Inventory Site Record

St James's Gardens closed in 2017, its site taken for the construction works of the new HS2 Euston Station. Following an Act of Parliament, the site was originally purchased in 1788 as an additional burial ground for St James Piccadilly. Encroached upon by the railway to the east, it was laid out as a public garden by the St Pancras Vestry in 1887, and the headstones mostly cleared to the boundaries. St James's Gardens were re-landscaped in the 1980s by Camden Council, a rectangular site with grass, rose beds and a few mature trees, a playground area and an extensive semi-circular pergola. When the gardens were finally closed, extensive archaeological works were undertaken.

Previous / Other name:

Burial ground of St James Piccadilly

Site location:

Hampstead Road/Cardington Street

Postcode:

NW1

What 3 Words:

alone.sleepy.fuel

Type of site:

Other

Borough:

Camden

Open to public?

No

Opening times:

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Euston Square (Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern). Rail/London Overground/Tube (Northern/Victoria): Euston. Bus: 24, 27, 29, 134, 135, 30, 73.

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

17/10/2024

Last minor changes:

18/10/2024

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/archaeology/st-james-gardens-burial-ground/

Following an Act of Parliament this land was originally purchased and laid out in 1788 as an additional burial ground for St James Piccadilly (q.v.), the parish building behind it a new chapel of St James's. The chapel, built to designs of Thomas Hardwick, was consecrated in 1793 but has since been demolished. At one time the burial ground was 4 acres, and it is estimated that 50,000 burials took place here before it was closed. The Vestry of St Pancras bought the land from St James Church in 1887 for £3,600, with faculties and Acts. Reduced to 3 acres due to encroachment by the railway to the east, it was laid out as a garden by the vestry of St Pancras in 1887 at a cost of £1,600 paid for by the LCC, and the headstones mostly cleared to the boundaries. A plaque at the entrance recorded the opening as a public garden, which was maintained by St Pancras Borough Council. There were various features including a cast iron drinking fountain c.1886-7 that closely resembles a pattern illustrated in the Macfarlane's catalogue of c.1880.

There were a number of monuments in the public garden, but many neglected and decayed. A stone obelisk, although the upper part is broken, was thought to commemorate Charles Fitzroy, first Baron Southampton (d.1797), and his wife Anne (1810), with relief of 2 birds flanking a shield, above which is a coronet. This may be the work of John Bacon Jnr, whose Way tomb of 1804 at Acton it resembles. The Southampton family owned land in the south-west part of the present borough of Camden. The mid C19th Christie monument was also in the gardens, commemorating the founder of the auction house, James Christie, d.1803, and several of his family, in the form of a grey granite cross with inscriptions on each side of the plinth and with 4 cross-bars with semicircular arms. Another tombstone that remained in the gardens commemorates John Leverton who established his funeral undertakers' firm in 1789, making coffins in premises off Hampstead Road. It was the firm of Leverton's that conducted Diana, Princess of Wales's funeral in 1997.

The garden was re-landscaped in the 1980s by Camden Council, a rectangular site, with grass, rose beds and a few mature trees, a playground area and an extensive semi-circular pergola Ownership remained with the church, and it was leased to Camden Council. . The garden was designated as a site of local importance for nature conservation.

In June 2017 St James's Gardens was closed to make way for the new HS2 railway, and the expansion of Euston Station. The initial work involved exhuming all bodies buried here, and the removal of monuments and trees from the site. Extensive archaeological work was undertaken as a result of which over 40,000 burials have been discovered, including the remains of Captain Matthew Flinders, buried here in 1814. A Royal Navy explorer, Flinders led the first circumnavigation of Australia and is credited with giving the country its name. His remains will be reinterred in Donington, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, at St Mary and the Holy Rood Church where he was baptised, and where members of his family are buried.

The HS2 archaeological team have stated that: "The scientific study of human remains from St James burial ground will better our understanding of life and death in London’s 18th and 19th centuries, shedding light on health and disease, social status and lifestyle. Those buried in the long since demolished chapel and burial ground include individuals from all walks of life: paupers and nobility, artists and musicians, soldiers and sailors, inventors and industrialists, as well as victims of accidents, disease, suicide and murder. Additionally, in 2017, two Victorian time capsules were uncovered, marking the opening of the UK’s first “sober” hospital." It was agreed that remains discovered at St James's Gardens would be reinterred at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey where a memorial monument has been erected within a new landscaped garden. The design of the monument takes inspiration from the form of the gravestones and ledgers found at St. James’s Gardens. Since that time the site has been cleared, for further information contact hs2.org.uk.

Sources consulted:

Survey of London; Walter Edwin Brown, 'Saint Pancras Open Spaces and Disused burial grounds' (1902); M W Hammond, 'Camden's Parks and Gardens', LB Camden (1973); LB Camden Listed Buildings website; John Richardson, 'A History of Camden. Hampstead, Holborn, St Pancras' (Historical Publications Ltd, 1999); Walter Edwin Brown, 'Saint Pancras Open Spaces and Disused Burial Grounds' ( 1902); . https://alondoninheritance.com/london-parks-and-gardens/st-james-gardens-a-casualty-of-hs2/; https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/archaeology/st-james-gardens-burial-ground/

Grid ref:

TQ293826 (529325,182718)

Size in hectares:

1.0732

Site ownership:

Formerly: Church (St Pancras), leased to LB Camden

Site management:

Date(s):

1788; 1887; 2017

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

LBII: Monument to Christie Family, obelisk to Baron Southampton, C19th drinking fountain

On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens:

No

Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965:

No

Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931:

No

Local Authority Data

The information below is taken from the relevant Local Authority's planning legislation, which was correct at the time of research but may have been amended in the interim. Please check with the Local Authority for latest planning information.

On Local List:

Yes

In Conservation Area:

No

Tree Preservation Order:

Nature Conservation Area:

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Yes Area of Special Character: Central London Area

Other LA designation:

None

St James's Gardens, July 2002, Photo: S Williams

Click a photo to enlarge.