St Mary's Churchyard, Neasden

St Mary's Churchyard, Neasden, London

Visited May 2017

This ancient church in North London was founded in the 10th century, and still contains parts of the Norman and Medieval architecture. Inside the church is the shrine of Our Lady of Willesden, a place of Pilgrimage until the 1500s when the statue of Mary was burned during the Reformation. A new statue stands in its place now, and there is also a Holy Well in the church.

Outside, there are some interesting old tombs, mostly Victorian, in both the 'old' and 'new' sections. There's a lot more information about the graveyard here. Particularly interesting is that the older graves may have been marked with wooden crosses rather than carved stones, hence none now survive.