St Paul's Cathedral opens new South Churchyard

by Amy Judd | June 4, 2008 at 01:15 pm

1533 views | 12 Recommendations | 30 comments

The magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral in London opened its new South Churchyard to the public today.
This new peaceful space in the grounds took three years to complete at a cost of 3.8 million pounds.

The Churchyard is based on the outline of the medieval Chapter House that was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and has been designed as a peaceful and contemplative open space for visitors.

The project is part of a £40 million campaign to clean and restore Sir Christopher Wren's famous 17th century building, which is one of the best known landmarks in London.

The fundraising campaign is due to be completed in October 2008 to mark the 300th anniversary of the laying of the final stone on the Dome's lantern.

A further £1.8 million needs to be raised if work is to continue on the North Side of the building.

The new gardens are laid out using the footprint of the Chapter House and Cloister of the Medieval Cathedral and are specially designed to allow the disabled access.

The stonework within the gardens is made using the same Purbeck stone as the remains of the medieval building that lie four feet below.

Martin Stancliffe, Surveyor to the Fabric, said: "We discovered the remains of the Chapter House lying underground and we used the lay out to create the garden on top of it. In doing so we can create a lovely garden and help people understand the early history of the pre-fire Cathedral that existed before Wren's building."

The Dean of St Paul's Cathedral, The Right Reverend Graeme Knowles, said "We are very grateful for the support of all our donors in making this next phase of the 300th anniversary project possible. It's wonderful that we are opening this beautiful outside space to visitors so that they can enjoy the area and its magnificent views of the Cathedral."

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liamssoft

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:56 on June 4th, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. Nice idea, although £3.8 million sounds very expensive for a garden, even for London prices.

yellow book ltd

at 08:11 on June 5th, 2008

Images of St Paul's Churchyard. Heads by the sculptor Emily Young.

yellow book ltd has contributed a photo to this story.

Helenkilljoy

at 10:02 on June 5th, 2008

T stayed for a whole month there in London last summer, it took the most rainy July there in a long time. So, it rained all the time and, when that happened, the St. Paul´s garden was a fantastic, peaceful place to rest and wait for a new weather.

Helenkilljoy has contributed a photo to this story.

unicorn123

at 10:12 on June 5th, 2008

I changed from bus to tube last weekend and went across the little garden at St.Paul's which has a stunning rose garden - turning around the corner towards Paternoster Square I suddenly saw this lovely shiney statue.

unicorn123 has contributed a photo to this story.

sairacul

at 11:06 on June 5th, 2008

It was my first time in London,and i was obliged to pay it a visit.I just was going for a walk and took that photo.

sairacul has contributed a photo to this story.

myrtleblossom

at 12:01 on June 5th, 2008

Traveling to London was an experience in itself.One of our goals was to see St. Paul's Cathedral unfortunately we arrive to late to tour the interior. We walked around the cathedral and found several areas of wonderful points of interest. We look forward to returning in the near future. Enjoy!

myrtleblossom has contributed a photo to this story.

Beaulieu

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 12:15 on June 5th, 2008

amyjudd, I like this story. It's good stuff. So that was what the fireworks were about as I cycled past.

wataru omori

at 13:30 on June 5th, 2008

Thank you so much.

wataru omori has contributed a photo to this story.

wataru omori

at 13:36 on June 5th, 2008

twishart

at 13:44 on June 5th, 2008

St Pauls Cathedral.

twishart has contributed a photo to this story.

Maladicta

at 14:44 on June 5th, 2008

One of the many photos I took while visiting St Paul's. It was a surprisingly clear day so the view was magnificent.

Maladicta has contributed a photo to this story.

yxyeng

at 15:05 on June 5th, 2008

A beautiful winter night at St. Paul's shot while visiting

yxyeng has contributed a photo to this story.

Fate, the Magnificent

at 15:12 on June 5th, 2008

I visited on 03 January 2008, which was a cold, sleety day. The cathedral was, of course, astonishing and the garden, even on a cold winter day, was beautiful.

Fate, the Magnificent has contributed a photo to this story.

superhoopsa

at 15:43 on June 5th, 2008

St Paul's Cathedral is a truly wonderful building. As a Londoner I have been brought up to take it for granted. This was the first time I had been close to the building since it had been cleaned up.

On my way home after taking photos in Spitalfield I just could not resist taking some photos of the "new" building in what were very rare conditions - a deep Mediterranean blue sky in early evening. It was the perfect opportunity to capture a photo of the "new" St Paul's Cathedral.

These are just a few of the many photos that I took that evening of St Paul's Cathedral.

davide

at 16:13 on June 5th, 2008

This picture was taken in May on the first warm day of 2008. My original intention was to take some shots from the top of St Paul's but it was closed so I photographed people enjoying the sunshine on the steps instead.

davide has contributed a photo to this story.

Phill Monson

at 17:36 on June 5th, 2008

St. Paul's is an amazing work of art. I was lucky to have the opportunity to be in England and take this picture and I am happy to share it with others.

Phill Monson has contributed a photo to this story.

darklordspet

at 18:20 on June 5th, 2008

b.reynolds

at 18:42 on June 5th, 2008

View of St. Paul's from the upper level of the bus traveling west on Cannon St. in April. The blue coloring at the top is courtesy of the window tint.

b.reynolds has contributed a photo to this story.

badurbabu

at 19:19 on June 5th, 2008

This surely is one of the most breathtaking landmarks I have ever seen. The dome inside is something which cannot be described in words alone.

badurbabu has contributed a photo to this story.

superhoopsa

at 21:51 on June 5th, 2008

This was taken on a very warm February evening. The sky was just perfect and the light showed the newly cleaned St Paul's Cathedral in all its glory. It is a truly remarkable building. This is just one of many photos of the building that I took that evening.

superhoopsa has contributed a photo to this story.

Joebelle

at 00:29 on June 6th, 2008

View of St Paul's Cathedral taken from Blackfriars Bridge.

Joebelle has contributed a photo to this story.

Bentley Robinson

at 00:40 on June 6th, 2008

Bentley Robinson has contributed a photo to this story.

WMGoBuffs

at 07:24 on June 6th, 2008

St. Paul's Cathedral, as seen from the Millennium bridge.

WMGoBuffs has contributed a photo to this story.

king_david_uk

at 08:29 on June 6th, 2008

The photos I have added show various views of St. Paul's Cathedral. The new garden that opened recently looks really nice, and I expect I shall visit it soon, as I work nearby.

king_david_uk has contributed a photo to this story.

nanocombi

at 12:42 on June 6th, 2008

St Paul's Cathedral in the evening.

nanocombi has contributed a photo to this story.

Andrey Mindryukov

at 06:11 on June 7th, 2008

I made this picture when I was walking over the cathedral. I tried to frame it in the way, so anyone could understand what is this place))

Andrey Mindryukov has contributed a photo to this story.

3_second_memory

at 13:26 on June 7th, 2008

photo taken from on top of a wheelie bin on Watling Street Summer 2007

3_second_memory has contributed a photo to this story.

garethjmsaunders

at 05:59 on June 8th, 2008

I was wandering around the City of London with a good friend of mine, I was just down in London for a few days from Scotland; I used to live in London years ago and was revisiting some old haunts.

It was dusk, we were wandering past St Paul's and I snapped this on my O2 Xda Orbit PDA phone. I loved the colour of the sky: nicely dramatic.

garethjmsaunders has contributed a photo to this story.