Old Burying Ground, Hackney Road, E2 8HQ

In 1829 the engine and watch house, built in 1825 in the Shoreditch Burying Ground, became redundant with the introduction of the Metropolitan Police. In 1833 the building was converted by the Parish Trustees of the Poor into almshouses.

The Hackney Road Almshouses opened in 1836 to accommodate four elderly poor married couples, inhabitants of the parish, of whom two of the men should have been former watchmen for the parish. Each couple received 4 shillings (20p) a week from the general charity funds.

In 1892 the Burying Ground was developed into a recreation ground by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association.

The Almshouses closed when the St Leonard's Almshouses opened in 1904 in Wood Green, as part of the United Shoreditch Parish Almshouses.

Current status

The buildings were demolished. The site became part of the Hackney Road Recreation Ground. In 2017 this was renamed Fairchild's Garden, after Thomas Fairchild (? 1667-1729), a noted horticulturalist, who was buried in the former burial ground.

Fairchild's Gardens

The entrance to Fairchild's Garden in Hackney Road.

Fairchild's Gardens

Fairchild's Garden.

Fairchild's Gardens

Thomas Fairchild's gravestone is the only one remaining from the former Burying Ground era (above and below).

Fairchild's Gardens

A short history of Thomas Fairchild along with plaques giving information about the plants to be found in the Gardens are displayed along a wall (above and below).

Fairchild's Gardens