Photo: londondrum.comIf you enjoy reading about people getting knocked down, blown up or buried alive then you’re going to absolutely love Postman’s Park.
It has an ornamental pond with some fish in it (surprisingly big fish for such a small pond) and a few benches so you can watch the pigeons and squirrels, but I’ve never once seen a postman here. If you go back 150 years then this was where they spent their tea break from the long gone Post Office over the road.
Photo: londondrum.com
Photo: londondrum.comSt. Leonard’s, Christ Church Greyfriars & St Botolph’s Aldersgate
It was originally part of a burial ground for three different churches: St Botolph’s Aldersgate, Christ Church Greyfriars and St Leonard’s Foster Lane.
When the Great Fire of London took out St Leonard’s they decided that it wasn’t worth the bother of repairing and merged its parish with Christ Church. All that remains of it today is an isolated steeple that’s still standing round the corner.
Photo: londondrum.comA short time later the authorities decided to ban all burials within the city walls but before they turned the graveyard into grass they gave the locals permission to dig up their dead. The leftover headstones were then stacked up behind a big tree in the corner which you can still see today, looking like a shelf of paperback books.
Photo: londondrum.comWatts’ Memorial To Heroic Self-Sacrifice
Roll on another ten years and the famous painter George Frederic Watts had the morbid idea of celebrating Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee with an exhibition of heroic deaths. In typical Victorian fashion he hoped that by publicising their noble ends he might inspire the lowly Londoners to lead a better life themselves.
By the time his Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice was unveiled in 1900 he was already well into his eighties and had only managed to install four of his 120 plaques. Nine more were added in 1902 and two years later he was dead himself.
Photo: londondrum.comOver the next thirty years his widow added another 39 but the project petered out when she passed away in 1938, leaving 67 spaces still to be filled.
The final plaque was added in 2007 when Leigh Pitt jumped into a canal to save a little kid from drowning.
The memorial plaques
Photo: londondrum.comYou can find the creamy green and blue ceramic plaques underneath that wooden veranda at the back.
They’re not exactly cheery reading. Here’s a little taste of the terror: George Funnell died in a pub fire whilst trying to drag his barmaid out; Mrs Yarman succumbed to some choking smoke as she carried her bedridden mother down a flaming staircase; Mary Rogers got swallowed by the sea after passing her lifebelt to a little kid, while Sarah Smith somehow managed to burn to death while testing out an inflammable dress (I hope she got a refund).
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The youngest victim is 8-year-old Henry Bristow who tore off his sister’s flaming clothes only to catch light himself, and the oldest is 61-year-old Daniel Pemberton who was hit by a train after pushing his mate to safety.
There are all sorts of horrible stories about runaway horses, exploding sugar factories, people falling through a crack in the ice and getting pulled under the water by a tangle of seaweed... you name it, it’s here. If you’re on the lookout for a new nightmare then this is a great place to find it.
. Whilst you’re in the vicinity of Postman’s Park you might like to visit the Museum of London
