Postman’s Park is one of the largest open spaces in the City of London. It opened in 1880 on the site of the former churchyard and burial ground of St Botolph’s Aldersgate church. In 1900, the park became the location for George Frederic Watts’s Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. In 1972, key elements of the park, including the Memorial, were grade II listed to preserve their character, upgraded to Grade II* in 2018.
About Postman’s Park in brief
Postman’s Park is one of the largest open spaces in the City of London. It opened in 1880 on the site of the former churchyard and burial ground of St Botolph’s Aldersgate church. Over the next 20 years it expanded to incorporate the adjacent burial grounds of Christ Church Greyfriars and St Leonard, Foster Lane. In 1900, the park became the location for George Frederic Watts’s Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice, a memorial to ordinary people who died while saving the lives of others. In 1972, key elements of the park, including the Memorial, were grade II listed to preserve their character, upgraded to Grade II* in 2018. Following the 2004 film Closer, based on the 1997 play Closer by Patrick Marber, key scenes of both were set in the park itself. In June 2009, a city worker, Jane Shaka, via the Diocese of London added a new tablet to the Memorial. In November 2013 a free mobile app, The Everyday Heroes of Postman’s Park, was launched which documents the lives and deaths of those commemorated on the memorial. The park has always been a public open space and as a result has been used as a public burial ground and as an open space for weddings and funerals. It is located a short distance north of St Paul’s Cathedral and a short way south of St Martin’s Le Grand in the West End of the London borough of Hackney. It was also the location of the Great Fire of London in 1666, but was not considered to be worth the cost of repair.
The 13th-century church of St Leonard,. Foster Lane, was badly damaged in the 1666 Great Fire, and was demolished between 1754 and 1757 and replaced in 1790 by the current building. Immediately outside the London Wall at Alders Gate, a short. distance north, is the church of St Botolph, AldersGate. Although the original church, first mentioned in 1493, had survived the Great. Fire, it was demolished in 1754 and replaced by the present building. The churchyard was used as an enclosed burial ground, enclosed by an irregularly shaped church building. To the south-west of the churchyard is the burial ground to the east of the building, the Christ Church Church of Alders gate, and to the north-west is St Martin, Le Grand, King Edward Street. The site of housing demolished during the widening of Little Britain in 1880 became the subject of a lengthy dispute between the church authorities, the General Post Office, the Treasury, and the City Parochial Foundation. Despite the unification of the parishes, they continued to operate separate burial grounds. In the early 19th century, St Leonard’s was not cleared until the early 1900s. The current building was built in the mid-19th century and is known as the John Wesley and Charles Wesley Monaster Church. The immediate immediate area of the site is now known as John Wesley.
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This page is based on the article Postman’s Park published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 02, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
