\
of the church.
24. St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Burial-ground | West wing of hospital.
25. St. Swithin, Cannon Street | Roadway on north side of church.
26. St. Dunstan in the West, Fleet Street| Probably north end of\
present church.
27. St. Michael le Querne | Cheapside.
28. Additional ground to Christ Church, Moorgate Street | Southern\
end of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital.
29. St. Mary Colechurch | Old Jewry.
30. St. Margaret Moses, Friday Street | Cannon Street.
31. Garden in Hosier Lane, used for St. Mary le Bow | Built upon about 1560.
32. Holy Trinity the Less, Trinity Lane | Mansion House Station.
.pn +1
.bn 323.jpg
33. St. Mary Axe, Leadenhall Street | Houses on west side of the\
street called St. Mary Axe.
34. St. Mary Woolchurch Haw | Mansion House.
35. St. Bartholomew by the Exchange | Threadneedle Street.
36. Bethlem Burial-ground (also called Rowe’s) | Liverpool Street\
Station.
37. St. Benet, Gracechurch St. | Corner of Fenchurch Street.
38. St. Margaret, New Fish St. | Metropolitan Railway.
39. St. Andrew Hubbard | Houses between Botolph Lane and Love Lane.\
The old King’s Weigh House Chapel was on the site.
40. St. Botolph, Billingsgate (Lower Ground) | Warehouse in Lower\
Thames Street, with terra cotta heads on the frontage.
41. Garden of Hundsdon House, Blackfriars (French Embassy) | 95\
bodies buried in two pits here in 1623 after an accident. Site now\
disappeared.
42. Pest-field, Hand Alley | New Street, Bishopsgate Street.
43. The Churchyard of the Dutch Church, Austin Friars | This\
Burial-ground was on the south side of the Dutch Church, now built\
over.
44. St. Michael, Crooked Lane | King William Street.
45. St. James’ Hermitage Burial-ground | Houses south of the postern\
and the south wall of St. Giles’ Churchyard, Cripplegate.
46. Cemetery of the Crutched Friars | South of Fenchurch Street.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. MARYLEBONE.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
47. Churchyard of Old Tyburn Church | Marylebone Court House,\
Stratford Place.
48. Burial-place for those executed at Tyburn | Corner of Upper\
Bryanston Street and Edgware Road.
.ta-
.sp 2
.pn +1
.bn 324.jpg
.ce
PADDINGTON.
.ta h:30 h:30
49. Pest-field, Craven Hill Probably never used. | Craven Hill Gardens.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
HAMMERSMITH.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
50. Convent Burial-ground, King Street | Part of the buildings of the\
Convent of the Sacred Heart, rebuilt by Cardinal Manning.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. MARGARET AND ST. JOHN, WESTMINSTER.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
51. Buckingham Chapel, Palace Street | Brewery on south side.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. MARTIN’S IN THE FIELDS.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
52. St. Martin’s additional ground | Part of the buildings of the\
National Gallery.
53. Burial-ground for the Friends of the Westminster Division |\
Castle Street, Long Acre.
54. Burial-ground of St. Mary Rounceval Convent | Northumberland Avenue.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. JAMES’S, WESTMINSTER.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
55. Pest-field | Golden Square and district round.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
THE STRAND.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
56. Additional ground for St. Martin’s in the Fields | French\
Chapel, Crown Street, Soho, now Charing Cross Road.
57. German Burial-ground, Savoy | Medical Examination Hall and\
Savoy Chambers.
58. Old Somerset House Cemetery | Somerset House.
.pn +1
.bn 325.jpg
59. Westminster Convent Burial-Ground | Part of Covent Garden Market.
60. Almshouse Ground, Clemens Lane | New Lane Courts.
61. Burial-ground by the Workhouse, St. Paul’s, Covent Garden |\
Possibly the Floral Arcade.
62. Cemetery of old St. Mary le Strand | Somerset House, &c.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. GILES’ IN THE FIELDS.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
63. The Workhouse Burial-ground | Part of the Workhouse in Shorts
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
HOLBORN.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
64. St. Sepulchre’s Additional Ground, Durham Yard | Great Northern\
Goods Depôt.
65. St. Sepulchre’s Workhouse Ground, Durham Yard | Ditto. This was\
the larger of the two.
66. Pardon Churchyard, Charterhouse,| Wilderness Row, subsequently\
Clerkenwell Road.
67. Baptist Chapel-ground, Glasshouse Yard | Goswell Road, just\
to the south of St. Thomas’s, Charterhouse.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
CLERKENWELL.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
68. Nun’s Burial-ground | Houses west side of St. James’ Walk.
69. St. James’s Additional Ground, Ray Street | Farringdon Road\
and the Railway.
70. Corporation Row Burial-pit | Artisans’ dwellings on north side.
71. Priory Cemetery | St. John’s Square, &c.
.pn +1
.bn 326.jpg
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. LUKE’S.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
72. Thomas’, Golden Lane | Factory on west side of St. Mary’s Church,\
Charterhouse, Playhouse Yard.
73. Pest-field, Old Street | Bath Street, and many acres to the north
74. Pest-field, Mount Mill | Seward Street, Goswell Road, north side.
75. Cupid’s Court Ground, Golden Lane | Offices, &c., north of\
Brackley Street.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
SHOREDITCH.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
76. Gloucester Street Chapel-ground | Gas Light and Coke\
Company’s premises.
77. Shoreditch Burial-ground, Hoxton | Wing of the Workhouse built\
in 1884.
78. Burial-ground by the Goldsmiths’ Almshouses | New block of\
Artisans’ Dwellings west side of Goldsmith Row.
79. Worship Street Baptist Chapel-ground | London and North Western\
Goods Depôt.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
STOKE NEWINGTON.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
80. Abney Congregational Chapel, Church Street | School buildings.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
BETHNAL GREEN.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
81. Roman Catholic Ground, Bethnal Green | Cambridge Road.
82. Pest-field, belonging to Stepney | South of Lisbon Street and\
Collingwood Street.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
WHITECHAPEL.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
83. Roman Cemetery | Goodman’s Fields.
84. Burial-ground, Whitechapel Road | Whitechapel Workhouse.
.pn +1
.bn 327.jpg
85. St. Katharine, near the Tower | St. Katharine’s Docks.
86. Additional Ground to St. Katharine | St. Katharine’s Docks.
87. Bone Yard, Gower’s Walk | Houses.
88. Zoar Chapel, Great Alie St. | Warehouses, shops, and a forge.
89. Pest-field, Spital Square | St. Mary’s Church, &c.
90. Pest-field, east of the Mint, and Cemetery of the Convent of St.\
Mary of Grace | The Royal Mint.
91. Pest-field, Petticoat Lane | Built over.
92. Tower Burial-ground (outside the wall) | Demolished for Tower Bridge.
93. St. Mary Spital Priory | Spital Square and district.
94. Pest-field or Plague-Pit in Gower’s Walk | Messrs. Kinloch’s new\
buildings.
95. Mill Yard Sabbatarian Chapel | Railway by Leman St. Station.
96. German Church, Hooper Square. | Railway.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
LIMEHOUSE.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
97. Roman Cemetery | Sun Tavern Fields, Shadwell.
98. Friends’ Burial-ground | Wapping Street.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
MILE END OLD TOWN.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
99. Rose Lane Chapel-ground | East London Railway, public house\
and shops close to Stepney Station.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. GEORGE THE MARTYR, SOUTHWARK.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
100. London Road Chapel-ground | Tailor’s Shop in London Road,\
east side.
.pn +1
.bn 328.jpg
101. Baptist Chapel-ground, Sheer’s Alley | Wilmott’s Buildings.
102. Zion Chapel, Borough |Artisans’ Dwellings, Chapel Court.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. SAVIOR’S.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
103. Friends’ Burial-ground, Worcester Street | London Bridge and\
Charing Cross Railway.
104. Chapel Burial-ground, Ewer Street | London Bridge and Charing\
Cross Railway.
105. Baptist Chapel-ground, Pepper Street (Duke Street Park) | Houses\
at corner of Pepper Street.
106. St. Margaret, Southwark | Borough High Street and Market
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
ST. OLAVE’S.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
107. St. Olave, Additional Ground | St. Thomas Street.
108. Flemish Burial-ground, Carter Lane | Approach to London Bridge\
Station.
109. Mazepond Baptist Chapel | Guy’s Hospital Medical School.
110. Baptist Chapel, Dipping Alley | Fair Street or Charles Street,\
Horselydown
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
BERMONDSEY.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
111. Roman Cemetery | Snow Fields, Union Street, and Deverell Street\
(Newington).
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
GREENWICH.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
112. Roman Cemetery | Neighbourhood of Blackheath.
.ta-
.sp 2
.ce
WOOLWICH.
.sp 1
.ta h:30 h:30
113. Bethlem Chapel-ground, Charles Street | Club House.
.ta-
.pn +1
.bn 329.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=AppC
APPENDIX C.
Churches and Chapels with Vaults under them that have
been used for Interments, but with no Graveyards attached.
.sp 2
.in 4
.nf
The Foundling Chapel, W.C.
Lincoln’s Inn Chapel and Cloisters, W.C.
Gray’s Inn Chapel, E.C.
Ely Place Chapel, E.C.
Lambeth Palace Chapel, S.E.
St. Pancras New Church, W.C.
Camden Chapel, St. Pancras, N.W.
Christ Church, Marylebone, N.W.
Holy Trinity, Marylebone, N.W.
Holy Trinity, Islington, N.
St. John’s, Upper Holloway, N.
St. John’s, Paddington, W.
St. Barnabas, Kensington, W.
All Saints, Islington, N.
Aske’s Hospital Chapel, Hoxton, N.
St. Barnabas, King Square, E.C.
St. Thomas’, Charterhouse, E.C.
St. Mark’s, Clerkenwell, E.C.
St. Mark’s, North Audley Street, W.
Grosvenor Chapel, South Audley Street.
Hanover Chapel, Regent Street, W. (About to be destroyed.)
St. Peter’s, Pimlico, S.W.
.pn +1
.bn 330.jpg
St. Stephen’s, Westminster, S.W.
St. James’s, Clapham, S.W.
St. Anne’s, Wandsworth, S.W.
Holy Trinity, Newington, S.E.
St. Mary Magdalene’s, Peckham, S.E.
Holy Trinity, Little Queen Street, W.C.
Wesleyan Chapel, Great Queen Street, W.C.
Mission Chapel, Little Wyld Street, W.C.
Elim Chapel, Fetter Lane, E.C.
Baptist Chapel, Blandford Street, N.W.
Roman Catholic Chapel, Grove Road, N.W.
Congregational Chapel, Kentish Town, N.W.
Brunswick Chapel, Mile End Road, E. (Now connected with\
Charrington’s Assembly Hall.)
Baptist Chapel, Romney Street, S.W.
Surrey Chapel, Blackfriars Road, S.E. (Now a machine manufactory.)
Queen Street Chapel, Woolwich, S.E.
.nf-
.in 0
Some vaults, such as those under the Guildhall Chapel, the
Rolls Chapel, and the notorious Elton Chapel, Clements Lane, have
disappeared with the buildings; and it must be remembered that
the City churches that have lost their churchyards have vaults
underneath them, and so have other buildings, such as the Charterhouse
Chapel and cloisters, the burial-ground there being of much
later date, and detached from the chapel.
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.bn 331.jpg
.pb
.sp 4
.h2 id=AppD
APPENDIX D.
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.ti -4
Steps to be taken for laying out and throwing open to the
Public a Disused Churchyard or Burial-ground, and for
its Maintenance by the London County Council, or the
Local Authority. (Reprinted from the Annual Report of
the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, 83, Lancaster
Gate, W.)
.in 0
1. Decide how much assistance is to be sought from
the London County Council, or the Local Authority,
that is the Vestry or District Board, if in London, or
the Urban or Rural Sanitary Authority, if in the provinces,
in the carrying out of the scheme. Thus, in
approaching any of these bodies, it should be considered—
.in 4
(a) Whether they are to be asked to lay out the
ground, or only to take it over for maintenance
after it has been laid out by others,
e.g., the Association.
(b) Whether they may require, or can have the
freehold, or only a limited interest, such as a
lease of the ground.
.in 0
2. The Incumbent or Owner will, when the consent
of the Local Authority or London County Council
has been obtained, be required to execute a Deed
transferring the Ground to the Local Authority, or the
Council, upon the terms and conditions that have
been mutually arranged.
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.bn 332.jpg
.in 0
3. Consecrated Grounds require a Faculty.
In the case of a Consecrated Ground, a Faculty
must be obtained from the Bishop of the Diocese by
the Local Authority, or the London County Council,
as the case may be, permitting such body to exercise
powers of management over it; and should it be needful
to move tombstones, such Faculty must also contain
a license to do so, otherwise they cannot be moved
(vide para. 5).
4. The Consistory Court of the Diocese usually
requires the following preliminary steps to have been
taken, before it will hear an application for a Faculty:—
.in 4
(a) The preparation of a plan and detailed statement
of what it is proposed to do to the
ground, and of an estimate of the expense
involved.
(b) The submission of plan, statement, and estimate,
to a meeting of the Vestry of the Parish,
and the passing of a resolution (which should
be carefully prepared) by the Vestry approving
the plan, statement, estimate, and application
for a Faculty.
(c) The approval of plan, statement, and estimate,
by the Local Authority or the London County
Council, as the case may be.
(d) The presentation of a petition for a Faculty
to the Bishop or his Consistory Court, by the
Local Authority or the Council, as the case
may be, setting out the scheme, accompanied
by the plan, statement, and resolutions.
(e) This petition should in the ordinary course
have the concurrence of the Incumbent, and
he may be, and it is usually desirable that he
should be, a party to it.
5. Removal of Tombstones in consecrated and unconsecrated
grounds. In the case of any disused churchyard, cemetery,
or burial-ground, whether consecrated or not, if tombstones
are to be moved, at least three months before any
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.bn 333.jpg
tombstone or monument is moved the following steps
have to be taken:—
.in 4
(a) A statement shall be prepared sufficiently
describing by the name and date appearing
thereon the tombstones and monuments
standing or being in the ground, and such
other particulars as may be necessary;
(b) Such statements shall be deposited with the
clerk of the County Council or Local
Authority, and shall be open to inspection by
all persons;
(c) An advertisement of the intention to remove
or change the position of such tombstones
and monuments shall be inserted three times
at least in some newspaper circulating in the
neighbourhood of the burial-ground, and such
advertisement shall give notice of the deposit
of such statement, as is hereinbefore described,
and of the hours within which the
same may be inspected;
(d) A notice in terms similar to the advertisement
shall be placed on the door of the church (if
any) to which such churchyard, cemetery, or
burial-ground is attached, and shall be delivered
or sent by post to any person known
or believed by the County Council or Local
Authority to be a near relative of any person
whose death is recorded on any such tombstone
or monument.
.in 0
Ditto in consecrated grounds only.
In the case of any consecrated ground a Faculty is
also required (vide page 3), but no application for a
Faculty can be made until the expiration of one month
at least after the appearance of the last of such advertisements.
Provided that on any application for a Faculty
nothing shall prevent the Bishop from directing or
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.bn 334.jpg
sanctioning the removal of any tombstone or monument,
if he is of opinion that reasonable steps have been
taken to bring the intention to effect such removal to
the notice of some person having a family interest in
such removal.
Ditto in unconsecrated grounds only.
In the case of an unconsecrated burial-ground, no
Faculty is requisite either for management or for
moving tombstones.
N.B.—Faculties, which only emanate from the Courts
of Diocesan Bishops, cannot apply to burial-grounds,
unless consecrated by Bishops of the Established
Church.
6. Playing of Games.The playing of any games or sports is not
allowed in any churchyard, cemetery, or burial-ground in or over which
any estate, interest, or control is acquired under section five of the
Metropolitan Open Spaces Act, 1881.
Provided that—
.in 4
(a) In the case of consecrated ground, the Bishop,
by any license or Faculty granted under the
Metropolitan Open Spaces Act, 1881, or this
Act (Open Spaces Act, 1887), and
(b) In the case of any churchyard, cemetery, or burial-ground,
which is not consecrated, the body from which any such estate, interest,
or control as aforesaid is acquired may expressly sanction any such use
of the ground, and may specify such conditions as to the extent or
manner of such use.
If an Incumbent or owner wishes to lay out a Disused
Churchyard or Burial-ground, and to maintain
it himself directly or by his agents, e.g.,
the Association, no application to the Local
Authority, or London County Council, is
required, and if it is a consecrated ground
but no tombstones are moved, no Faculty or
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.bn 335.jpg
consent of any other person is required.
Any arrangement of this nature an Incumbent
may make is not, however, binding on his
successor. In unconsecrated grounds no
Faculties are needed.
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.h2 id=AppE
APPENDIX E.
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.ce 2
The Disused Burial-grounds Act, and Amending Clauses in
subsequent Open Spaces Acts.
A.D. 1884. 47 & 48 Vict. [Ch. 72.]
.ce
Disused Burial grounds Act, 1884.
An Act for preventing the erection of Buildings on
Disused Burial grounds. [14th August, 1884.]
Whereas an Act was passed in the session of Parliament
holden in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of
Her Majesty, chapter eighty-five, to amend the laws
concerning the burial of the dead in the metropolis,
and an Act was passed in the session holden in the
sixteenth and seventeenth years of Her Majesty,
chapter one hundred and thirty-four, “to amend the
laws concerning the burial of the dead in England,
beyond the limits of the metropolis, and to amend the
Act concerning the burial of the dead in the metropolis”:
And whereas, in pursuance of the provisions
of the above recited Acts, numerous Orders in Council
have been made for the discontinuance of burials in
certain burial-grounds within the metropolis and elsewhere:
And whereas it is expedient that no buildings
should be erected on any burial-ground affected by any
of such Orders in Council:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent
Majesty, by and with the advice and consent
of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons,
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.bn 337.jpg
in this present Parliament assembled, and by the
authority of the same as follows:
Short title.1. This Act may be cited as the
Disused Burial-Grounds Act, 1884.
2. Interpretation clause Amended by 50 & 51 Vict. c.
32. In this Act a “disused burial-ground” shall mean a
burial-ground in respect of which an Order in Council has been made for
the discontinuance of burials therein in pursuance of the provisions of
the said recited Acts.
3. Amended by 50 & 51 Vict. c. 32. After the
passing of this Act No buildings to be erected upon disused
burial-grounds for enlargement, etc. it shall not be lawful to
erect any buildings upon any disused burial-ground, except for the
purpose of enlarging a church, chapel, meeting-house, or other place of
worship.
4. Saving for buildings already
sanctioned.Nothing in this Act shall prevent the erection
of any building on a disused burial-ground, for which a Faculty has been
obtained before the passing of this Act.
5. Saving of burial-grounds already sold by Act of
Parliament.Nothing in this Act contained shall apply to any
burial-ground which has been sold or disposed of under the authority of
any Act of Parliament.
.tb
.ce 2
[48 & 49 Vict.] [Ch. 167.]
Metropolitan Board of Works (Various Powers) Act, 1885.
And whereas it is expedient to confer further powers
upon the Board for enforcing the due observance in the
metropolis of the provisions of the Disused Burial
Grounds Act, 1884:
.ce 2
PART IV.
Miscellaneous (Disused Burial-grounds).
56. A.D. 1885.
Board to be the authority to enforce
the Disused Burial-Grounds Act, 1884.The Board shall be and they
are hereby constituted the authority for preventing the violation and
for enforcing the due observance of the provisions of the Disused
Burial-grounds Act, 1884, within the metropolis, and they may from time
to time institute and prosecute all such legal proceedings and do all
such acts, manners, and things as may in the
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.bn 338.jpg
opinion of the Board be necessary or expedient for preventing the
violation by any person and for enforcing the due observance by all
persons of the provisions of the said Act within the metropolis.
.tb
A.D. 1887.
[50 & 51 Vict.] Open Spaces Act, 1887.
.ce
CHAPTER 32
.sp 2
An Act for extending certain Provisions of the Metropolitan
Open Spaces Acts, 1877 and 1881, with
Amendments, to Sanitary Districts throughout
England, Wales, and Ireland; and for other purposes. [23rd August,
1887.]
40 & 41 Vict. c. 35. 44 & 45 Vict. c.
34.Whereas by the Metropolitan Open Spaces Acts, 1877
and 1881 (herein called the principal Acts), certain facilities were
provided for making available the open spaces and burial-grounds in the
metropolis for the use of the inhabitants thereof for exercise and
recreation, and it is expedient to provide facilities for making
available open spaces and burial-grounds in all sanitary districts in
England, Wales, and Ireland, for the like use of the inhabitants
thereof, and to make other provisions for the 47 & 48 Vict. c.
72. purpose aforesaid, and also to amend the Metropolitan Open
Spaces Act, 1881, and the Disused Burial-grounds Act, 1884:
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent
Majesty by and with the advice and consent of
the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in
this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
.tb
4. Amendment of 47 & 48 Vict. c. 72.
In the Disused Burial-grounds Act, 1884, and
this Act, the expression “burial-ground” shall have
the same meaning as in the Metropolitan Open Spaces
Act, 1881, as amended by this Act, and the expression
“disused burial-ground” shall mean any burial-ground
which is no longer used for interments, whether or not
such ground shall have been partially or wholly closed
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.bn 339.jpg
for burials under the provisions of any statute or Order
in Council, and the expression “building” shall include
any temporary or movable building.
.tb
11. Power over open spaces already vested in sanitary
authority. The Metropolitan Board[#] or the sanitary authority may
exercise all the powers given to them by the Metropolitan Open Spaces,
1881, or this Act respecting open spaces, churchyards, cemeteries, and
burial-grounds transferred to them in pursuance of the said Act or of
this Act in respect of any open spaces, churchyards, cemeteries, and
burial-grounds transferred to them in pursuance of the said Act or of
this Act in respect of any open spaces, churchyards, cemeterie, and
burial-grounds of a similar nature which are or shall be vested in them
in pursuance of any other statute, or of which they are otherwise the
owners.
.pm fn-start
Read London County Council.
.pm fn-end
N.B. Clauses 2 and 3 in this Act, which also refer
to burial-grounds, are incorporated in Appendix D.
.tb
.ce
SCHEDULE.
.ce
Portions of the Metropolitan Open Spaces Act, 1881, repealed.
In section one, the following words occurring in the
definition of an “open space,” viz., “but shall not
include any enclosed land which has not a public road
or footpath completely round the same.”
In the same section, the following words occurring
in the definition of a “burial-ground,” viz., “and in
which interments have taken place since the year
1800.”
In the second paragraph of section five, the words,
“but such Metropolitan Board,[#] vestry, or district board
shall not allow the playing of any games or sports
therein.”
.pm fn-start
Ibid.
.pm fn-end
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.pb
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.nf c
The Gresham Press.
UNWIN BROTHERS.
WOKING AND LONDON.
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.it Transcriber’s Notes:
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.it Missing or obscured punctuation was corrected.
.it Typographical errors were silently corrected.
.it Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation were made consistent only when a\
predominant form was found in this book.
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.it Text in italics is enclosed in underscores (_italics_).
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