Old St Pancras Church
May. 3rd, 2026 07:53 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo Ailz attended the morning session at Friends House. I didn't think I'd enjoy it so I went for a walk instead. By lunchtime we'd both had enough. I find central London a bit much- the people, the noise, the traffic- and to be honest I think I always have done. As a kid I used to take myself up to the West End and it always gave me a bad headache. Anyway, we ate our packed lunch in the garden of Friends House, said "Hi" to a few people we knew and came home. So it wasn't a long day after all....
I wanted to see St Pancras old church, which is tucked in alongside the railway lines leading in and out of St Pancras station. It claims to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in Europe- and it may be- though most of the fabric of the present building is newer than that of St Pancras New Church on the Euston Rd- and both are 19th century. It's not a particularly attractive building....
....But the churchyard is one of the largest green spaces in this part of London and contains some interesting monuments.....
.....The most famous of which stands over the family vault of the great architect Sir John Soane- and, a generation or two later, is said to have inspired the design of the iconic red telephone box. Well, maybe....
Thomas Hardy- yes, the great Thomas Hardy, but before he became a famous writer- had the job of clearing the deaders out of a part of the grounds the railway company wanted to build over - nasty, thirsty work- and he lightened it by creating a whimsical artwork (as we'd think of it now) by stacking the redundant headstones in a radiating circle like so....
There used to be a tree at the hub of the wheel- and the construction was known as "Hardy's Tree" but the tree fell over in 2022 and the authorities haven't replaced it yet; they absolutely should....
I wanted to see St Pancras old church, which is tucked in alongside the railway lines leading in and out of St Pancras station. It claims to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in Europe- and it may be- though most of the fabric of the present building is newer than that of St Pancras New Church on the Euston Rd- and both are 19th century. It's not a particularly attractive building....
....But the churchyard is one of the largest green spaces in this part of London and contains some interesting monuments.....
.....The most famous of which stands over the family vault of the great architect Sir John Soane- and, a generation or two later, is said to have inspired the design of the iconic red telephone box. Well, maybe....
Thomas Hardy- yes, the great Thomas Hardy, but before he became a famous writer- had the job of clearing the deaders out of a part of the grounds the railway company wanted to build over - nasty, thirsty work- and he lightened it by creating a whimsical artwork (as we'd think of it now) by stacking the redundant headstones in a radiating circle like so....
There used to be a tree at the hub of the wheel- and the construction was known as "Hardy's Tree" but the tree fell over in 2022 and the authorities haven't replaced it yet; they absolutely should....
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Date: 2026-05-03 07:54 am (UTC)