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St Pancras cemetery: the grave of Mary Wollstonecraft and the Hardy tree

Gravestones and a squirrel, the Hardy Tree, London.

#hardy tree #gravestone #graveyard #tombstone #cemeteries #london #dark tourism #thomas hardy

John Polidori

(Sep. 7th 1795 - Aug. 24th 1821)

Brief Bio:

Polisario was born in London. He attended the University of Edinburgh, and at age 19 became the personal physician of Lord Byron and traveled with him throughout Europe. In 1816 Byron rented the Villa Diodati at Lake Geneva with Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin. They all challenged each other to write a ghost story, for which Polidori wrote The Vampyre, the first modern English vampire story. After leaving Byron’s service he traveled through Italy. His story was published against his wishes and attributed to Byron. Suffering from depression and gambling debts, Polidori died of cyanide poisoning at age 25. His death was attributed to natural causes.

Notable Works:

The Vampyre (1819)

The Fall of the Angels (1821, posthumous)

The Grave:

Polidori was buried in the churchyard of St. Pancras Old Church in London. In approximately 1865 his and many other graves were dug up to make way for a new railway, under the supervision of Thomas Hardy. It’s possible that his stone is one of the many surrounding the famous Hardy Tree behind the church.

Pancras Rd.

London NW1 1UL

Surrounding Area:

Just down Midland Road are St. Pancras International and King’s Cross Rail Stations, as well as the London Underground. Traveling in the other direction, one may visit the Camden Market, a labyrinthine hive of shopping and cuisine. One may also travel to Highgate Cemetery to visit Polidori’s niece, Christina Rossetti.

Further Reading:

Polidori Project Gutenberg

St. Pancras Old Church website

Keats-Shelley House website

“I now knew that I had died, and for my interment were intended the awful preparations about me. Was this then death?”

#john polidori #mary shelley #lord byron #percy shelley #vampire #st pancras old church #london #england #christina rossetti #thomas hardy #hardy tree #vampyre #romanticism #gothic #author #grave #cemetery

The Hardy Tree and Soane Mausoleum

Thomas Hardy, famed 19th Century novelist, first trained as an architect, serving an apprenticeship from 1862 to 1867. During this time, his employer was charged with the dismantling of graves and removal of human remains from Old St Pancras Churchyard, to allow for construction of a railway line to King’s Cross. The job was entrusted to Hardy.

Whilst the bodies were removed and re-interred in new locations, the headstones (as was fairly common practice at the time) were to be discarded. However, Hardy stacked many in rough circles around an ash tree; as the tree grows, the headstones are still being gradually absorbed into it.

One resident of the churchyard who was not removed to make way for the railway was Sir John Soane, architect and collector. His mausoleum is still standing, and is one of only two Grade 1 listed monuments in London. It was constructed in 1816 following the death of his wife, Elizabeth. Soane designed the mausoleum himself, avoiding any Christian symbols, instead choosing images such as the ouroboros and pine cones. He was buried there himself in 1837. Interestingly, the domed top of the mausoleum would later inspire another architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, in his designs for the classic red telephone box…