St Andrew Holborn Churchyard (City of London)
Brief Description
A timber church on the hilltop site is referred to in AD951 and Roman pottery has been discovered here. The medieval church of St Andrew Holborn was rebuilt in the C15th and, although unaffected by the Great Fire, was rebuilt by Christopher Wren in 1684-90 having become dilapidated. Gutted in WWII, it was subsequently rebuilt in 1960/1. There was a churchyard by 1348, which was full by 1754 requiring a new parish burial ground to be set up. Part of the churchyard was lost when the road was widened in the 1860s and bodies from the old churchyard were exhumed. The former churchyard is now a sunken garden with gate piers of c.1870 at the entrance from Holborn Viaduct, from where steps lead down to the church. Re-landscaping of the churchyard and adjacent public garden to create one public garden is due to be completed in August 2014.
Practical Information
- Previous / Other name:
- St Pancras Parish Church
- Site location:
- Holborn Viaduct
- Postcode:
- EC4A 3AB
- What 3 Words:
- rates.wipe.rider
- Type of site:
- Public Gardens
- Borough:
- City of London
- Open to public?
- Yes
- Opening times:
- Garden currently closed while relandscaping takes place. Church: Mon/Tue/Thur/Fri: 8am-5.30pm; Wed: 8am-2pm & 6-9pm
Took part in Open Garden Squares Weekend in 2016. - Special conditions:
- Facilities:
- Events:
- Events in church (check website)
- Public transport:
- Tube: Chancery Lane (Central). Rail: City Thameslink
- Research updated:
- 01/04/2010
- Last minor changes:
- 19/07/2023
Please check with the site owner or manager for latest news. www.standrewholborn.org.uk; www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/openspaces
Full Site Description
A timber church here is referred to in AD951 although the site may have seen earlier use since Roman pottery has been discovered here. The dedication to St Andrew is early although the date of foundation is not known; the name changed from St Andrew Holburnestrate to St Andrew de Holeburn in the Early Middle Ages. In 1297 it was given to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's but after the Dissolution of the Monasteries Henry VIII gave it to Lord Wriothesley, later Lord Chancellor and Earl of Southampton, who was buried here (d.1550). The church is still provided for under a medieval legacy of 1348 whereby armourer John Thavie 'left a considerable Estate towards the support of the fabric forever'. There was a churchyard here by 1348. Although the church rebuilt in the C15th was not affected by the Great Fire as the wind fortunately changed direction, the building fell into disrepair and was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in 1684-90, the largest parish church he built in the City. The C15th tower was retained and refaced by Wren in the early C18th. Until 1832 St Andrew's was the only church in the large parish of St Pancras, and since 1754 its principal burial ground had been at some distance, established when the churchyard was full and now public gardens called St Andrew's Gardens (q.v.). The church was gutted in World War II and rebuilt by Seely and Paget; it reopened in 1961 and became the headquarters church of the Royal College of Organists. The west front faces the former churchyard, now a sunken garden.
In the church is a monument to Captain Thomas Coram, founder of the Foundling Hospital who died in 1751. The church also played a part in the founding of the Royal Free Hospital since it was on the church steps that William Marsden found a woman dying in 1827, as a result of which he first set up a hospital for the poor and destitute in Greville Street before it moved to Gray’s Inn Road and later to Hampstead. Benjamin Disraeli was baptised here on 31 July 1817. On the north wall of the church facing the churchyard is a C17th stone slab of the Last Judgement, which reputedly was from the former burial ground of the Shoe Lane Workhouse where the poet Thomas Chatterton was buried and to whom there is a memorial in the church. Chatterton's poetic genius was widely acknowledged, but the controversy caused by the Rowley Poem, which he wrote himself but passed off as a C15th discovery, reduced him to extreme poverty and he died at age 17 on 28 August 1770 having taken poison. Another poet buried here was Henry Neele (d.1828) who also committed suicide, apparently in a fit of insanity. Neele's father was also buried here (d.1824), his epitaph on the west wall of the churchyard composed by his son.
In the 1860s, the north part of the churchyard was purchased for the Holborn Valley Improvement Scheme to make way for the new Holborn Viaduct built to link Holborn and Newgate, opened by Queen Victoria in 1869. Many of the bodies were re-interred in the Crypt and also in the City of London Cemetery (q.v.) in Ilford. When the Crypt was cleared in 2002-03 the bodies there were moved to the memorial at the City of London Cemetery. The gate piers to the churchyard from Holborn Viaduct date from c.1870 although the gates themselves are post-war, from where steps lead down to the church. In 1869 when the road was widened bodies from the churchyard were exhumed. Two statues of children previously on the parish school built in 1696 in Hatton Garden were moved here and adjacent is the Rectory, Court House and Vestry Clerk's Office built in 1868-71 around a courtyard and designed by Samuel Teulon.
Re-landscaping of the churchyard and adjacent public garden to create one public garden is due to be completed in August 2014.
Sources consulted:
George Godwin & John Britton 'The Churches of London: A history and description of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of the Metropolis, Volume II', London, 1839; Simon Bradley & Nikolaus Pevsner, 'The Buildings of England, London 1: Philip Norman, 'The London City Churches, Their Use, Their Preservation and Their Extended Use', The London Society, (1920s)The City of London', 1997 (1999 ed.); Philip Norman, 'The London City Churches, Their Use, Their Preservation and Their Extended Use', The London Society, (1920s); London Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches data
Further Information (Planning and Conservation)
- Grid ref:
- TQ314815 (531470,181530)
- Size in hectares:
- 0.1125
- Site ownership:
- Diocese of London
- Site management:
- City of London Corporation Open Spaces Dept.
- Date(s):
- at least C13th
- Designer(s):
- Listed structures:
- LBI: St Andrew's Church. LBII: Holborn Viaduct; 5, 7 and Vicarage on St Andrew Street; wall & gate piers to garden of No. 7 St Andrew 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:
- No
- Tree Preservation Order:
- No
- Nature Conservation Area:
- No
- Green Belt:
- No
- Metropolitan Open Land:
- No
- Special Policy Area:
- No
- Other LA designation:
- Strategic Viewing Corridor
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