Nestled within a trinity of thoroughfares amid traffic travelling west towards Putney, east to Clapham, running parallel with the line of traffic from Tooting to Vauxhall, sits a triangular garden of spirituality and remembrance known as Mount Nod Cemetery.
The southerly edge is sheltered by the spire of St Mary Magdalen Roman Catholic Church, whose doors are reassuringly well-worn and steeple is without undue opulence. The church is neighboured by a hall where the Order of Malta holds a weekly supper club for those in need. Abutting these is the churchyard known as the Huguenot Burial Ground.
Formerly known as the French Cemetery, the site was established as a churchyard in 1680 and began to be used as a burial site in 1687. The last burial took place in 1849. Three decades later, in 1886, John Traviss recorded 150 graves, 30 of which were Huguenot refugees who had emigrated to London to start their lives afresh.
Walking through the gates, you are led along a trail of names and memories of those whose lives have impacted our own today in ways we can only imagine. The specific migration to London of this small, French diaspora is recorded by the headstones and tombs.
Huguenots were converts to Protestantism in Catholic France during the sixteenth century. The followers of the teachings of John Calvin (1509 -1564) grew in numbers and power throughout the seventeenth century. Whilst their rights were formally established by King Henry IV of France, through the Edict of Nantes, their perceived threat to the established religious and political order led to periods of persecution in the late sixteenth century. By the 1680s, a Roman Catholic revival prompted an increasing number of challenges to the liberties of the Huguenots. The official tolerance was revoked by the more zealous monarch Louis XIV who resented the liberty of religious and civil rights of non-Catholics, causing many Huguenots to flee their homeland in fear of persecution.
Many travelled throughout Europe, bringing with them their skills, knowledge and a reputation for hard work. Some came to London, and gathered to form a community in Wandsworth. About 50,000 Huguenots were believed to have travelled to the UK between 1670 and 1710.
Huguenots were skilled brewers, map makers, glass blowers, goldsmiths, horticulturalists, printers, bakers, silversmiths, tanners, watchmakers, linen makers and weavers. In addition, there were significant numbers of soldiers, seafarers, engineers, farmers, scientists, pastors, merchants, musicians and shopkeepers.
The Huguenots who settled in Wandsworth were attracted by the cloth and textile mills which lined the banks of the River Wandle. The way you dress and present yourself held great importance and social significance then, just as it does in some circles today, and French fashions and skills in clothmaking were highly prized. Evidence of this area’s pre-eminence in the industry remains in the frontage of former tailors noted for both court and civil tailoring surviving along the high street and not far from Mount Nod.
Their skills as hat and dress-makers helped establish 17th and 18th century Wandsworth as a centre of fashion and tailoring, although a social commentator of the time noted, “Wandsworth was long famous for hat making.” French tailoring was popular during that period and the skills of the migrant Huguenot were much sought-after.
the skills of the migrant Huguenot were much sought-after. This area of Wandsworth became a hub for the French cloth workers in an area already well-established as a hatters’ enclave.
Sewing and tailoring, knowledge of fabrics, and the techniques of French fashions were welcome skills and the arriving Huguenots firmly established themselves within the existing community of weavers and hatmakers; contributing to those industries as both experts and entrepreneurs.
The Huguenots who lived in the area set up a French-speaking church in the 1680s at Chapel Yard close to Wandsworth High Street. Attendance declined over the years and in 1787 it closed its doors. This may be interpreted as a sign that over the passing of a single century, French Huguenots adopted the behaviours and lifestyles of the communities which welcomed them.
As they lived in the area, so it became the place where they traded their wares, earned their living, learned and taught their crafts, loved their closest friends and family, practiced their faith, lived their lives, and ended their days.
The souls of the Huguenots who made their mark can be found in this burial ground, such as Samuel John (1701 – 1759) the clerk of Bridewell and Bedlam hospitals. A man described as ‘eminent in the profession of the law’ and a man of ‘invincible integrity’. His contemporary, James Baudouin (c1648 – 1739) was born in Nismes, France but fled in 1685. Having arrived in London at the age of 37, by 1718 he was a landowner in Putney and became the first Deputy-Governor of the French Hospital, established for the relief of ‘poor, sick and infirm French Protestants’. One might easily imagine that the Putney Debates would have been at the forefront of Monsieur Baudouin’s awareness, and that he may have been aware that these were paths once walked by Thomas Cromwell before him.
Mount Nod Cemetery was used from 1687 to 1854. While the burial ground was first opened in the late 17th century, like so many other cemeteries in London, it was closed in 1854 as part of the Metropolitan Burials Act. Today it comes under the care of Wandsworth Council, who replaced the railings around it in 2003. Restorations have been undertaken with participation from the Huguenot Society, the Wandsworth Society and the Wandsworth Historical Society.
Efforts of care have been clearly undertaken to ensure that the pathways remain in their natural position, as they would have been tread for centuries, and for as long as it has been a garden of peace and a final resting place. The Huguenots travelled across the sea from France, up the coast through Kent and past the City of London to find work, reward and respite, and no doubt very good ale, at the top of this hill in Wandsworth.
Research, words and images by Maeve Dineen, March 2025.
