St Mary's Old Church, Stoke Newington
Visited April 2019
On the edge of Clissold Park is St Mary's Old Church, the only remaining Elizabethan church in London. It was built in 1563 to replace the derelict church on the site, and was restored in the 1820s. It's been replaced by a Victorian church (St Mary's New Church) on the opposite side of the street, which was designed by George Gilbert Scott and opened in 1858, although services continued at the Old Church.
The Old Church is now primarily a community arts centre, and is open to the public to explore one Saturday a month - sadly not the Saturday I visited.
The churchyard is split by a public footpath from Clissold Park to Church Street, and gates lead off this to the churchyard. It was very overgrown when I visited, so not much exploring to be done at this time of year! Graves in the churchyard include some anti-slavery campaigners, including relatives of William Wilberforce, although I didn't manage to find them all, due to the drizzly rain, overcast skies and thick cow parsley undergrowth. Excuses excuses...
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