There I was, slouching about in London with ‘he who must be disobeyed’ in search of the Postman’s Park. Have you been? If not, nip along. It’s almost next door to the Museum of London. It’ll pull at your heartstrings.
Postman’s Park is on the site of the former HQ of the General Post Office, and is one of the largest parks in the City of London. It is tucked away almost next to the Museum of London, at St Martin’s le Grand, EC1A.Tube: St Paul’s.
Buses: 4, 8, 25, 56, 100, 172, 242
When you see the blue old police box, just turn into the gates. The Postman’s Park opened in 1880 on the site of the former churchyard and burial ground of St. Botolph’s Aldersgate.
As you enter you will see ahead of you, and beyond the circular flowerbed, a loggia and long wall. It is this you must head for, past the headstones, past office workers eating their lunch, past the circular bed, lovely though it is.
Your goal is Victorian painter and sculptor George Frederick Watt’s wall of ceramic memorial tables honouring the self sacrifice of ordinary people.
In 1900 Watt’s felt driven to create this memorial, determined that acts of bravery performed by ordinary people should be commemorated.
Only four of the memorial tablets were in place at the time of its opening, with a further nine tablets added during Watts’s lifetime.
Watts’s wife, Mary, took over the project after Watts’s death in 1904, and oversaw the installation of a further 35 memorial tablets as well as a sculpture of her husband.
Later, increasingly pre-occupied with the Watts Gallery, which still features her husband’s work at Compton, near Guildford, she ceased involvement, and only five further tablets were added during her lifetime.
In 1972, key elements of the park were designated Grade 11 listed. Following the 2004 film Closer, which set some key scenes within Postman’s Park, interest was stirred again. Recently, a free mobile app, The Everyday Heroes of Postman’s Park was launched which documents those commemorated on the memorial. New tablets are still being added. Mary and George would have been delighted.
I remember the plaque I came across in the West Australian bush, when researching a novel for Heinemann. The plaque commemorated a young girl who lay across her siblings when a bush fire raged over them on their way home from school. She died, they survived.
Ordinary people do extraordinary things, not the least being our young troops out on patrol day after day in war zones. It is right and good that we remember every one of these ordinary people. Are you supporting the Invectus Games? I do hope so.
