St Pancras Old Church, London

St Pancras Old Church stands on one of Europe’s most ancient site’s of Christian worship, possibly dating back to the early 4th century. The present building has been here since the 11th or 12th century and is situated close to the Fleet River which was culverted in the 19th century.

the wonderful St Pancras Old Church, London

The church has stood here through good times and bad: it was ruinous in the 13th century, rebuilt in the 14th century, half abandoned in the 16th century, restored in the 17th century and again substantially rebuilt in the mid 19th century when the 13th century west tower was dismantled and the new bell tower added.

the west tower of St Pancras Old Church - bell added in 19th Century

During the civil war, the church was used as a barracks and stables for Cromwell’s troops. Before the troop’s arrived the church’s treasures were buried for their protection and then lost, only to be rediscovered during restoration work in the early 19th century.  A 6th century altar stone was among the items discovered. Legend has it that the stone belonged to St Augustine of Canterbury.
Little remains of the original medieval church but in the north wall of the nave there is an exposed part of Norman masonry.

remains of the old Norman wall

The church is situated in Lincoln Fields Park, close to the St Pancras University College Hospital. 

a wonderful Victorian building - St Pancras University College Hospital

 The grounds are dotted with ancient gravestones and masoleums.  In the north-east corner of the fields is the Soane Mausoleum. This Grade I Mausoleum was designed by Sir John Soane, the celebrated architect of the Bank of England (1788-1830), the Dulwich PictureGallery (1811-14) and the Holy Trinity Church of Marylebone Road (1824-28). The Mausoleum was erected in 1816 following the death of his wife in 1815 and entombs his wife and son as well as himself.

gthe beautiful mausoleum of the Soane's family. husband, wife and son.

On the south-east side of the fields is The Hardy Tree: The novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) is best known for his novels set in rurual ‘Wessex’,  however before turning to writing full time he studied architecture in London from 1862-67 under Mr Arthur Blomfield, an architect based in Covent Garden.

Hardy's Tree - Thomas Hardy laid these tombstones, now part of the tree's roots

During the 1860′s the Midland Railway Line was being built over part of the orginal St Pancras Churchyard. Blomfield was commissioned by the Bishop of London to supervise the proper exhumation of human remains and dismantling of tombs.

He passed this unenviable task onto his protege, Thomas Hardy in c.1865.

Thomas Hardy, poet and author - story of the Hardy Tree

Hardy would have spent many hours in Old St Pancras churchyard during the construction of the railway, overseeing the careful removal of bodies and tombs from the land on which the railway was being built. The headstones around the Ash tree (Fraxinus excelsior) would have been placed here around this time. Note how the tree has since grown in amongst the stones.

note how the roots of the tree have grown around the ancient tombstones

A few years before Hardy’s involvement here Charles Dickens makes reference to Old St Pancras churchyard in his Tale of Two Cities (1859) as the churchyard in which Roger Cly was buried and where Jerry Cruncher was known to ‘fish’ (a 19th century term for tomb robbery and body-snatching).
As you enter through the hospital gates the first thing you see is the The Burdett-Coutts memorial sundial: This elaborate sundial was designed by George Highton of Brixton in the decorative Gothic style and is a Grade II listed structure on English Heritage’s list of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic interest.

the very lovely Burdett-Coutts memorial sundial

It was unveiled in 1879 by Baroness Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906) one of the great Victorian philantrophists who sought to rid London of it’s slums. One of the richest women in the mid 19th-century and widely respected for her undying generosity and piety, she was known as the ‘Queen of the Poor’ and ‘Nursing-Mother of the Church of England’.  She was the first woman to be given a peerage in 1871 and was buried in Westminster Abbey in honour of her charitable services. The memorial is constructed of Portland stone, marble, granite and red Mansfield stone with extensive mosaic enrichment depicting flowers and the seasons. The spire includes a sundial, relief carvings of St Pancras and St Giles and a list of eminent persons buried in the churchyard. The whole structure is enclosed with cast-iron railings with stone statues on pedestals at each corner thought to have been modelled on Baroness Burdett-Coutts’ own collie dog.

statue of the collie dog....I thought it looked more like a lion

I find these old churches and accompanying churchyards filled with ancient graves to be endlessly fascinating.  The memorials and masoleums are incredibly ostentatious and flamboyant with relief carvings. 

flambouyant tombs in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church

 St Pancras Old Church continues to function as the Anglican Parish Church for this part of London. The interior of the church is wonderful, the walls lined with amazing memorials.  The Victorians were far more extravagant with their memorials than we are there days and the churchyards offer fabulous view into the lives of those days.

wonderful memorials in the church interior

I am not in any way religious and enjoy these old churches for the historical rather than religious stories, and yet the iconography of these old churches always leave me filled with awe, so filled with spirituality that they are.

the beautiful interior of St Pancras Old Church

an old picture of St Pancras Old Church as it was in 1827 with the Fleet River in the foreground

picture of St Pancras Old Church with Fleet River in the foreground - and yes that is my reflection

how the area looks today - the road where the river used to be

a map of the grounds - showing the church on the right side and the hospital on the left