Several years ago when I was exploring the often overlooked landmarks of London I visited the Hardy Tree in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church.
The tree, an ash tree, was so named because of its association with the author, Thomas Hardy. Before he became famous for his novels and poetry on rural life he had been a trainee architect living in London for a while. One of the projects he worked on was to oversee the removal of human remains from the churchyard, parts of which would be lost to the railway line into St Pancras that was just being built at that time (the 1860s).
Hardy had the idea to pile up many of the gravestones that had to be removed around a single tree. Over the years the tree grew spreading out over the stones that huddled around its base. These were possibly the only reminders now of the people that had been marked by these gravestones.
Over 150 years later the tree began to show its age. In 2014 it was discovered that it had contracted a parasitic disease; a fence was put around it to protect visitors. Then in December 2022 the tree finally fell.
In June 2025 I revisited the site to see what remained …
In one case part of a stone remains like a broken tooth.
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