East Greenwich Pleasaunce

East Greenwich Pleasaunce is a public park in East Greenwich, in south-east London. It is situated to the north side of the railway line between Maze Hill and Westcombe Park railway stations and south of the A206 Woolwich Road.

1882 map showing Greenwich Hospital cemetery to southeast of workhouse

The park, opened in 1857, was originally the graveyard of Greenwich Hospital. Due to construction of a railway tunnel as part of the London and Greenwich Railway, the remains of around 3000 sailors and officers, including those who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar and the Crimean War were removed from the Hospital site in 1875 and reinterred in the Pleasaunce (named after the former Royal Palace of Placentia or Palace of Pleasaunce).[1]

Plaque regarding mass burial site at East Greenwich Pleasaunce.

Those buried in the Pleasaunce include:

  • Lieutenant James Berry (d.1930), Curator of the Royal Naval Museum for 17 years
  • John Booth (1781-1858). Born Northowram, West Yorkshire. Served at the Battle of Trafalgar as a Royal Marine in HMS Revenge. In July 1852 became a Greenwich Hospital in-pensioner.
  • John Davidson (d. 31 January 1881), surgeon, Inspector-General of the Royal Navy, and Honorary Physician to Queen Victoria.[2]
  • Sir John Liddell (d. 29 May 1868), Director-General of the Medical Department of the Royal Navy (1855-1864)[3]
  • Anthony Sampayo, French Ambassador to England
  • James Shepherd (d.1907) for 18 years Queen Victoria's boatswain's mate on the Royal Yacht HMY Victoria and Albert (1855)

There are 19 Commonwealth naval personnel burials of the 1914-1918 war and two from the 1939-1945 war.[4]

In 1926 the Pleasaunce was sold to the Metropolitan Borough of Greenwich, the Admiralty reserving rights of further burials. Railings around the tombstones were removed and part of the ground was landscaped as a park.

Today, the Pleasaunce has a small children's playground (installed in 2001), a community centre (The Bridge,[5] formerly the under-5s One O'clock Club run by Royal Borough of Greenwich), a cafeteria and a small war memorial.

References
  1. Park Explorer- East Greenwich Pleasaunce Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine, Greenwich Council - East Greenwich Pleasaunce
  2. "EAST GREENWICH PLEASAUNCE, GREENWICH, LONDON, ENGLAND". Wartime Memorials. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
  3. Obituary: Sir John Liddell, KCB, MD, British Medical Journal, 6 June 1868, p.574.
  4. "Greenwich Royal Naval Cemetery". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 10 February 2014.
  5. "The Bridge". FEGP. Retrieved 9 June 2015.

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