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(c) THE CHURCHYARDS OF ST. JOHN'S, HOXTON, AND
ST. MARY'S, HAGGERSTON.
The Burial Board in the early part of the year considered the system of making
a yearly grant of £25 to the Vicars for maintaining these churchyards as public gardens
au unsatisfactory one, and resolved to appoint caretakers and gardeners themselves, and
to provide such plants, shrubs, and materials as might be required. Advertisements
were accordingly issued for gardeners, and George Cowley was appointed gardener
aud caretaker for St. John's, Hoxton, at £1 per week; and John McCulloch was
appointed gardener and caretaker for St. Mary's, Haggerston, at £1 per week. The
wages of these men are paid out of the funds of the Burial Board, and any plants,
flowers and materials required to keep up the gardens, are also provided out of the same
fund, as has been done in the case of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. Details of the expenditure
on each churchyard will be found in the Abstract of Accounts.
(d) CHURCHYARD OF ST. LEONARD, SHOREDITCH.
The Metropolitan Public Gardens Association have kindly provided a number of
seats for this churchyard, which were much required, and they have also planted
several creepers and plants, and thus brightened up the ground considerably. It
was found necessary, owing to the number of children who resorted go this ground, and
the difficulty of keeping them from damaging the grass and flowers, to portion off a
part of the ground specially for their use, and by this means the rest of the ground can
be kept for adults in a much more satisfactory way than heretofore.
(e) HOXTON SQUARE.
A strong effort was made by the Vestry to get this very desirable open square
thrown open to the public as a recreation ground. The old Act of Geo. II, under which
the square was originally enclosed,, recited that its enclosure was effected "for the
public convenience," and the public right of access which formerly existed was never
expressly taken away by the Enclosure Act. As the occupation of the surroundinghouses
has no;v almost entirely changed from residential to business purposes, the
square is not used by the bulk of the occupiers of houses in the square, very few of
whom now reside there, and the want of an open space in this locality is so much felt,
that the Vestry have for some time been endeavouring to persuade the Trustees and
Owners of the square to transfer the square to them on equitable terms, for the purpose
of a public recreation ground.
With this end in view the Parliamentary and Improvement Committee approached
the Trustees, but met with a strong opposition from a few owners who still resided in
the square. On the llth April, 1891, the occupiers of the square presented a petition
to the Vestry praying for the roadway surrounding the square, which is in a very bad
condition, to be re-paved. The Vestry referred this petition to the Parliamentary
Committee, who considered the question, and came to the conclusion that this roadway
had never been taken over by the Vestry, and so was not repairable by the inhabitants
at large, and that the owners of the adjoining property were liable to repair it. The
owners urged that some temporary repairs of the road had been executed in the past by
the Vestry, and that the footway had been paved and kept in order by the Vestry. With
e