Existing grounds St Luke’s Churchyard, Old Street. Church of 1727 bombed during the war and left derelict. Vaults and churchyard cleared 1990's, and church restored - now rehearsal rooms etc. for London Symphony Orchestra. In the churchyard to the rear of the church a number of table tombs have been rather aggressively cleaned up and put back - though whether in their original positions is hard to say. There is a pile of old tombstones to one side. The additional ground to the north is now a rather scruffy park. 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. (Holmes) ST. LUKE'S, Old Street .- There are three burying grounds belonging to this parish; two adjoining the church, and the poor ground, in Bath Street. Those near the church are spacious; some of the graves are very deep. The grave digger assured me, that he had often experienced the effects of the effluvia arising from the coffins, to an alarming extent, a frequent occurrence when coming suddenly upon a fresh grave, where the body had been kept too long before interment; then the effluvium would penetrate through a foot and a half or two feet of earth, and frequently produced nausea and loathing of food. He stated that many accidents arose from neglect or carelessness; a grave partly dug and left exposed for a night would, for instance, become dangerous from the collection of " foul air." The poor ground is at the back of the alms-houses, in Bath Street; an improved system of interment is adopted in this ground. The vaults underneath the church are less used than formerly, on account of the cemeteries round the metropolis, but the smell from these vaults is particularly offensive, - so much so, that I was informed by the Rev. Dr. Rice, the present Curate, that he never ventured to descend, but invariably performed the funeral rites whilst standing in the passage, at the top of the entrance to the vaults. (Walker 1839) |
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Around the church |
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Additional ground to the north of church. LH picture shows site of vaults, according to a local expert (man walking his dog). |
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Church vaults before clearance |
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grounds The Poor-ground, Bath Street. Open ground between blocks of flats with flowerbeds, playground equipment, etc. Used as the workhouse burial ground. Bodysnatchers apprehended here in 1805. Three bodies were found in sacks after the arrest. (The Times Jan 28th 1805) ¼ acre. This was originally larger than it is now. It was consecrated in I662 for the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, and called the pest-house ground. After I732, 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. (Holmes) |
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St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Ground, Seward Street. Dismal tarmacked playground, currently out of use and boarded up. Probably site of a 1665 plague pit. On Christmas Eve, 1785, three body-snatchers were apprehended here loading a naked corpse into a hackney carriage. (The Times) 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 . (Holmes) |
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Pit, Mount Mill
Described by Peter Ackroyd (London, the Biography) as a patch of waste ground, used as a car park. It has clearly been tidied up recently, though is still a car park. |
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Possible vault or church burial St Barnabas, King Square Built 1822-6 Click here for a note on church and vault burials. |
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