Parks and gardens

St Johns Wood Church Grounds

Welcome to the site page for St. Johns wood Church Grounds.

St. Johns Wood Church Grounds is a Green Flag site and the Management Plan can be viewed by following the link

To view a 360 degree tour of the grounds click on the link:

Location
Wellington Place, St. Johns Wood, NW8 7PF

Tube:
Nearest tube station is St. Johns Wood on the Jubilee line which is five minutes walk from the grounds.

Buses:
Routes 13, 82 and 113 all stop on Wellington Road which forms the western boundary of the site

Facilities within the grounds:
Formal bedding area and herbaceous border
Playground
Local Nature Reserve / Glade
Public Convenience (including Disabled).
Donated benches and deckchairs

History:

The current grounds as seen today date from the early 1950's when the gravestones were removed from the three main lawn areas. The St. Johns Wood burial ground dates from 1807, it was originally two fields known as Great Garden Field and Willow Tree Field and covered an area of six acres, by 1814 both the burial ground and the church were completed.

The Bishop of London consecrated the Church and burial ground on the 24 May 1814. The burial ground was used from 1814 to 1855 when the St. Marylebone Cemetery at East Finchley was opened. There are thought to be 50,000 graves here. A transcription of the still legible tombstones was made in 1962 and may be consulted in the Westminster City Archives.

Three of the graves are well known:
1. John Sell Cotman, water-colour painter, (1782-1842) This stone is on the west side of the grounds in the Glade.
2. Private Samuel Godley, (1781-1832), who fought at the battle of Waterloo This stone is close to the Cotman grave.
3. Joanna Southcott, religious fanatic, (1750-1814) There is a large marker stone against the west boundary wall which was erected in 1965. The grave itself is approximately twenty five feet due east of the marker stone.

There are donated benches to the memories of Barry Took (Writer and Broadcaster) and Edward 'Ted' Cast (Actor). A Tulip tree was planted in memory of Brian Johnston (Cricket Broadcaster).