St John’s Churchyard Gardens
Hackney History Walks
Saturday 20 March from 11am to 1pm and Saturday 27 March, 11am to 1pm.
Hackney Museum’s Heritage Officer has worked with the Church to run two guided walks that will uncover the rich history of the churchyard.
The walk begins with a look at the earliest memorials inside St John at Hackney Church and ends with a visit to St Augustine’s Tower, the old church from where the memorials were moved.
See the memorials and headstones of the known and unknown, rich, famous, great and good and also the unmarked and un-remembered people of Hackney. From Sir Christopher Urswick, confessor to Richard III, to Admiral Hunter, second Governor of New South Wales. Find out about Hackney’s intriguing royal and political connections, important inventions, a spy shot in the American War of Independence and some important early educationists, doctors and nurserymen.
Participants will also have the chance to learn about gravestone fashions, burial customs and gain some history research skills. Places are free, but booking is essential. To book contact Emily Jost, Emily.jost@hackney.gov.uk, 020 8356 2590.
General information
The restoration of St John’s Churchyard Gardens, between Mare Street and Lower Clapton Road was completed in 2007.
Thanks to a £1.79 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Groundwork East London, as well as Council funding, the gardens are now a clean, green, safe place for residents and visitors alike.
The gardens were awarded a Green Flag award in 2009. The Green Flag Award Scheme recognises and rewards the best green spaces in the country. Hackney currently has nine Green Flags - one of the highest totals in London.
Facilities at the site have been improved and now offer play facilities for children and their families, a walled garden, a fountain and a sensory garden.
A new planting programme and full-time maintenance staff mean that the gardens are at their best all year round.
Did you know? Buried among the 300 tombs and monuments of St John’s are distinguished local residents such as Conrad Loddiges, whose family ran a world famous botanical nursery nearby; Sir Francis Beaufort, Royal Navy Hydrographer, who developed the Beaufort windscale; and Anthony, thought to be Hackney’s first African resident.
Page updated: 10 Mar 2010
