Ever Stumbling
Walking through from Oxford Street to Edgware Road today took me along Wimpole Street, cutting across Queen Anne Street and New Cavendish Street. This is proper Marylebone; the Howard De Walden estate covers the entire area.
I’ve walked up Paddington Street from Marylebone High Street before, but managed to miss Paddington Street Gardens, which were once an additional burial ground for Old St Marylebone Parish Church in the 1730s. A useful information post at the gates mentions the nearby workhouse built in 1750 (enlarged 1775). This is just the kind of thing I am looking into for my novel, so was delighted to stumble across the very site quite by accident.
The area closed as a burial ground in 1814 ( a new one had opened at nearby St John’s Wood), although is still consecrated ground. There are – quite startlingly – probably 80,000 graves on the site of the gardens although most of the gravestones have now been removed and an archive of the records is kept by Westminster City Council. The Gardens contain many trees, including that staple tree, the London Plane.
From Edgware Road, I trundled along Harrow Road for a while. This is a great artery running along and under the Westway from Paddington. I’ve found out that this is the way to get to Kensal Green Cemetary (1833). This isn’t meant to sound morbid, but it’s a place I want to visit at some point. The history and statuary are quite something.
I got the bus back into central London from there. Near Knightsbridge I looked out of the window at a smartly-dressed young woman walking up to the traffic lights with her shopping. She had some kind of injury to her legs and walked with difficulty. She must have to do that every day. She walked with an awkward dignity and waited patiently for the lights to change. From the bus window there is often something to make you feel humble.
