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Altab Ali Park (also known as White Chapel Church Yard, St Mary's Gardens, St Mary Matfelon)

Introduction

A number of monuments remain from the churchyard within the grass and stacked in the west corner. The gardens were re-named Altab Ali Park in 1989 in memory of a young Bengali man who had been murdered in a racist attack here in 1978; a Memorial Gateway was commissioned and inscribed plaques were set into the pathway. Re-landscaping is being carried out in 2011.

Visitor Access, Directions & Contacts

Access contact details

Opening is unrestricted.

Directions

Tube: Aldgate East (District; Hammersmith & City). Bus: 25, 15, 253.

Owners

LB Tower Hamlets

History

19th - 20th Century

The last church was built in 1875 but later destroyed in air raids in 1940, and demolished in 1945, although part of the 19th-century boundary walls and gate piers at the former entrance remain. Adjacent to the latter is a gothic drinking fountain dated 1860, erected here in 1879, with the inscription 'erected by one unknown and yet well known'.

In 1966 the church site was laid out as a public garden, with the footprint of the church outlined in concrete blocks flush with the grass.

Features & Designations

Features

  • Drinking Fountain
  • Description: Gothic drinking fountain, dated 1860, erected in 1879, with the inscription 'erected by one unknown and yet well known'.
Key Information

Type

Funerary Site

Purpose

Ornamental

Principal Building

Parks, Gardens And Urban Spaces

Survival

Extant

Hectares

0.5

Open to the public

Yes