Monuments & Ruins

Not every statue in London. The ones worth crossing the road for: Roman wall, medieval ruins, and the monuments that earn a detour.

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Cross Bones Graveyard

An unconsecrated burial ground for the outcast dead of Southwark, its gates hung with ribbons.

MemorialsFree

Photo by Matt Brown, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Bankside's prostitutes were licensed by the Bishop of Winchester, whose palace stands on Clink Street, and called the Winchester Geese, and this was the ground where they were buried outside the churchyards. Later it took the poor of the Mint, the slum around it, and was closed in 1853 as overfull; some fifteen thousand people are in it. Excavation in the 1990s for the Jubilee line brought it back to notice, and since then the iron gates on Redcross Way have been a shrine, tied with thousands of ribbons, each with a name. The land behind is a memorial garden kept by volunteers. A vigil is held at the gates at seven on the twenty-third of every month.

Where
Redcross Way, SE1 1TA
Nearest station
Borough · 4 min walk

The shrine on the gates is always there; the garden opens on set days

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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