The City of London has wonderfully relaxing places that are free and easily accessible. If you want an oasis of peace in your lunch hour or a place to escape from the pressures of work, there's somewhere just on your doorstep.
Peace in the City Postman's Park
Postman’s Park was opened in 1880 and made up of bits of land from adjoining churchyards. In 1887 the wall of plaques was begun; to remember people who died saving others. Up until just a few years ago the park would be full of postmen from London's biggest post office in St. Martin's-le-Grand. Now the Posties 
are gone but the plaques remain under the beautiful canopy.
Hundreds of them recall Londoners who died saving people from fire, drowning, trains, ice, falling and many other fates.
It's a beautiful place, dedicated to a beautiful cause. Nearest tube is St. Paul's, head towards the Museum of London and it's on the left just before Little Britain.
Peace in the City Smithfield
Only a few minutes from Barbican or Farringdon tube stations and you are in one of the City’s most peaceful and historically fascinating spots.
Smithfield is a large open space surrounded by the meat market, Bart's Hospital and church. In the middle is a clump of half a dozen large plane trees guarding one of London's darkest secrets.
Here for at least four centuries people were put to death for crimes, misdemeanours or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Witches, Protestants, Catholics were amongst those burnt at the stake, in cages, hung, drawn and quartered. Belonging to the "wrong" religion was bad news, fatal unless you recanted. The carnage was at it's height during the 16th Century: in the four years of Mary Tudor's reign alone, over two hundred martyrs were burned. In 1381 Wat Tyler was killed in the Peasants' Revolt.
Smithfield is a place where power was imposed for centuries: where the mob came for entertainment. Now in the middle of the garden you can sit and eat your sandwiches beneath the statue of an Angel of peace.
Bartholomew's Fair took place here on 24th August each year from 1133 until 1855 when it was suppressed by the City Authorities: It was an outrageous affair ~ see Ben Jonson's novel of the same name.
The church of St. Bartholomew the Great dates from 1123 and in the 14th Century the wide open space was used for jousting. If you take away all the other relatively modern buildings you can see how many roads converge here. I counted eleven. This has been a significant place in London for thousands of years. It has a brooding air reminiscent of the Bastille. Try sitting in the gardens under the Plane trees and see if you can feel it.
Peace in the City The Barbican lake
At the Barbican Arts Centre the lake is a gem. You will find fish, ducks, geese, herons - all to the sound of running water.
Built on the site of a Victorian debtors prison and the old goods yard it is enclosed on all sides so no city noise intrudes.
On a pleasant day you can sit by the lake to enjoy its gentle, relaxing atmosphere or have a coffee at the lakeside café. If you're lucky you'll hear arias from the sopranos practicing in the Guildhall School of Music & Drama drifting across as fish lazily plop in and out of the water.
Peace in the City The River Thames
Do you ever go down to the river? Just strolling along either side of the Thames or crisscrossing the bridges can blow away the stresses of the day and leave you feeling refreshed and renewed.
Peace in the City Bunhill Fields Cemetery
William Blake (1757-1827)
Although one of England's greatest poets lived mostly in Soho and Lambeth, he ended up in the Dissenters cemetery at Bunhill Fields along with his adored wife.
Although he died so long ago, some people still put flowers beside the stone which is more or less in the middle of the cemetery underneath a huge fig tree.
Bunhill Fields is a wonderful place to stroll through or sit in. As well as William Blake, there are many other famous people buried here such as Daniel Defoe and John Bunyan.
Bunhill fields can be reached at the northern end of Moorgate near Old Street roundabout.
Peace in the City Charterhouse Monastery
Just off the Clerkenwell Road, in Charterhouse Street, is the 14th century monastery of Charterhouse, home to forty or so distinguished gentlemen.
The monastery has seen much during it's seven hundred years: plagues, bombing, religious persecution but now it is perhaps at its epitome of peace.
There are tours of the Charterhouse on certain days of the week and a sign is posted on the gate giving times and dates.
Peace in the City Salters’ Garden
Here you will be surprised to find a delightful mini Versailles with rose bowers urns, vistas and fountains. Beneath a sizeable chunk of the Roman London Wall, this garden is a gem, where you can sit between the beech hedges a few steps below road level, buffered from the traffic noise of London Wall.
You can find this garden by turning into Wood Street, off London Wall and following the road round as it changes its name to Fore Street. Salters’ Hall is at No. 4 Fore Street.
Peace in the City Barber-Surgeons’ Hall Garden
Stroll down the ramp of London Wall Car Park, by 140 London Wall and you will find yourself in a very interesting setting. In AD 122 Emperor Hadrian built a stone fort in the City.
Around AD 300, 21 bastions were added, each one with a giant catapult to shoot iron bolts, the garden is in bastion number 13. The garden was constructed on a post-World War Two derelict bombsite and has a combination of hilly open land with little planting, formal beds and a small apothecarys’ garden, with medicinal plants that have been used since the earliest times to the present day.
The first reference to an herb garden belonging to the Barber-Surgeons’ Company was at a meeting of the Court in 1597. I think this garden is particularly atmospheric and has a strong sense of the past. The square next to the garden is Monkswell Square. I wonder if it is the site of an ancient monastery?
Peace in the City Finsbury Circus
This was originally a fen on a moor known as Fensbury, and was formed by the blocking, after the Roman invaders had left, of culverts into the city wall for the River Walbrook.
In the early 15 th century the wall was breached at this point and Moorgate was completed. By 1606, the level of the moor had been raised and laid out with elm trees and benches and the area became London’s first public park. Nowadays, it has a delightfully genteel aura, with its bowling green (home to the City of London Bowling Club) and formal planting.
There is a wine bar and restaurant in the middle of the garden. You can access Finsbury Circus from Moorgate, just take the turning next to the Nat West bank.
Peace in the City The Quiet Garden
Treats are in store when you seek out this tiny award-winning garden attached to St Joseph’s Church off Bunhill Row. In memory to Cardinal Basil Hume, this zen space has been purposefully created by Father Bruno Healy, together with landscape gardener Simon Peter Stobart, as an oasis of peace in the City.
It is somewhere for people to pause, ponder and rest awhile, leaving refreshed. Hemmed in by concrete buildings, Fr Healy made a bold move to turn the church car park into something more friendly and useful, so instead of revving engines and exhaust fumes, the space now provides the sound of flowing water and wind chimes. The garden is usually open from Easter to October, Tuesdays to Saturdays from 8.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.
St. Joseph’s Church itself is a genuine find and must be one of the most attractive and out of the ordinary places in the City. It is unique, emphasising colour, design and art. If part of the raison d’etre of a church is to provide a sense of peace, this one wins hands down. St. Joseph’s Church and Quiet Garden is at 15 Lamb’s Passage, off Bunhill Row, EC1. Bunhill Row lies between Chiswell Street and Old Street. www.AtPrayerintheCity.com
A big thank you to James Davey (who has left the City that he loves so much to fulfil his dream in West Dorset as a garlic farmer) for these great photos.
Amanda Falkson. Psychotherapycity.
Humanistic Psychotherapist & Counsellor in Central London.
© Amanda Falkson 2005
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