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St Lukes(South)
Key:  Current observations and notes   Holmes (1897)     Other sources     Maps


 

Wesleyan Chapel-ground,  City Road.
All tidily laid out. Part of the the area at the back of the chapel is  paved, yet with tombstones in situ underneath a modern building raised on pillars; the appearance is somewhat bizarre. 

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. (Holmes)


Bunhill Fields.  
Tidy, but still very much a graveyard. The crowded tombstones give a vivid picture of the appearance of most London grounds a hundred years ago. Burial place of Blake, Bunyan, and Defoe. During the first part of the nineteenth century around 1000 burials a year took place here. 
In 1841 a letter to The Times complained of its foul smell, affecting “particularly females of high nervous sensibility, who are doomed by their necessities to domicile in the neighbourhood of such localities”.

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. (Holmes)

Blake's grave Bunyan's grave

The Friend’s Burial Ground, Bunhill Row.  
Remaining portion now a small park and playground. The Memorial Building is still there. The  remainder of the ground has some low-rise housing on it. 

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.
(Holmes)


The City Bunhill (or Golden Lane) Burial-ground.
To the south of a small park called Fortune Gardens. Probably under the school playground behind a low, very old looking wall. Identifiable on O.S. of 1873.
Update, April  2007. This site is now being redeveloped by the London Borough of Islington for three new schools - the Golden Lane Campus. According to the Islington Gazette (25/4/07)  the exhumation is proving to be a very costly exercise, involving the removal of 9864 sets of remains and 30 complete coffins.  Remains are being reinterred in the St Pancras and Islington Cemetery.

acres. 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. (Holmes)


Lost grounds
Cripplegate Poor-ground, Whitecross Street. 
Adjacent and to the east of Thomas's ground. Surprisingly, not shown as a burial ground on Rocque or Horwood. St Mary's church shown on O.S. of 1871.
Now probably the central open area of the Peabody Estate. 

 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. (Holmes)

Thomas', Golden Lane 
See map. This and the previous ground are now underneath the Peabody Estate. 
Shown on OS of 1871 so built over after that date.

 Built on - Factory on west side of St. Mary's Church, Charterhouse, Playhouse Yard. (Holmes)


Cupid's Court Ground, Golden Lane 
 Shown on OS of 1871 so built over after that date. There is an open area on the north side of Venn street that might have covered the ground; alternatively, a wild-life area to the south looks promising. The whole area has been redeveloped to the point that that the only fixed markers from old maps are the lines of Golden Lane and Whitecross street. 
Built on - Offices, &c., north of Brackley Street. (Holmes)


Burial grounds in the south of the Parish, from Horwood. Cupid Court ground shown in red, Thomas's ground in green, approximate site of St Giles upper ground in blue, approximate site of Golden Lane ground in yellow. This ground is post Horwood. Golden Lane and White Cross Street still exist, but otherwise this area of London is unrecognisable. 

link to St Lukes North