My Top Ten Hidden Gardens In London

One of the best things about London is how much green space it has. Everyone of course knows the big parks but it also has so many little hidden gardens and pocket parks.

Below is a list of my top ten! There were so many to pick from but I have gone for ten that I feel are both lovely, leafy escapes from the hustle and bustle but also have fascinating stories behind them. 

Here is a map of their locations:

1. Hampstead Hill Garden And Pergola

One the most magical places in London is the Hill Garden and Pergola in Hampstead. 

It was once the private garden of The Hill manor house, now Inverforth House, acquired by Lord Leverhulme in 1904. He is best known for setting up the Lever Brothers business. The company ended up merging with another to become Unilever. 

The Hill Garden and Pergola were constructed by Leverhulme to host summer parties. You can imagine the Edwardian decadence whilst walking the terraces.

The London County Council acquired the house and gardens in the 1960s after it had fallen into dereliction. Today the gardens have a wonderful air of faded grandeur to them. 

Find out more here.

2. Phoenix Garden

Just North of Seven Dials you will find Phoenix Garden: a community garden laid out on an old Blitz bomb-site.

After the war the area was used as a carpark before the locals reclaimed the space in the 1980s and laid out the garden that we have today. There were once many more of these community gardens in the area, all of which, bar this one have been lost over the years.

It is still managed by the community and in 2017 a new community centre opened.

Despite its small size, you can easily get the feeling of being lost inside it with its winding pathways, overgrown pockets and various nooks to rest your legs.

Find out more here.

3. Red Cross Garden

Not far from Borough Market is Red Cross Garden: London’s oldest purpose-built pocket park.

In 1855 the Metropolitan Board of Works bought the land here, previously a Quaker burial ground and meeting house, for a new road. In 1887 part of the site was purchased by Julie, Countess of Ducie, to set up a public garden.

She worked with social reformer and campaigner Octavia Hill, best known for later co-founding the National Trust. Hill wanted to create a green space or ‘open air sitting room’, here for the people of Southwark, then a very industrial and working class part of London. 

In World War Two the gardens were paved over, but in 2006, it was restored to its original Victorian layout by Bankside Open Spaces Trust.

You can still also see the six cottages built by Hill as ‘model homes’ for workers. 

Find out more here.

4. St John’s Priory Church Cloister Garden

In Clerkenwell you will find St John’s Priory Church and its beautiful hidden cloister garden.

This area was once the site of the Clerkenwell Priory. Established in 1140, it was the English headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller. They were a military, religious order, originally established during the crusades to protect pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem.

The priory was dissolved by Henry VIII in the 1530s and the current church is largely a post-war construction. Today it is owned by the revived Order of St John, best known for setting up the St John Ambulance. 

Through a gateway you will find their tranquil ‘four-fold’ or ‘paradise’ garden.

In the centre is a 200 year old olive tree from Jerusalem and it contains lots of the plants and herbs that the Hospitallers would have once used to heal people such as sage and lavender. 

It is open Monday-Saturday but occasionally shuts for events. 

Find out more on my Smithfield Uncovered: Rebels and Retribution walking tour!

5. Bonnington Square Pleasure Garden

Hidden away in Vauxhall you will find another community garden with an inspiring story behind it, the Bonnington Square Pleasure Garden. Bonnington Square itself was laid out in the 1870s for railway workers.

A few of the homes in the centre of the square were destroyed by Blitz bombs, leaving an open space. Up until the 1990s there was a set of swings here and a bench or two, but it was not particularly well cared for.

In 1990 however the local community set up the Bonnington Square Garden Association and turned the space into a beautiful garden.

It contains sculptures, artefacts and plenty of secret corners. Spot the ‘helping hand’ sculpture over the entranceway, a reminder of its community roots. 

The Association also started the ‘Paradise Project’, that aims to bring as much nature into Bonnington Square as possible, so you will notice the streets are filled with greenery. 

Find out more here.

6. The Onion Garden

The Onion Garden is another inspiring story. It was set up in late 2021 on an unloved strip of concrete in Westminster by a florist, Jens Jakobson, the chief onion.

Today it contains over 200 species of plants in the garden, as well as a conservatory, small coffee and transparent bee hive.

The unusual name comes from the onion and its layers representing renewal and the eternal circle of life. The ancient Egyptians would worship onions and would even place them in the eye sockets of the deceased to appease the gods in the afterlife. You will often spot a number of onions throughout the garden.

7. St Paul’s Church Garden

Literally seconds away from the Covent Garden piazza, just behind St Paul’s Church, is a lovely, peaceful garden. St Paul’s Church, dating from 1633, is the only surviving part of the original piazza laid out by Inigo Jones.

What was once the old graveyard of the church has been laid out as a tranquil garden. St Paul’s Church is known as the ‘Actor’s Church’ because of its association with the theatres and actors of the West End, therefore the benches lining the central pathway are mostly dedicated to singers, performers, actors and musicians.

An 18th century composer called Thomas Arne is buried here, best known for composing Rule Britannia as well as someone called Margaret Ponteous. She died in the Spring of 1665 and is thought to be the first known victim of the Great Plague.

8. St Dunstan in the East

St Dunstan in the East is an enchanting garden, laid out amongst the bombed ruins of a church.

Named after St Dunstan (909-988 AD), a monk who went on to be Bishop of London and then Archbishop of Canterbury, the original church was built here in 1100. It was heavily damaged in the Great Fire of London and restored by Sir Christopher Wren. Repairs were then made in the 19th century and it was gutted by bombs in World War Two.

Instead of pulling down the ruins, a beautiful pocket park has been laid out inside.

I love that, in parts, it looks like nature is reclaiming the space, with vines climbing through old church windows. Wren’s 17th century tower still looks serenely over the space. 

9. Cleary Gardens

Cleary Gardens can be found just off Queen Victoria Street in the City of London. It appears to be a small covered walkway at first but hidden from the street is a large garden, laid out on terraces down the hillside.

This was once the site of a Roman bathhouse, built in 80AD. The site was then built over, over the centuries and prior to World War Two it was occupied by houses and office blocks. The bombs of the Luftwaffe laid the buildings to waste exposing their basements.

In the years immediately following the war, the garden was laid out here by a City worker called Joseph Brandis. It was re-landscaped in the 1980s and named after Fred Cleary, the chairman of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, known as ‘Flowering Fred’ for creating lots of green spaces across the city. 

It also has grape vines! They were planted in 2007, a gift from the winemakers of the Loire Valley. 

Find out more here.

10. Postman’s Park

Postman’s Park is one of the largest pocket parks in the City of London.

It was created in 1880, from the amalgamation of three churchyards and there are some surviving gravestones in the garden today. 

What really makes Postman’s Park special is the Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice. Unveiled in 1900 and the idea of the painter G F Watts, it is dedicated to those who have died whilst trying to save the life of another.

There are 54 tablets in total and you can while away plenty of time, reading all the individual stories.

And that’s my ten! Let me know in the comments if you think there are any I have missed.

For more of London’s hidden history can buy a copy of my book, London: A Guide for Curious Wanderers here.

Thank you for reading, more of London’s hidden history below.