Anna Laetitia Barbauld's Grave

Anna Laetitia Barbauld's grave at Old St Mary's Church

Stoke Newington Church St N16

As part of NGAG's Wildlife in Newington Green, WING project, we obtained a Community Planting Pack of native tree saplings from the Woodland Trust, which we gave away in order to develop more green wildlife corridors around the local area.

A number of these tree whips are to be planted in the graveyard of Old St Mary's Church, where they will form part of a native hedge that will  create a green corridor from the new St Mary's Church, through the graveyard of Old St Mary's, to link with Clissold Park.

St Mary's Old Church still has the Elizabethen South Aisle intact, which was built in 1563 by William Patten. Subsequent additions by Sir Charles Barry (1829) and the re-building that took place after bombing in the second world war have altered the Church but it is still a gem worth visiting.

Links to Newington Green

Newington Green and the Unitarian Church used to be linked to the two St Mary's Churches, via Church Walk but later buildings cut off this old route between the three Churches.

There is another significant link between Newington Green and Old St Mary's Church. Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743 - 1825) the poet, children's author and literary critic moved to this area in 1802, living here until her death in1825. Barbauld's pew can still be seen along with a marble tablet to her memory, in the historic Unitarian Church on Newington Green.

Anna Barbauld's publisher Joseph Johnson, published the works of a number of radical thinkers, including Mary Wollstonecraft who is also associated with Newington Green.

March 2011