St Ann Blackfriars Burial Grounds: Church Entry and Ireland Yard

The parish of St Ann Blackfriars was established after the Dissolution of the Monasteries when the former Friary of the Dominicans or Black Friars was dissolved. The Friary was established here in 1276 when the Lord Mayor and Barons of London granted a piece of land near Baynard's Castle to Robert Kilwarby, Archbishop of Canterbury and a former monk of the Dominican Order. Kilwarby built a large church and accommodation for the Black Friars, so-called due to the colour of their clothes, who had come to England in 1221, settling first in Oxford. Benefactors of the monastery included Edward I and Queen Eleanor and it became an important establishment, with parliaments held here and it was also used as a safe refuge place for royal records. The Friary church contained remains of high ranking individuals including King James of Spain and Sir Thomas Parr, father of Katherine Parr, and also the heart of Queen Eleanor, but these were destroyed in 1538 and the land and buildings were sold by the Crown in 1550 to Sir Thomas Cawarden. A new parish was established by 1544 until 1550 when the Priory church was demolished at the Reformation. The complaints of the local inhabitants, deprived of a place of worship, led Sir Thomas to establish St Ann Blackfriars Church, which was consecrated on 11 December 1597. It was built on the site that is now Ireland Yard, which had been part of the Provincial's Hall of the Priory and remains of the old Priory wall is still in the churchyard. However, in the same year the roof of the new church collapsed and the church was enlarged when it was rebuilt in 1598 and again in 1613. Part of the site of the nave of the Friary church later became the burial ground of St Ann. According to a plaque on the site, the name Church Entry 'indicates the usual passage between the nave and chancel passing north and south beneath the steeple'. The church burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666 and was not rebuilt, the parish amalgamating with that of St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe (q.v.). The site of St Ann's church was used thereafter as a burial ground.

The two churchyards closed in 1849 and since 1964 have been maintained by Corporation of London. Conversion into public gardens took place under the auspices of the MPGA, the gardens planned and laid out by their landscape gardener Madeline Agar  in 1907. The MPGA described it as 'a small City Garden, much used by clerks and others'. Agar had taken over from Fanny Wilkinson as the MPGA's landscape gardener in 1905, a position she held for almost 25 years. Over that time she became a successful garden designer, writer and teacher, and a fellow of the Institute of Landscape Architects.

Both gardens are raised above ground level; the Church Entry site has a brick wall with railings above and a gateway with steps leading to the garden with two plane trees, shrubs and seats and some paving, and a few gravestones along the boundary wall with Church Entry. Ireland Yard is an entirely paved area surrounded on three sides by buildings, with a number of gravestones along two sides, a few trees and seats and with remnants of rubble wall next to the entrance.