The Cemeteries

This section will look into the two cemeteries which are connected to the old parish of St Pancras.

St Pancras Old Church

The churchyard, which is the largest green space in the locality of St Pancras, is managed by the London Borough of Camden. It has some fine mature trees, and was restored in the first few years of the 21st century. The original church yard was very large and included a number of famous burials (including an exiled Archbishop of Narbonne, Arthur Richard Dillon (1721–1807)) and many of the not so famous residents of St Pancras, including my 2 x great grand uncle, Joseph James William Griffiths.

The area of St Pancras

In the eighteenth century and nineteenth century, St Pancras was famous for its cemeteries. London was growing and a number of local parish churches had to use the fields around St Pancras as the final resting places for their parishoners. This was before the Victorians thought process changed to health and moved their cemeteries away from the city (see below). As well as the grave yard of Old St Pancras Church, the area also contained the cemeteries of St James’s Church, Piccadilly, St Giles in the Fields, St. Andrew’s, Holborn, St. George’s Church, Bloomsbury, and St George the Martyr Holborn.

These were eventually all closed under the Extramural Interment Act in 1854, and the parishes of St Pancras and Islington bought new land near East Finchley, so that burials could take place far away from the city at the new St Pancras Cemetery.

These deserted cemeteries were left alone for over thirty years until the building of the great Midland Railway, meaning bodies and graves had to be removed. Not much care or consideration was made for the dead at first, and an outbreak of cholera in London didn’t help. Eventually, through the supervision of Mr Thomas Hardy, more care was given to the dead. . Evidence of Hardy’s work can be found at “Hardy’s Tree” (see below). The cemeteries were later disturbed in 2002 – 2003 for construction of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, but much more care was given to the removal of remains this time than in the 19th Century.

St Pancras and Islington Cemetery

The Cemetery has been in existence since 1852, when the St Pancras Burial Board bought 88 Acres of the former Horseshoe Farm near present day East Finchley. It was good timing as the new Extramural Interment Act of 1854 stopped city burials, (a good thing!, see above).

A number of famous people are buried here, including wealthy industrialist and humanitarian Ludwig Mond whose family built a large mausoleum for him (photo below), the first Mayor of Islington Mr William Crump (photo below), first “pearly king” Henry Croft, a number of WWI and II soldiers (including one VC), and the Pre-Raphaelite artist Ford Madox Brown. Have a look at our galleries below.

2007 Visit

2011 Visit