Inventory Site Record

St George-in-the-East was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and built between 1714-28, its churchyard occupying an area known as The Gun Field. The burial ground was expanded in 1829 but by 1851 it was crowded and subsequently closed to burial. In 1876 part of the churchyard was combined with burial grounds of the nearby Wesleyan Chapel to create St George's Gardens, which opened as a public garden in 1877. Headstones were generally moved to the perimeter and the new layout included a Rectors Walk and Lime Avenue. A disused mortuary building in the garden was for a time used as a popular Nature Study Centre and Museum that opened in 1904. The garden was restored and re-opened in 2008.

Previous / Other name:

St George's Gardens

Site location:

Cannon Street Road/The Highway

Postcode:

E1 0BH

What 3 Words:

loyal.lift.mutual

Type of site:

Public Gardens

Borough:

Tower Hamlets

Open to public?

Yes

Opening times:

8am - dusk. Church open

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

London Overground/DLR: Shadwell. Bus: D3

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/08/2013

Last minor changes:

08/04/2026

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

St George-in-the-East was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and built between 1714-28 under the auspices of the Commission for Fifty New Churches in London, which was set up in 1711 following the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711, although it only led to 12 churches being built. St George-in-the-East was consecrated in 1729. Occupying an area known as The Gun Field, its C18th churchyard was a large oblong with rows of trees lining the north, south and east sides. Numerous important people were buried here, including merchants, naval personnel and others. Among listed tombs that remain is that of Henry Raine (1679-1738), a wealthy local brewer and devout churchman who in 1719 re-organised a charity school to provide education for 50 boys and 50 girls from Wapping and Stepney, which was then within the parish of St George-in-the-East. He went on to establish Raine's Asylum or Hospital in 1736 and further schools followed under the Raine's Charities. From 1714 Henry Raine had lived at Hurst House at Woodford Green (q.v.). To the north of the churchyard was a rope walk, and this land was purchased in 1829 in order to expand the burial ground. By 1851 the churchyard was overcrowded and was closed to further burials under the Burial Acts of 1852 and subsequent years. The last regular burials took place on 1 October 1854 although 5 further interments took place with licence from the Home Secretary, the last in 1875.

In 1876 the Vestry purchased the burial ground of the nearby Wesleyan Chapel, and this was combined with the east end of the churchyard to create St George's Gardens, largely through the efforts of the Revd. Harry Jones, who was Rector and Chairman of the Vestry. Headstones were moved to the perimeter and the new layout included a Rectors Walk and Lime Avenue. A mortuary chapel was built, possibly replacing one on the Wesleyan site. A wall tablet in the north-east corner records the extension of the site in 1876, with a drinking fountain nearby that was erected by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. St George's Gardens became the first London churchyard to be converted into a public garden in the care of the local authority. The new gardens had entrances in Radcliffe Street, Cannon Street Road and Cable Street, and the £4,000 costs to lay them out came from the local Vestry and the Metropolitan Board of Works. It was officially opened on 25 January 1877, the ceremony performed by Lieut. Col. Sir James M Hogg, MP. The annual maintenance cost was £200. In 1883 the newly formed Metropolitan Public Gardens Association described St George's Gardens as one of the prototypes for the successful conversion of burial grounds, and in its annual report the MPGA stated that 'considering the character of some of the immediately surrounding populations, the conduct of visitors may be said to be astonishingly good!' In 1885/86 the remainder of the churchyard was cleared and laid out, paid for by Augustus George Crowder JP. The layout was by Fanny Wilkinson, landscape gardener of the MPGA, who designed over 75 public gardens in London, many of them former burial grounds. Mrs Basil Holmes described it in 1896 as 'always bright and neat and full of people enjoying the seats, the grass, the flowers and the air', also commenting that is was 'unique in being an amalgamation of a churchyard and a dissenting burial ground'.

By 1894 a glasshouse had been built on the northern boundary. The disused mortuary on the southern boundary was later used as a Nature Study Centre and Museum by the newly formed Stepney Borough Council and opened on 3 June 1904, paid for by an anonymous benefactor. It was most successful and attracted 1,000 visitors a day in the summer, was part of the Elementary Schools' Curriculum and visited by local schools. The small building was 'crammed to the rafters' with 'examples of nature and the countryside', which included tropical and freshwater fish, butterflies, moths, stuffed birds, live reptiles and amphibians, wild and pressed flowers and a meteorological station was maintained. Outside was an aviary, ants' nest and beehive. It was eventually closed during WWII with a report of 10 March 1942 outlining the problems with replacing stock but also many children had been evacuated from the area. The exhibits were transferred to the Whitechapel Museum and although this was intended to be only a temporary closure, the Nature Study Centre never re-opened. The glasshouse has since disappeared and the mortuary/museum building became derelict.

At the east of the church the War Memorial was erected in 1924 to commemorate those who died in WWI, designed by Joseph Clayton; it was unveiled on 15 November 1924 at a ceremony performed by Earl Winterton accompanied by Harry Gosling MP (1861-1930) who in December 1923 had been elected Labour MP for Stepney, Whitechapel and St George's. He was Labour's first Minister of Transport in the hung parliament of 1924, and Paymaster General. In April and May 1941 the church and many of the surrounding buildings suffered severe bomb damage, an incendiary bomb leaving only the outer walls, Vestry, Lady Chapel, tower and turrets of the church standing. Initially the Rectory and Mission Hall were used for worship and later a prefab within the shell of the church became known as St George-in-the-Ruins. In 1960 a modern church designed by Arthur Bailey was built within the restored framework of the old façade, and the church was reconsecrated in 1964.

Following the demise of the GLC in 1986, the London Residuary Body inherited ownership of the open land to the south and west of the church and in May 1987 a plan was put forward by diocesan authorities Blashfield & Peto for 're-enclosing' the church and gardens with a mixed development of housing and offices to create a 'cathedral close-like' setting, which they proposed that LB Tower Hamlets should develop. The land was advertised for sale in 1988 but the proposals were resisted, both locally and in the press and LB Tower Hamlets later consulted on a compromise scheme to build housing either side of the main church entrance but leave the southern aspect open. In the event, only the north side in front of the Rectory was built on. Land along The Highway added to the garden in the 1980s was re-landscaped in 1996 with funding from London Docklands Development Corporation. In 2002 Library Place was incorporated into the site recalling the late C19th Passmore Edwards Public Library adjacent to St George's Town Hall, which was destroyed in 1941.

In 2008 the gardens were re-opened following substantial restoration funded by an HLF grant of £1.2m, with £420,000 from LB Tower Hamlets and £100,000 from the London Marathon Charitable Trust. The churchyard contains some notable tombs, including tomb chests, with headstones stacked against north and south walls. North of the church a children's play area for the nursery school was landscaped on the Churchwardens' Garden, with a new entrance created in 2008, known as the Bryan King Gate, which once provided the means of escape for the eponymous rector in 1859-60, during the Ritualism Rites.

Sources consulted:

History of church and churchyard on St George-in-the-East website (www.stgite.org.u,. LHPGT Practical Projects Sub-Committee report, 1993; Elizabeth Crawford, 'Enterprising Women: The Garretts and their Circle' (Francis Boutle Publishers, 2nd ed. 2009). See www.eastlondonpostcard.co.uk, Postcard of the Month no 60, May 2005 and no 21, February 2002

Grid ref:

TQ347807 (534750,180750)

Size in hectares:

1.1921

Site ownership:

LB Tower Hamlets/Church

Site management:

Leisure Services, Parks and Open Spaces

Date(s):

1726; 1875-7

Designer(s):

Church: Nicholas Hawksmoor

Listed structures:

LBI: St George-in-the-East. LBII: Gate piers to St George's Gardens on Cable Street; gate piers to Church Drive on Cannon Street Road; Pier, gates, railed wall to north side of church on Cannon Street Road; early C18th Rectory (16 Cannon Street Road); Raine Memorial of c.1725; War Memorial; St George's Gardens Garden Wall on Cannon Street Road; C18th red brick churchyard and Rectory wall; anonymous marble sarcophagus c.1740 c.7m east of Rectory, possibly to early rector; monument to A Wyllie in south-west corner of gardens.

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:

St George's Town Hall

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

Yes - Local Importance

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

No

Other LA designation:

None

St George's-in-the-East Churchyard, April 2010. Photo: W McDougall

Click a photo to enlarge.