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
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 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.
[Illustration: EAST HILL BURIAL-GROUND, WANDSWORTH.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account