Boundary wall of former graveyard forming the perimeter of Old Paradise Gardens, including attached gravestones and chest tombs

Graveyard boundary wall, probably originally laid out in the C18 but extended and largely rebuilt in about 1815. There are some C20 alterations or additions, which are of lesser interest. Gravestones and chest tombs of C18 and C19 date are attached to the wall.

MATERIALS: dark red brick laid in Flemish bond with a stone coping in places, and piers and iron railings near the south-east corner.

PLAN: the graveyard boundary wall encloses a broadly L-shaped area.

DESCRIPTION: a graveyard boundary wall with gravestones and chest tombs attached to the interior of the wall, forming the perimeter of an L-shaped former burial ground. Beginning at the north and moving clockwise the wall runs south from Old Paradise Street. The first 4.4m appears to be a later C20 addition and is of lesser interest. It is joined to an early C19 wall, which continues south. This length of wall is 23 courses high above ground level, battered from midsection down and topped by a rowlock course. Gravestones and chest tombs dating to the C18 and C19 are mortared onto the inside edge. The wall meets a pier topped by a coping stone before heading east behind Gabriel House; a length of similar early C19 construction, incorporating a further pier, except for a 13.6m section at the east end which is constructed of C20 glazed brick. This 13.6m length of C20 wall is of lesser interest. At the north-east corner of the former burial ground there is an approximate 10m gap in the original course of the wall but beyond that it survives as lower courses running south. Abutting the lower courses is a separate wall* of C20 rendered brick; this wall is not included in the listing. At a distance of about 38m from the north-east corner, the early C19 boundary wall rises to full height surmounted by a stone coping. It continues running south before it meets a lower wall topped by an iron railing at the south-east corner of the former burial ground where there is an entrance formed of brick piers surmounted by concrete caps. The south length varies in height, still with gravestones mortared onto the inside, reducing to a low level where it meets the west length behind Whitgift House. From the south-west corner, the west length of boundary wall runs northwards, varying in height and incorporating later phases. There is: a relieving arch near the corner, probably for a former opening (now blocked); an entrance flanked by brick piers near the middle of this length; and an external blind arcade of four arches and buttresses near the north end. Adjoining the north end is a 7.3m length of wall of probable later C20 construction, which heads west towards Lambeth High Street and is of lesser interest.

• Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’), it is declared that this aforementioned feature is not of special architectural or historic interest.