#Crowntakers ruined church full

The imposing memorial with the clawed feet, pictured above, comemmorates Rosee Forbes of Stanmore Hill and tells a little about her life, or at least how her widower James saw her. A number of memorials gave tantilising glimpses into the people whose deaths they mark. I always enjoy coming across graves that tell a little more than the names and ages of the deceased, and this burial ground did not disappoint.

#Crowntakers ruined church full

The churchyard itself is impressive and interesting, full of headstones and monuments dating back to the 18th Century. For an hour or so I had the place to myself, before the ruin was opened for the afternoon. It was a humid September day when I visited, with shafts of sunlight shining through the clouds. Numerous squirrels darted in and out of the gravestones and a pair of magpies strutted around, while pigeons cooed softly, hidden from sight. The burial ground is a tranquil place, despite being close to a busy main road. The current parish church of St John the Evangelist was built in the mid-19th Century, but the picturesque ruins of the 17th Century church it replaced still survive in the church’s large burial ground. In Stanmore, a comfortable suburb at the top of the Jubilee Line, another ruined church can be found alongside its Victorian successor. However, not all of the ruined churches of Greater London are victims of the Blitz. London is home to a number of ruined churches – in the City of London alone there are several, victims of the bombing raids of the Luftwaffe in the Second World War.