Six Historic Havens For Wildlife In The City

London is one of the world’s greenest cities. It has its famous sweeping parks, but also so many smaller, green oases tucked away in the metropolis. 

I, naturally, spend a lot of time in these gardens, as they often have fascinating histories. I recently started noticing these wooden posts dotted around the flower beds. 

They are monitoring points set up by an charity called Pollinating London Together. My interest piqued, I reached out to them to find out more. 

What Is Pollinating London Together?

Pollinating London Together (PLT) was founded in 2020 as a joint initiative between two of the City of London’s livery companies — the Worshipful Company of Wax Chandlers and the Worshipful Company of Gardeners.

I have written previously about the livery companies in more detail here. However, to give you a short introduction, they started off as medieval trading guilds to regulate, control and support their respective trades. Others include the Goldsmiths, the Ironmongers, the Butchers and the Fishmongers. Today they are charitable, educational and social institutions, that have a role within the governance of the City of London and often do still play some sort of role within their old trades.

The Wax Chandlers were given their Royal charter in 1484 and were the guild for those in the trade of beeswax candles. The Gardeners were given their royal charter in 1605. 

PLT was created to address the rapid decline of pollinators in urban areas and make a tangible environmental impact. PLT has since grown and became an incorporated charity in 2023.

What Do They Do?

Pollinating London Together conducts scientific surveys, habitat recommendations, and educational outreach to help enhance habitats for pollinators. The aim is to make London a model city for pollinator conservation and ecological resilience, that can then be used to inspire other cities. They, for example, have had a pilot scheme that has now started in Edinburgh.

I think it sounds like a great scheme. One of my favourite aspects of London is its green spaces and I think it is amazing that in the heart of our financial district you can find such a variety of plant, animal and insect life. If you wanted to donate to this worthwhile cause, you can do so here. You can also have a look at their website here. 

They are monitoring 24 locations, so I thought, for the blog post this week I would highlight six of my favourites. I have picked ten different gardens to my previous top ten gardens blog post.

1. Charterhouse Gardens

The Charterhouse is one of the most extraordinary historic places in all of London.

It began life as a small chapel that had been built in the 1340s to pray for the souls of the Black Death victims buried in what is now Charterhouse Square. 

Out of that developed the Charterhouse Monastery, founded by Sir Walter Manny in 1371. It was a Carthusian monastery, a devout monastic order, in which the monks lived in isolated cells. The monastery came to a violent end. John Houghton, the head prior and many of the other monks were executed or died in Newgate prison, for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, acknowledging Henry VIII as head of the Church of England. The monastery was then dissolved in 1537.

It then became a Tudor mansion, for example being the home for a period of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, from 1565-1572. In 1611, the building was bequeathed by its then owner, Thomas Sutton , to become an almshouse for the poor and a school. The Charterhouse School was here until 1872 when it moved to Godalming in Surrey. The building does still operate as a modern almshouse, home to forty ‘brothers’, men and women today. There is also a free museum and they run fantastic tours, on which you can see their stunning gardens. Cut off from the hustle and bustle of the city, within the ancient walls, they are a true oasis for the residents and wildlife. There are more formal garden areas as well as areas that have been left more wild.

A more full blog post on the Charterhouse can be found here.

2. Smithfield Rotunda Garden

Right in the heart of Smithfield, outside its famous meat market, you will find a green and pleasant circular garden.

The name Smithfield comes from ‘smoothfield’ and relates to the smooth, grassy fields that once lay outside the city walls. In the medieval period, football, wrestling, archery and medieval jousting tournaments took place here, as well as acting as a place for gatherings, such as those that watched the hanging, drawing and quartering of William Wallace on 23rd August 1305 or the rebels that gathered here as part of the Peasant’s Revolt in 1381. This was also the site of London’s livestock market from at least the 12th century until the 1850s.

By the mid 19th century the city’s population was into its millions and the livestock market was unsustainable. In 1852 the livestock market was banned and moved to what is now Caledonian Clock Tower park. The new Smithfield meat market was constructed, designed by Sir Horace Jones. The rotunda gave vehicles access to the basement and train station below the market. A garden was also laid out in the centre. In 1873 a statue called Peace, the name rather anachronistic with the history of the area, was placed here. 

3. Christchurch Greyfriars

Christchurch Greyfriars garden genuinely feels full of life in the summer months, abuzz with bees, birds and butterflies. 

It started life as a medieval monastery. The Greyfriars monastery was a Franciscan monastery here from 1225-1538, named after the grey habits that they wore. The monastery was dissolved by King Henry VIII in the Dissolution of the Monasteries. A church, Christchurch Greyfriars, was retained as the parish church, which was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in the late 17th century after the Great Fire of London. Part of the site then became Christ’s Hospital from 1552, a school for the poor, fatherless children of the city. The school was here until 1902, when it relocated to Horsham in Sussex.

Wren’s church was gutted by incendiary bombs, during the Blitz, on the night of 29th December 1940, often described as the ‘Second Great Fire of London’. 

The tower survived and is now, believe it or not, a private home. In what was once the nave, a garden was laid out in 1989. The boxed-hedge beds represent the pews and the wooden towers mark the site of the original church columns. 

4. Bunhill Fields Burial Ground

Historic churchyards, graveyards and cemeteries, although filled with the dead, are also often teeming with wildlife.

The history of Bunhill Fields Burial Ground starts in 1549 when the charnel house of St Paul’s Cathedral was emptied. The charnel house was where many of the bones of the dead were stored. The bones were taken to an area just to the North of the City walls where they created a literal hill of bones, or a ‘Bone Hill’. This corrupted later to ‘Bunhill’. It then opened as a private burial ground after the Great Plague of 1665.

As it not attached to a church, it is unconsecrated land and therefore became a popular burial ground for non-conformist Christians. It is thought there are around 123,000 bodies there today, including those of Daniel Defoe, William Blake, John Bunyan and Eleanor Coade. 

I have written a more full blog post on its history here.

5. Barber-Surgeons’ Physics Garden

Another of the City’s livery companies is the Worshipful Company of Barbers, formed by Royal charter in 1462. In 1540 the Barbers’ Company merged with the Fellowship of Surgeons and they became the Company of Barbers and Surgeons. This was essentially because the two jobs involved the same tools and some of the same skills.

In the 1540s they were granted the right to dissect the bodies of four executed criminals a year. This happened at Barber-Surgeons’ Hall, just North today of the street London Wall. These bodies were then generally buried in the churchyard opposite of St Olave Silver Street. In 1745 the two groups split again, the Company of Surgeons was formed, which went on to become the Royal College of Surgeons of England. 

The hall was destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt, before being destroyed again in the Blitz and rebuilt. The current building therefore is a post-war construction. 

The garden, next to it, was created in 1987 on part of the World War Two bombsite and plants grown with historic links to medicine and surgery.

Not only that it is right by a section of the old city wall, specifically what is now known as ‘Bastion 13’. This is a medieval addition built on the Roman foundations and was, until the Second World War, part of Barber-Surgeons’ Hall, used as a courtroom. The garden is not accessible to the public, but can be seen over the low fence.

6. Noble Street Ruins

On Noble Street in the City you can see a rare surviving section of the city’s Roman wall. As well as being the remains of the wall, built in around 200AD, parts are also remains from the Roman fort, constructed in around 110AD. 

The brick structures you can see are the remains of 19th century, Victorian warehouses that, until the Blitz, were covering the Roman remains.

The bombs of the Blitz destroyed the Victorian warehouses on the site but revealed the Roman remains below. Today it has been left as a bombsite, a memorial garden to the Blitz. The garden has a beehive in it and is maintained by another of the City’s livery companies who have their hall adjacent: The Worshipful Company of Plaisterers (an archaic spelling of plasterer). Again, it is not directly accessible to the public, but can be seen from Noble Street.

Lots of these stops feature by the way in my new book London: The Hidden Corners for Curious Wanderers. 

Thank you so much for reading. As mentioned above you can find out more about Pollinating London Together, donating and getting involved here. 

More of London’s hidden historical spots below…