St John's Churchyard Garden

The church of St John the Evangelist by Francis Bedford is a simple Greek revival building built in 1822-24, one of the Waterloo churches built in celebration of the victory over Napoleon following the Battle of Waterloo. It was also a time of social upheaval and political unrest, with a growing population and unemployment, increased by demobilised solders. The Church Commissioners desired to build new churches to counteract 'godless mob violence' and the spread of non-conformism, and in 1818 an Act of Parliament approved a sum of money for the new churches, with £64,000 allocated to Lambeth in 1822. The new parish of St John's was originally within the old Parish of Lambeth served by St Mary's (q.v.). It has an C18th font and frescoes by Hans Freibusch who came to England in 1933, fleeing Nazi Germany. The church was badly bombed in WWII and in 1951 was restored and opened to serve as the parish church of the Festival of Britain. It was restored once more in the 1990s, and most recently was refurbished by Eric Parry Architects, reopening in October 2022. In 1984 the Crypt had been converted for community use and as a Day Centre for homeless people, now run by the St Mungo Trust, London's leading charity for the homeless.

The churchyard is much used by those with nowhere else to go. It had been transformed into a garden in 1877 when, through the instigation of Octavia Hill, one of the founders of the National Trust, the gravestones were removed and it was opened as a garden for the urban poor. Hill described it as “more like a country garden … than any other I have seen”. Part of the garden was set aside as a children's playground and the Chairman of the MPGA gave a swing and giant stride in 1883; the MPGA provided parallel bars, a seesaw and six seats. During the 1990s, during a crisis of homelessness, the garden was covered in tents when the South Bank had become home to Cardboard City. In more recent years the garden, which had become neglected, has been transformed and is well-used. In the early 2000s, Jonathan Trustram and a team of volunteers relandscaped the garden creating an undulating lawn and much of the present planting. A small railed garden of remembrance was created in 2000 in the north corner with raised and circular beds, paving and seating. The St John's Churchyard Friends Group, working with St Mungo's gardening training scheme Putting Down Roots, set up in 2001, then began the creation of a community knot garden with box, yew and holly, hoggin paths and planted with herbaceous perennial plants, bulbs, herbs and small compact shrubs. Nearby is a mosaic bench produced with Southbank Mosaics, a social enterprise group based in the Crypt at St John. The project received funding from the Big Lottery Fund in 2005 and the new Parterre Garden, which was also conceived as a sculpture garden, was formally opened in December 2006. 

In 2017 a bench was installed to celebrate the 200th anniversary of nearby Waterloo Bridge. Designed by Carles Dedeu of MSMR Architects, it echoes the arches of Waterloo Bridge and is carved with a quote by the Anglican poet and priest George Herbert: 'Those who cannot forgive break the bridge over which they themselves must pass".

The garden has won the Green Flag Award, a Gold Award and Churchyard of the Year in 2021 and 2022 from London in Bloom. Future Plans include rejuvenating the parterre garden on the north side of the church and acquiring a glasshouse or shed that could be used for community and therapeutic gardening. The garden is managed by a team of regular volunteers under Senior Community Gardener Filipa Silva, who also provides work experience to special needs students learning horticultural skills. “We are very aware of global warming and are choosing our plants to be drought tolerant and nectar rich for pollinators.  This has a positive effect on the look and feel of the garden.  You can sit in the shade of our huge walnut trees, or you can wander in our shady topiary garden and see our two beautiful cork trees that we grew from seed. We have fragrant flowering shrubs in season, and a herbaceous border that will be completely replanted when St John’s reopens after its major restoration. Our Garden of Remembrance is tucked amongst borders of interesting exotic shrubs, alongside a wildlife garden which is alive with bees from our apiary.”

Facing onto Waterloo Road to the north of the church is a paved area with a number of fine tombs, including that of the Peache Family, and War Memorial, fronted by fine railings.