The London Burial Grounds: Notes on Their History from the Earliest Times to the Present DayHolmes, Isabella M.
History
The London Burial Grounds: Notes on Their History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day
Holmes, Isabella M.
Cemeteries -- England -- London -- History
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 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 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 between school-hours is the
proper time to see it. Then it is crowded, and every swing, rope, pole,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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