Tag Archives: churchyard

The barons or Barrons buried in a village in Cambridgeshire

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COMBERTON IS A DELIGHTFUL small village not far from Cambridge. A graveyard surrounds its parish church of St Mary, which stands south of the village. While looking around the graves in the churchyard, I came across a stone with the following inscription carved in it:

“In memory of the Barrons of the Manor of Birdlines 1400 – 1805, over 60 of whom lie buried here. Six within the church. R.I.P.”

I wondered about the Manor of Birdlines, and resorted to the Internet. After the Norman Conquest, Comberton was divided into three manors. One of these was Birdlines (also spelled as ‘Berdlines’, ‘Birdling’, and ‘Burdelins’). By 1300, the manor became owned by the Chambers family of Epping, following a marriage, Then, in 1514, the manor was sold to the Bishop of Winchester. Thus, it became part of the Savoy Hospital Estates, which were established by King Edward VI’s charter. The manor’s lands were allotted to London’s St Thomas Hospital, and its governors became titular Lords of the Manor. They continued in this role until 1974. All this information and much more can be found at https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol5/pp175-189 .

The memorial to the Barrons of Birdline

There is a Birdline manor house in Comberton. It was built in the eighteenth century on the site of an earlier one. What puzzled me was why the “Barrons of Birdline” continued to be buried in Comberton’s churchyard and church until 1805. I cannot explain that yet,  but I wondered if, after that date, the “Barrons” no longer lived in the village. Or was the word ‘Barron’ on the memorial a family name, rather than a misspelling of the word ‘Baron’, which I had assumed when seeing it? A little more research revealed that there was a Barron family in Comberton. A website (https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/G3LT-KYN/richard-barron-1560-1618) gives the following information:

“When Richard Barron was born about 1560, in Comberton, Cambridgeshire, England, United Kingdom, his father, Thomas Barron Snr, was 21 and his mother, Jeane Bonner, was 21. He had at least 1 son with Margaret Meads Feato BRUMSTED. He died in April 1618, in Comberton, Cambridgeshire, England, at the age of 59.”

Having discovered this, I now favour the idea that the monument commemorates not the barons of Birdline but members of the Barron family, who lived in the manor.

Discovering a garden in London’s Piccadilly

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WE HAVE WALKED along Jermyn Street and visited Christopher Wren’s church of St James (Piccadilly) innumerable times without being aware that right next to both, there is an attractive public garden. It was only today (the 10th of September 2024) that we first became aware of its existence. The place in question is Southwood Garden. It lies west of the church and along part of the north side of Jermyn Street.

For 200 years the plot to the west of the church was used as a burial ground. At the end of WW2, the newspaper proprietor and Labour politician Viscount Southwood (1873-1946) paid to have the burial ground made into a garden to commemorate the bravery and courage of the people of London. The garden was opened in 1946 by Queen Mary (the wife of King George V).

The garden is approached by short flights of steps, which flank a small pond with a fountain. The pond is flanked by bronze sculptures of two children, each riding on the backs of a pair of dolphins. There are two other sculpted children, one on each side of the steps. At the top of the steps, there  is a stone inscribed with “Viscount Southwood”. The few steps lead to a paved area, at the back of which there is an inscribed plaque explaining that Viscount Southwood provided the garden that stands on what had been a bomb-damaged burial ground. Another couple of steps at the southeast corner of the paved area lead up to the well-tended grassy, rectangular garden.

In addition to the sculptures of children astride dolphins, there is another bronze sculpture in the garden. It depicts a standing woman holding some leaves in her right hand. It is called “Peace”. All the sculptures at Southwood Garden were made by the English sculptor Alfred Frank Hardiman (1891-1949).

How could we have missed this delightful garden? There are two possible reasons. First, you cannot see it from Jermyn Street. Second, the fountain and entrance to the gardens are almost hidden behind the food stalls, which are set up during the day in the paved courtyard on the north side of the church. Well, I am pleased that we have ‘discovered’ it at last.