Description

Merrick Square is named after Christopher Merrick who left land to Trinity House in 1661. The square of 32 houses was built from 1853-72 and overlooked a private garden, still enclosed by its original C19th cast iron railings. At each end of the garden are 2 concrete cast urns on plinths and trees include London plane, chestnut, lime, sycamore, laburnum and various shrubs. The central beds were replanted in 2000 under the supervision of the Museum of Garden History, now renamed the Garden Museum.

Practical Information

Site location Merrick Square/Trinity Street
Postcode SE1 4JB
What3Words ///broad.flag.mime
Type of Site Garden Square
Borough Southwark
Open to Public Occasionally
Opening Times Has opened for London Open Gardens. Otherwise private, for keyholders only
Public Transport Tube: Borough (Northern), Elephant & Castle (Northern, Bakerloo); London Bridge (Northern, Jubilee). Bus: 21, 35, 40, 133, 343, C10
Research Updated 1 July 2009
Last Updated 18 October 2026

Full description

Christopher Merrick was a London merchant and 'younger brother' of Trinity House, sworn in on 8 September 1660, who gave land in 1661 for 'relieving weak and decayed Seamen and Mariners of this Kingdom, their Wives, children and Widowes where most need was'. The land had been purchased by his father in 1610. In the early C19th land south of the square around Harper Road was used to grow fruit trees and on a plot facing Great Dover Street to the north horseradish, mint and kale were grown. Merrick Square was designed by Richard Suter, surveyor for Trinity House, and was built between 1853 and 1856. Nos.16 and 17 on the south-west side were designed by Henry Jarvis & Son Ltd in 1872 with the Rectory for nearby Holy Trinity Church built between these two houses. Merrick Square remains in the ownership of the Corporation of Trinity House, and is composed of 32 single houses.

Further Information

Grid Reference TQ325793
Size in hectares 0.142
Site Ownership Corporation of Trinity House
Site Management Corporation of Trinity House
Dates 1853-56
Listed Structures LBII: Nos.1 - 32 Merrick Square; cast iron railings to central garden
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 Yes
Local Authority Southwark
In Conservation Area Yes
Conservation Area Name ? Trinity Church Square
Tree Preservation Order Not known
Nature Conservation Area No
Green Belt No
Metropolitan Open Land No
Special Policy Area Yes - Archaeological Priority Zone
Other LA Designation London Squares Preservation Act. Strategic Views Backdrop Consultation Zone

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Nearby parks and gardens

  • Southwark
  • 0.1 miles away

Trinity Church Square

Trinity Church Square was laid out in 1824-32 on land belonging to the Corporation of Trinity House. Adjacent to the garden is the church of Holy Trinity, built in 1823-24, and since 1975 converted into the Henry Wood Hall for music rehearsal. The garden is private and laid out with lawn, shrubs, ornamental planting and mature plane trees. Within it is the statue of a king on a stone pedestal, late C14th in style, which was erected here by 1836 and may have once been in Westminster Hall. The garden has undergone re-planting in 2000 and in 2002 Trinity Street was closed to through-traffic.
  • Southwark
  • 0.1 miles away

Dickens' Fields

Dickens’ Fields, formerly known as Dickens Square Park is a local park located off Falmouth Road, close to the Rockingham, Lawson and Trinity Newington housing estates. The LCC Rockingham Estate was built in the 1930s and included Dickens Square, although this road pre-dates the LCC estate and is shown on maps from the mid-C19th as Union Square. A number of the streets and terraces of housing here were cleared in the early 1970s and part of the area was laid out as public open space with Dickens Park dating from the 1980s. The need to improve the park, which had become overgrown and was felt to be unsafe, was under discussion for many years and it was eventually re-landscaped and re-opened on 1 September 2021 when it was renamed Dickens’ Fields. Within the park is the Anne Keane playground, named after a local resident who had campaigned for the development of the park. 

 

Butterfly Walk before re-landscaping of Dickens' Fields, April 2002. Photograph Sally Williams
  • Southwark
  • 0.1 miles away

Tabard Gardens

The Tabart Estate was one of the LCC's early slum clearance schemes, planned in 1910 and extended later. The blocks of flats are grouped around a rectangular garden with its original railings. Tabard Gardens provides recreational space for the estate. It is divided into three spaces: a playground, a grass square with seats, and an area formed into a mound and planted with shrubs, now a wildlife area with paths through it, which separates this part of the gardens from the large grass area at the north end.
Tabard Gardens - Colin Wing - July 2006