Gravestones that survived for hundreds of years have been reduced to rubble in St Alfege Park.
The headstones which had been positioned around the perimeter wall have been broken up and now sit in a large pile in the deconsecrated church yard.
Greenwich.co.uk understands that the Friends of St Alfege Park have been engaged in removing the headstones over a period of months, although this process was accelerated recently with the assistance of workers from the Community Payback probationary scheme.
The London Probation Trust confirmed to this website that a team from Community Payback has been working to clear the grounds at St Alfege Park. A spokesman commented:
“Part of this work has included the clearance of stone markers believed to be monumental and/or gravestones as requested by a representative of the Friends of St Alfege Park. This has now been completed and we are now working on another project within the grounds.”
Local historian, Horatio Blood, was left appalled by the scene of broken headstones:
“The smashing to smithereens of these historic tombstones is wanton destruction and a terrible tragedy. All that remains are a few sorry stumps, like broken teeth, and the ghost impressions left behind on the brick wall. The Friends of St Alfege Park appear to have succeeded where the rioters failed.”
But there is confusion as to who authorised the removal of the headstones in the park, with Greenwich Council legally obliged to ensure headstones remain safe in what is classed as a “closed church yard.”
Additionally, the removal and destruction of gravestones is subject to controls under the 1977 Local Authorities Cemeteries Act.
Greenwich Council’s cabinet member in charge of parks, Cllr John Fahy, told Greenwich.co.uk:
“There would seem to be some dispute as to what instructions were given to the Payback Team. As this is a Council responsibility I believe that the Friends should not have been involved. The memorial stones are an important legacy. Not all of the Headstones were damaged and I have asked Officers to look at creating a memorial garden where all of the tombstones can be brought together to create a large memorial plaque.”
A request for information on why the work was carried out had not been answered by the Friends group at the time of publication, but a clue may be found in the Management Report of 2008.
It says the headstones around the perimeter wall are prone to vandalism or damage from plants behind because of the gap between the stone and the wall. The report recommended mortaring the stones in place to reduce the possibility of damage.
The authors of the Plan also commented “memorials within the park add an excellent ambience to the site.
“If they were removed, it would significantly decrease the site’s visible heritage.”
The Friends of St Alfege Park was formed in recent years and its volunteers have worked to improve the quality of the park. It has become a venue for live theatre events and the Friends are aiming to achieve Green Flag status by 2013/14.
Update
Conservative Deputy Leader and shadow cabinet member for culture and the Olympics, Cllr Nigel Fletcher, commented:
“‘I’m shocked that this appalling desecration of headstones could be allowed to take place in this way, and I’m glad Cllr. Fahy is taking the matter seriously. Whatever instructions were given should never have been allowed to be carried out, and I hope we will get some answers, fast, on just what happened. ”
Absolutely disgusting!!
Yet another example of the ‘normal’ history of Greenwich being bulldozed!!
Does it not also give the Vandals of Greenwich Carte Blanche to destroy any that have survived to this point? I thought we, as a society, were supposed to be ‘anti-destruction for the sake of it’? Talk about mixed messages – it’s alright to destroy a Grave Marker but not to destroy a Pub…..I despair!!
Then again, I suppose by marking the outline of St Mary’s Church with drains and then plonking King Bill in the middle should have been a warning…….Welcome to historic Greenwich!!!!!
Oh now why on Earth would you do something like that?
Some people are just depressing morons.
With “Friends” like these…
As a family historian, I really hope that they at least had the common decency to note the names, dates and epitaphs on these stones, but since no-one even seems to know (or will admit to knowing) who ordered this desecration I seriously doubt that they had the common sense to do so, let alone the decency. Vandalism of the highest order.
Surely the perpetrators are guilty of criminal damage and should be brought to account.
Being born and raised in Greenwich St Alfege church was important to me, as it was to my husbands family who lived were married there in the 1700, it survived the bombing with damage but nothing like this vandalism. We visit Greenwich frequently as we still have family there and have visited the park, so you can imagine how appalled we were to see this wanton destruction. Please do not allow any more of this so called legalized vandalism, its amazing how people in power have little or no knowledge about what is happening in their area and they still get paid.
So called friends of St Alfege Park need a name change any ideas?
We live in NZ and always look at this website
Even if the headstones had to be moved (and not re-moved) what possible justification could there be for smashing them to bits ? How can vandals with sledgehammers be Friends of St Alfege Parks. Leave out the R and you have a more correct name for them.
Sam and I were quite upset when we read this last night, this is horrible! What an awful thing to do. :-(.
Criminal Damage, plain and simple.
A local should make a formal complaint to the police.
Someone should, and will, get their arse mightily kicked for this. Who made the decision? I’ll be there first.
And, if this has anything to do with ‘cleaning up Greenwich for 2012’, then I’ll take a rocket too.
Words fail me…somebody must be held accountable for this – as Bill said “Criminal Damage”.
I find this totally disgusting, my family have lived in Greenwich for generations and those head stones have always been sacred, to me this is just wanton destruction and those responsible MUST be held accountable! “friends of St Alfege park” no one needs friends like you.
The people who were responsible (or rather irrespnsible) should be prosecuted, it’s as simple as that.
Thanks for posting all the way from NZ, Joan – I’m just sorry it was on such a sad topic!
Some further information:
The church, churchyard and the park (a former burial ground) lie partly in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and partly in the WHS buffer zone and are described as a “gateway” into the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site.
Friends of St Alfege Park:
Twitter
@StAlfegePark
Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Alfege-Park-Greenwich/209370295766363
How appalling. What kind of moron would even contemplate this, and what kind of f@ckwit would carry it out?
Given the people who did the smashing are sentenced offenders maybe they were too stupid and vicious to realise care. Maybe they enjoyed it If so then their sentences need to me reviewed.
If it was someone from the ‘Friends’ who ordered it then that’s obviously got too big for it’s boots.
Are we any clearer on who authorised the smashing of the headstones?
I can’t believe it would have happened without a signoff.
I don’t want to demonise the ‘friends’ as they have done a lot of good things in the park. The picnic tables, flower beds and events are all very welcome and enjoyed by all residents. I live right next to the park and in the two years I have lived there I have liked seeing the little changes in the park.
Obviously whoever authorised the smashing should be held to account. All I am saying is lets not all demonise a group which has worked hard to regenerate an area which we now all enjoy.
I had a look yesterday, and was relieved to see that many headstones and memorials remain elsewhere in the park. It doesn’t diminish the crime, but I had the impression from the article that they had destroyed the lot.
Hi Yimby – it does say in the article, “Not all of the Headstones were damaged.”
Hard to imagine that *someone* involved woudn’t have said “hang on, are you sure this is right?” before going ahead.
Well I walked through the park on the day it happened and saw someone taking pictures of the cleared area and doing what looked like weeding. I asked what had happened and was told it was a regeneration thing.
Has anybody called the police yet? This is criminal damage, pure and simple.
There’s some serious issues surrounding the “friends” groups that Greenwich Council seems to be hoping will do some big society work – in Charlton, the group for Maryon Wilson Park didn’t know about the funding cut for the animal park; but in Greenwich, we can see this lot thinking they have so much power they can smash up gravestones. Unbelievable, but symptomatic of so many things that are wrong with the way the area is run.
What next? Trainee chainsaw operators “accidentally” chop down the trees? Or maybe some Napalm gets mixed in with the fertiliser perhaps? How can mistakes of this magnitude happen, pretty easily, it seems. Alas.
I so agree with you Darryl about the serious issues surrounding the “friends” groups. It is as if local councils and other authorities are saying, well, we don’t want to be bothered with running this or that project, pass it on to the local community with no proper regulation and let them get on with it, and if they mess up well too bad, we don’t live there. If a councillor or MP lived in the St Alfege Park area, I doubt very much this would have happened. Does anyone know whether “Friends” groups operate within any sort of codes of conduct?
The Friends of St Alfege have a lot of explaining to do bearing in mind there was a specific instruction not to interfere with the Headstones. Payback Team’s role was to carry out some general tidying up and painting rails. I am horrified that this has happened. The Friends of Parks are a voluntary Group representing the interests of residents. This incident beggers belief.
This is the most awful I have seen in years. These stones were an integral part of the history and charm of the yard. I hope the responsible individuals will be named, shamed and hopefully prosecuted.
Criminal charges have to be brought against the people responsible for this desecration. If this was in any way officially sanctioned, by ‘Friends’ or others, they should have the decency to fall on their sword and not only accept responsibility but also be prepared to pay the consequences.
Utterly horrified.
I am a member of the Friends of St Alfege Park. I can confirm that the Chair of the Friends group is currently away and we have been unable to make contact to clarify the facts and action being taken. In light of this I’m afraid we’re not yet in a position to respond. The Chair is due to return on Wednesday and we plan to issue a statement as soon as possible.
Jo, what mealy-mouthed comment is this?
You are saying you can’t respond until your Chair returns? So you have to wait for his/her OK before you can decide whether this is a good thing or not? Even a politician would add a statement of regret amid the pseudo-legalese about not being “in a position to respond.”
One can only presume, by your response, that this destruction isn’t a surprise to you?
Hi Pedro,
Please accept my apologies for the delay. The Friends are extremely concerned about recent events and it’s our number one priority to get the facts straight and communicate with you and other local residents. We will respond in full as soon as we can.
Jo
Not in a position to respond? then perhaps you can answer the question: Did any member of your group or anyone associated to your group know about the planned destruction of these grave stones before it happened?
Thank you, Jo. Look forward to the statement as soon as it becomes available.
LaurelleSE3, with all due respect this has nothing to do with proximity of the homes of local representatives to the park. I am one of the three elected Councillors for Greenwich West. I am also a member of the St Alfege Neighbourhood Residents Association (SANRA) and live a short distance from the park. I share the feelings of anger and outrage expressed by residents about this appalling incident. I also recognise that the Friends have made valuable improvements to the park over recent months but the fact remains that they were given clear instructions not to interfere with the Headstones and it appears they still decided to do so.
Are there any legible inscriptions on the damaged headstones or have they all been corroded by years of acid rain?
Without wishing to sound churlish, given modern communications – email, mobile phones and the like – not being able to make contact seems unlikely, unless the Chair is in the middle of nowhere. Given the upset this has caused, not to mention the suggestion that i could be a criminal matter, I am surprised at the lack of a prompt response.
Thanks for your reply. Of course I agree that the hypothesis does not always work in every instance, but you must surely be aware of the worrying trend, due mainly to the dire financial circumstances that public bodies find themselves in, towards the handing over control of various groups to non-elected and/or non-regulated organisations. I am not saying that this is to be discouraged, as sometimes it is the only way to maintain a local resource. However, your last sentence underlines my point regarding codes of conduct for these voluntary groups – surely there have to be some sort of rules to be followed in order to avoid the type of catastrophe that happened at St Alfege’s Park?
But what is the status of gravestones which have been weathered to the extent that the original inscriptions have gone and which long ago have been cleared to the edges of the park so that there is no relation to the graves which they once marked? What historical value do they have other than to show that this was once a graveyard? What have we really lost as a result of these stones being moved and broken up?
The Friends of Parks Forum is a consultative body. They are a valuable community body providing arange of voluntary support across the Borough . They are valued and appreciated. The Parks in the Borough remain within the Council. Control has not been handed to anybody.
Just seen this (I’m not currently in England) and to say that I was utterly appalled would be a massive understatement.
Can anyone say if the story been passed to the press, and other news media, as yet? It damned well should be.
So, John, someone’s failed in controlling those “friends”, surely?
The council can’t have it both ways here – if the “friends” are acting on the council’s behalf on council land, who’s keeping an eye on them?
Hi RogerW – the story is in today’s Mirror, Standard and other news outlets are interested. It’s also been on the Phantom and Londonist and in the Wharf.
I’m not sure they’ve all been weathered as much as you might have imagine. The picture linked to in this tweet clearly shows the name Elizabeth on a smashed stone.
It is clearly evident that this partnership working has stood the test of time. We will be setting out a set of protocols in writing. There is,however,a very clear understanding about roles and responsibilities but clearly has gone badly wrong on this occasion.
It’s hard to say how weathered they are. A lot of the headstones were clearly very weathered. I took some rubbings last summer and was still able to get names off them however. Some were a bit more broken up than others, with trees growing through them. But I think you’re missing the point, Hakinboy, these are markers for people’s graves and should be treated with respect. Clearly, historical value is important, but the desecration of gravestones stands for something a lot darker than just removing faded flagstones.
There is someone posting on here whose family married in the church and are buried there, for example. I met a couple this summer who were visiting the graveyard as they had traced their family tree and found they had relatives there. Ok, so the newest grave there was 200 years old or therabouts (am guessing) but it’s still enormously wanton and disrespectful.