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St Olaves and St John's
 Key:  Current observations and notes    Holmes      Other sources       Maps



Additional information taken from Southwark's Burial Places by kind permission of author Mr Ron Woollacott.

St. Olave's Churchyard, Tooley Street. 
 Ground closed in 1852, ground used as a works depot. Site now an open area by the riverside and an embarkation area for Thames cruises. Part of the Thames Path. 
       In 1327 the ground was flooded and human remains were washed away. Church partly collapsed in 1736 due to undermining by graves.
 A stone-paved yard, 634 square yards in extent, between the church and the river. Closed.  (Holmes)


Additional ground to St. Olave's  and to St. John’s, Horselydown.
Leased to the parish by by St Olave's Grammar school in 1586 on a 500 year lease. Closed 1853. Now southern part of the Potter's Fields open space. No visible monuments. 

Near St. John's Church.- About ½ acre, with a few tombstones in it. This was laid out in 1888, being chiefly asphalted, and is maintained as a recreation ground by the Board of Works for the St. Olave's District. It is well used and neatly kept. (Holmes)

ST. OLAVE'S BURYING GROUND, bottom of Tooley Street, consecrated in 1583.-  A grave digger, named Stewart, died of typhus, in May last. His wife was buried with him, who also died of typhus. (Walker)


Potters Fields, London Assembly building in the background

St. John’s Churchyard, Horselydown.
Opened c 1733. Ground closed 1853. Church bombed 1940, the London Mission now sits on the old foundations. An extensive, grassy open space. 

 Nearly 2 acres. Laid out as a public garden in 1882, and maintained by the St. Olave's Board. (Holmes)

ST. JOHN'S BURYING GROUND.-This ground is much crowded. The grave digger appeared fully sensible of the dangers to be apprehended in the practice of his avocation. (Walker) 




St. Thomas's Churchyard. 
Now built on - part of Guy's hospital. Site probably that of a white building accessible from King's Head Yard. 

This does not adjoin the church, but is behind the houses opposite. Size about 787 square yards. It belongs to St. Thomas's Hospital, and is used as a private garden by a house in St. Thomas' Street.  (Holmes)


St. Thomas's Hospital Burial-ground, St. Thomas' Street. 
Built over by modern hospital buildings. 

Part of this has been covered by St. Olave's Rectory and Messrs. Bevington's leather warehouse. The remaining piece measures about 1,770 square yards, and is an asphalted tennis-court and garden for the students of Guy's Hospital, the building in it being the treasurer's stables. It belongs to St. Thomas's Hospital, and is leased to Guy's. (Holmes)


Somewhere under here . . .


Butler's Burial-ground, Horselydown.
In the area of Fair St. Now no trace. The cooperage is shown on the 1872 O.S.
This was made about 1822, the entrance being in Coxon's (late Butler's) Place, and was 1,440 square yards in size. It is now Zurhoorst's cooperage and is full of barrels. A small piece, which I believe was a part of the burial-ground, is a yard belonging to a builder named Field. There were vaults running under four dwelling-houses. These still exist, and are under the houses next to the entrance to Mr. Field's yard. (Holmes)


Flemish Burial-ground, Carter Lane  
Supposedly the burial place of  King Harold 1st, illegitimate son of Cnut (Canute)  disinterred from Westminster Abbey in 1040. Originally for local Flemish community, later an additional ground for St Olave's and St John's. Under the forecourt of London Bridge Station.


Flemish ground, 1817
Mazepond Baptist Chapel 
Roughly where the Mazepond entrance to Guy's Hospital is now.
 built on, Guy's Hospital Medical School. (Holmes)

Baptist Chapel, Dipping Alley 
A  building known as the 'Baptisterion' was on this site as far back as the seventeenth century - it was used for total immersion baptisms. It was rebuilt in 1717, though I have yet to track down the precise site. 

In the area of Fair Street or Charles Street, Horselydown. (Holmes)

Guy's Hospital Chapel

Burial place of Thomas Guy and various other hospital notables including surgeon Astley Cooper.


Holmes refers to an 'additional ground to St Olaves, lost to St Thomas's Street' but there is no other reference to such a ground and this is probably an error.