Inventory Site Record

This is the former burial ground of the old parish church of St Dunstan and All Saints, whose origins date back to the C7th. The churchyard closed for burials in 1854 and most of the tombstones and headstones were removed between 1885 and 1887 when high ground around the church was dug away. The MPGA then converted the burial ground into a public garden, at a cost of £3,000, and it was opened by the Duchess of Leeds on 18 July 1887.

Previous / Other name:

St Dunstan and All Saints, The Church of the High Seas; Stepney Churchyard Public Gardens

Site location:

Stepney High Street/Durham Row/Belgrave Street/White Horse Road

Postcode:

E1

What 3 Words:

paper.fluid.wider

Type of site:

Public Gardens

Borough:

Tower Hamlets

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

8am - dusk. Church open to visitors on Sundays.

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Stepney Green (District, Hammersmith & City).

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/06/2009

Last minor changes:

19/07/2023

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.towerhamlets.gov.uk

The parish church of St Dunstan and All Saints has its origins in Saxon times and the large parish once served most of what is now Tower Hamlets and also part of Hackney. The church has undergone many modifications over the years. The earliest church possibly dates from the C7th, a small wooden structure built by descendants of Saxon settlers, probably led by Stybba, who landed on an "island" of well-drained gravel between the Thames and a tributary; Stybba's island is recorded as 'Stybeney' in 1232. The Manor of Stepney was the largest in the area, the manor house on the site now occupied by the London Chest Hospital (q.v.), and until the mid C16th was owned by the Bishops of London. Dunstan, who was Bishop of London and Lord of the Manor of Stepney in the mid C10th appears to have built a small stone church here in c.952, after Viking raids. Dunstan may have built his church on the site of the earlier wooden church that was known as All Saints and his name was added after he was made a saint in 1029. Many of the old lanes and paths from surrounding hamlets survive as streets leading to the church.

The church was rebuilt in the late C15th at a time when aristocrats and wealthy merchants from the City of London had country houses in the village of Stepney. Most of the tower and nave date from the C15th, although the church was re-clad in the 1870s. Stepney was a stronghold of Puritanism and supported Parliament in the Civil War, and in the summer of 1642 St Dunstan's Churchyard was used for enlisting local men in the Parliamentary army led by the Earl of Essex. From the mid C17th onwards the parish of St Dunstan and All Saints began to get smaller as hamlets were made into separate parishes with their own churches. St Dunstan's suffered some damage in WWII, when in January 1945 the top of the tower was damaged and all the window glass was blown out when a V2 rocket hit the north-west corner of the churchyard. The East Window was replaced in 1949 and the lower part depicts bombed streets round church.

The southern end of the churchyard had been added in 1626 after 4,000 plague victims had filled the ancient burial ground and the smell was so bad that it had to be earthed over. Over 6,500 plague victims were buried in 1665/66. By the middle of the C18th there were so many tombstones that on Sunday mornings in June the churchyard was 'filled with people reading tombstones and eating currants and gooseberries'. The old parsonage was demolished in 1763 and the ground taken into the churchyard in 1844 when cast iron railings were erected. Two diagonal walks lined with trees are shown on Horwood's map of 1799. The churchyard closed for burials in 1854 and most of the tombstones and headstones were removed between 1885 and 1887 when high ground around the church was dug away. The MPGA converted the burial ground into a public garden, at a cost of £3,000, and it was opened by the Duchess of Leeds on 18 July 1887. The layout was designed by the MPGA's landscape gardener, Fanny Wilkinson. In 1895 Lt Col JJ Sexby, LCC Head of Parks, described the churchyard as 'a valuable addition to the open spaces of the East End' and it was identified in the 1943 County of London Plan as open space for local people. Part of the former churchyard is now a children's playground.

Of those who were buried here many were sailors or worked locally in marine trades. Among the few remaining tombstones and headstones it is still possible to find an admiral, captain, boatswain, waterman, ship builder and ship owner. The Red Ensign, flag of the British Merchant Navy, is flown from the tower because St Dunstan and All Saints is 'The Church of the High Seas'. Of the 10 bells in the tower, the 9th and 6th are associated with the sea. The 9th is inscribed to honour of Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the Admiralty and patron of the Stepney Society, which was established in Ratcliff in 1674 and held an annual service at St Dunstan's followed by a dinner in the City of London known as the 'Cockneys' Feast'. During dinner a collection was made to apprentice poor boys from Stepney in the numerous marine trades. The 6th bell is inscribed to the memory of Mrs Prisca Coborn who set up a charity in 1701 for poor sailors' widows in Stepney. The 10 bells were recast in 1806 at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. In the nursery rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons', St Dunstan's are the bells of Stepney which ask 'when will that be?'

Dame Rebecca Berry's "Fish & Ring" Monument is found in the south wall of the church, a coat of arms with fish and ring; she may have been the heroine of a popular ballad. Admiral Sir John Berry (d.1689) has a monument on the north wall of the church. Many lepers were buried in the churchyard and a leper hospital known as Mile End Spittle was on Mile End Road. From the C13th to C17th lepers were sent here from the City of London and allowed to beg; they could go and stand outside St Dunstan's Church and see the altar through a squint in the north wall of the chancel. A large white altar tomb in the churchyard near the south door of the church commemorates Pastor Matthew Mead, (d.1699), who built the first Stepney Meeting House in 1674 prior to which Non-conformists of Stepney Meeting (founded by Puritans in 1644) worshipped at St Dunstan's. Captain Henry Mudd (d.1692; see Trinity Green (q.v.)) is buried here and his tomb near the north side of the church tower was restored in 1876. Sir Thomas Spert, founder of Trinity House and Clerk Comptroller of the King's Ships for Henry VIII (d.1541) was buried in the chancel of St Dunstan's with his 3 wives. Sir Henry Colet (d.1505) has a tomb of Purbeck marble in the chancel. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1486, knighted by Henry VII. A mercer (textile merchant), he bought c.90 acres of farmland in Stepney where he lived at the Great Place (where Edward I held the Stepney Parliament in 1299). His wife Dame Colet continue to live here until her death in 1523; their eldest son John was Vicar of Stepney from 1485-1505.

Sources consulted:

Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, 'The London Encyclopaedia' (Macmillan, revised ed. 1993); Bancroft Library, Clippings. Lieut.Col J J Sexby, The Municipal Parks, Gardens and Open Space of London (their History and Associations, Elliott Stock (London) 1895 (1905 edition); Central Stepney History Walk, Tom Ridge (Central Stepney Regeneration Board) 1998; Elizabeth Crawford, 'Enterprising Women: The Garretts and their Circle' (Francis Boutle Publishers, 2nd ed. 2009).Postcard of the month no 7, December 2000 www.eastlondonpostcard.co.uk

Grid ref:

TQ359815 (535976,181582)

Size in hectares:

1.8229

Site ownership:

St Dunstan’s Church and Rector of Stepney

Site management:

LB Tower Hamlets, Leisure Services, Parks and Open Spaces

Date(s):

medieval; 1887 (public garden)

Designer(s):

1887: MPGA (Fanny Wilkinson)

Listed structures:

LBI: St Dunstan and All Saints Church. LBII: iron railings and gate at end of churchyard on Durham Row; iron railings, gate piers and gates to churchyard on Stepney High Street

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:

No

In Conservation Area:

Yes

Conservation Area name:

York Square

Tree Preservation Order:

Yes

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Local Importance

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Yes - Area of Archaeological Importance or Potential

Other LA designation:

None

St Dunstan's Churchyard with Plane Trees Avenue from southern entrance, June 2009. Photo: S Williams

Click a photo to enlarge.