For this week’s Camden at 60 post, guide Karen Golanski explores a historic graveyard.
St Pancras Old Church was possibly founded in the 4th C when the Romans were still here. Although there is no historical evidence of this, there is a 6th C altar stone. St Pancras is the patron saint of children, jobs and health. He was martyred in 304 at the age of 14, beheaded for his Christian faith during the reign of Diocletian. The church has had mixed fortunes. It fell into disrepair in the 13th C but was a favourite of Elizabeth I (there is a memorial to her cook on the South wall). After the Civil War it was flooded by the Fleet River and after that was mainly used for burials and quick weddings with no questions asked. It was restored in the 1840’s during which a trove of treasures was found including a silver Elizabethan chalice and an 11th C altar stone.
Many of the burial places were dug up to make way for the railways in the 1860s. Someone working there as an architect’s apprentice at the time was a young Thomas Hardy who arranged some of the gravestones around an ash tree. Sadly, the tree which became known as The Hardy Tree, fell down in December 2022. It has been cut up into large logs for biodiversity. A new tree, a Beech sapling, has recently been planted nearby to commemorate the original.
One of the most impressive mausoleums in the graveyard is that of the renowned architect Sir John Soane that he designed for his much- loved wife, Eliza, when she died in 1815.
If the design looks familiar, it may be that it was the inspiration for architect Giles Gilbert Scott when he entered a competition in 1924 to design a new telephone box, the K2 (kiosk 2). At the time, he was a trustee of the Sir John Soane Museum and there were many sketches by Soane of the mausoleum including in the Library Dining Room where Trustees meetings were held.
I mentioned in the introduction that in the 18th C, the church was often used for quick marriages, often when the bride was pregnant. One of these marriages was of Mary Wollstonecraft to William Godwin in March 1797. Mary Wollstonecraft was a writer, philosopher and early advocate for women’s rights, a feminist before the word existed. Her best known work was ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’. She wrote ‘I do not wish them (women) to have power over men; but over themselves’. Tragically she died 11 days after giving birth to her daughter, Mary, at the age of 38. Mary went on to become a famous writer herself, Mary Shelley. She later had her mother’s remains moved to a graveyard in Bournemouth but the original gravestone remains here, often with flowers placed on top of it.
On a happier note, there is a bench in the gardens where the Beatles were photographed on their ‘Mad Day Out’ on 28th July 1968. The photo shoot was with photographer,Don McCullin (better known as a war photographer) . They were taking a break from recording The White Album. Apparently Don McCullin said he would have paid them to do the shoot!
There are so many other interesting memorials to see and stories to tell about this wonderful space which features on my ‘Trains, Grain, Gasholders and Google’ tour of King’s Cross. Do check out my website citywalkswithkaren.co.uk