Description
Not strictly speaking a village green, Clerkenwell Green was open space between St John's Priory and St Mary's Nunnery and was once the centre of the village. In the C17th houses of the nobility and the wealthy were built here and the Green was planted with trees, which later blew down in 1796. By the C18th there was a pound, pillory and watch house here, with a turnstile at the entrance of Clerkenwell Close.
Practical Information
| Site location | Clerkenwell Green |
|---|---|
| Postcode | EC1 |
| What3Words | ///lunch.poem.sushi |
| Type of Site | Public Open Land |
| Borough | Islington |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | unrestricted |
| Public Transport | Tube/Rail: Farringdon (Metropolitan and City, Circle). Bus: 55, 243 |
| Research Updated | 1 April 2008 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
Clerkenwell is so called after the Clerks' Well, which was rediscovered in 1924 and is now within an office block in Farringdon Road. The parish clerks of London were said to have performed mystery plays here each year. Nearby is Clerkenwell's parish church of St James (q.v.). Clerkenwell became a meeting place for radicals after the Spa Fields Riots of 1816 and the Clerkenwell Riot of 1832. A meeting by the London Patriotic Club in 1887 at the start of a march to Trafalgar Square ended with the deaths of two people as crowds were dispersed by police. From 1872-92 No. 37a Clerkenwell Green was the headquarters of the London Patriotic Society. The house was built in 1738 as the Welsh Charity School; from 1892-1922 it was used by Twentieth Century Press and Lenin used an office here in 1902-3 and edited the socialist paper. It is now the Marx Memorial Library, which was founded in 1933. The 1779-82 Middlesex Sessions House was built on the Green to serve nearby prisons and was used as such until 1920, the building now the London Masonic Centre.
As the local population increased substantially Clerkenwell ceased to be a fashionable place and became overcrowded, insanitary and a place of much crime. In Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, the Artful Dodger taught new recruits how to pickpocket at Clerkenwell Green.
As the local population increased substantially Clerkenwell ceased to be a fashionable place and became overcrowded, insanitary and a place of much crime. In Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, the Artful Dodger taught new recruits how to pickpocket at Clerkenwell Green.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ314821 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | LB Islington |
| Site Management | Greenspace (planters) |
| Listed Structures | LB: Buildings on Clerkenwell Green - 12 & 13, 14, 14A (Lovat House), 20, 21 (Cornwell House), 22 (Central Masonic Centre), 29, 37 (Marx Museum), 43 (Crown Tavern), 44; phone kiosks in centre of Green |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Islington |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Clerkenwell Green |
| Tree Preservation Order | Not known |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | Yes - Archaeological Priority Area |
| Other LA Designation | Local/strategic view corridor. Shopping Policy Area |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
St James Clerkenwell Church Garden is on the site of the former C12th St Mary's Nunnery run by Augustinian canonesses. When the Nunnery was dissolved in 1539 its church was converted into the Clerkenwell parish church of St James. The old church was rebuilt in 1625, later replaced by the current building in 1788-92. The steeple was rebuilt in 1849 and the church was later restored in 1882. Among those buried here are many of the 200 Islington Protestants martyred at Smithfield in the Reformation in the 1550s. The churchyard was laid out and opened as a public garden in 1890. The garden has notable London plane trees and is enclosed by C19th railings and piers. In 1987 part of the medieval cloisters from the former C12th nunnery were excavated in the churchyard garden.
The Cloister Garden of the Priory Church of the Order of St John of Jerusalem was laid out by Lord Mottistone when the bomb-damaged church was restored in 1955-58, as a memorial to members of St John's Ambulance from London District. Overlooking the garden is a crucifix by Cecil Thomas of 1960, and 2 brick arches on the south wall of the adjacent church are believed to be where an early C16th chapel pierced the walls. After the Priory was dissolved the buildings had a number of uses, the church later becoming a parish church in 1722/3, but now back in use by the Order of St John. Until recently the garden was largely grass with a central fountain, but has been re-landscaped with funding from HLF and the Wellcome Trust and now contains medieval herbs of the monastic period. It is entered via the fine Docwra Family Memorial Gateway off St John's Square.
St John's Churchyard was once within the Priory of St John of Jerusalem founded in 1144 by the Knights Hospitallers. After the Dissolution of the Monasteries in c.1540, the Priory and its church were used for other purposes including a private chapel and library, a tavern, and later became a parish church of St John's Clerkenwell. Jerusalem Passage was the site of the Priory's postern gate, demolished in 1780. In 1931 the church was acquired by the modern Order of St John as their Priory Church. After it closed to burial, St John's Churchyard was laid out by the MPGA as a small enclosed public garden with a few headstones remaining and a fine plane tree.