Inventory Site Record

St Catherine's Garden is a private residential garden within Westminster Abbey Precincts created within the monastic infirmary, which was built in 1154-61 and consisted of St Catherine's Chapel and an aisled nave of 5 bays. The present doorway was added in 1371-2 when the Infirmary Hall was pulled down and the sick and aged monks were given separate rooms around the Little Cloister. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1539, St Catherine's Chapel was allowed to fall into ruins and the garden has been laid out on its ruins, overlooked by a statue of St Catherine, set within a niche at first floor level.

Site location:

Westminster (access from Westminster Abbey)

Postcode:

SW1P 3PA

What 3 Words:

front.robot.bottle

Type of site:

Private Garden

Borough:

Westminster

Open to public?

Occasionally

Opening times:

private, has opened for OGSW Has taken part in Open Garden Squares Weekend in the past.

Special conditions:

Facilities:

Events:

Public transport:

Tube: Westminster (District, Circle, Jubilee); St James's Park (District, Circle). Bus: 11, 24, 88, 148, 211, 3, 12, 53, 87, 159, 453

Citymapper    
Google Map    
streetmap.co.uk

Research updated:

01/05/2012

Last minor changes:

14/07/2022

Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.westminster-abbey.org/visit-us/abbey-gardens

Westminster Abbey and its precincts are probably on the site of an C8th Saxon church dedicated to St Peter built on what was then Thorney Island. There was later a Benedictine settlement here, which became a monastery by the C10th and soon gained royal support. The Danish King Cnut was the first monarch to build his palace by the monastery in the early C11th, and subsequently Edward the Confessor built both Westminster Abbey and his new Palace of Westminster (q.v.) on adjacent land, although he died just after the Abbey was completed in 1066. William the Conqueror also adopted the palace as a royal residence and was crowned at the Abbey. Westminster School originated as a small charity school provided by the abbey's Benedictine monks in c.1179. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the school's continuation was ensured by a statute of Henry VIII of 1540 and it was granted a charter by Elizabeth I in 1560. Although the monastery was dissolved in 1539, Westminster Abbey became the seat of a bishop in 1540 and was designated as a cathedral until Queen Mary was on the throne, when the old religion was restored and the abbey once again had an abbot, together with 15 monks. On Queen Elizabeth I's accession in 1558, a dean and prebendaries were put in place at Westminster Abbey. The Palace of Westminster had become the permanent seat of government in 1512 after Henry VIII moved his residence to the Palace of Whitehall.

The monastic infirmary was built in 1154-61 and consisted of a chapel and an aisled nave of 5 bays, now the site of St Catherine's Garden. The present doorway was added in 1371-2 when the Infirmary Hall was pulled down and the sick and aged monks were given separate rooms around the Little Cloister. In addition to being an infirmary chapel, it was in St Catherine's Chapel that many C12th and C13th bishops were consecrated, including Hugh of Lincoln in 1186. In 1253 it was where Henry III swore to observe the privileges granted in Magna Carta. After the dissolution of the Benedictine monastery St Catherine's Chapel was allowed to fall into ruins, now the site of the present garden. St Catherine's Garden today is a sunken area with steps leading down from a covered arcaded terrace, with rows of truncated pillars within a main lawn, a large magnolia stellata and a raised bed now planted with sun-loving plants such as cistus and genista, from which the Plantagenets took their name. A sculpture of a weeping cherub with one foot on a skull dating from 1608, a memorial to Sir Gilbert (Love?), was erected in the garden in memory of Elizabeth Harvey who died in 1985 'whose ashes are interred nearby'.

Sources consulted:

Francis Bond, 'Westminster Abbey' (Oxford University Press, 1909); History on Westminster Abbey website

Grid ref:

TQ301794 (530032,179419)

Size in hectares:

Site ownership:

Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey

Site management:

Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey

Date(s):

Designer(s):

Listed structures:

LBI: Westminster Abbey

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:

Westminster Abbey & Parliament Square

Tree Preservation Order:

No

Nature Conservation Area:

No

Green Belt:

No

Metropolitan Open Land:

No

Special Policy Area:

Yes - World Heritage Site: Palace of Westminster, Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church

Other LA designation:

Area of Special Archaeological Priority

Westminster Abbey - St Catherine's Garden - Photo: Justina Burnett
Date taken: 08/06/08 00:00

Click a photo to enlarge.

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