Streetsensation home page London's best 100 streets

© Streetsensation.co.uk

More ultra-short walks

Person walking in London The Garden of Rest in London's Marylebone

Marylebone High Street

Garden of Rest

A two minute walk from Daunt Books

London ultra-short walk - 22

At the top end of Marylebone High Street is a small open space called the Garden of Rest.


Originally the site of the parish church, the structure was badly damaged by Blitz bombings during World War II and eventually demolished in 1949.


The surrounding walls of the garden feature plaques detailing some of the individuals who were buried here, including James Figg, a bare-knuckle boxing champion, and George Stubbs, the 18th-century artist known for his horse portraits.


There is also a memorial to Charles Wesley, the prolific hymnwriter who wrote "Hark the Herald Angels Sing".


Just outside the garden and standing 100 feet tall, is the Marylebone elm tree, an extremely rare survivor of the devastating fungal disease which killed over 25 million British elms in the 1960s and 70s.