Joseph Grimaldi Park | |
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Burial Ground of St James's | |
![]() Joseph Grimaldi Park after its 2010 refurbishment | |
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Type | public garden |
Location | London, England |
Coordinates | 51°31′55″N0°06′54″W / 51.532°N 0.115°W |
Area | 0.5 hectares (1 acre) |
Operated by | London Borough of Islington |
Open | 8am-dusk |
Status | Open year round |
Website | islington |
Joseph Grimaldi Park is a public garden located off Pentonville Road in Islington, north London. The former burial grounds for St James's Anglican Chapel (formerly known as the Burial Ground of St James's) are located within the park, which is named after the pantomime clown Joseph Grimaldi, who is buried here. [1]
Following refurbishment in 2010, the park now includes a musical artwork dedicated to Grimaldi and his employer at Sadler's Wells, Charles Dibdin. [1]
The former burial ground dates to the 18th century. A proprietary chapel on the Pentonville Estate was built in 1787 and four years later became St James's, a chapel of ease for Clerkenwell parish church. St James's was given its own parish in 1854. By the late 19th century the grounds had been converted to a public garden and were later extended. [1] [2]
By the 20th century the church building had become redundant and was demolished in the 1980s to make way for an office building – originally known as Joseph Grimaldi House and now renamed. [1]
The park extends to 0.5 hectares (1 acre) and includes a tarmac ball court, children's playground and shrub beds. Notable trees include specimens of lime, London plane and horse-chestnut. [1]
Joseph Grimaldi's grave is enclosed within railings and stands in the south-east corner, close to the entrance into Rodney Street. Other notable burials on the site include Henry Penton, responsible for many early developments in the area, including the church building that once stood on the site. Some remaining headstones are stacked by the northern boundary. [1]
A tree and plaque remembering the former deputy mayor of Islington Paul Matthews, who championed the restoration of Grimaldi's grave, are also sited in the park. [3] [4]
The park was refurbished in 2010, with landscaping by Latz + Partner, which appointed Henry Krokatsis to create a public artwork in honour of Grimaldi and the English dramatist Charles Dibdin. Twin casket-shaped installations made up of bronze floor tiles are designed to be walked on, playing musical notes. The tiles are tuned so that it's possible to play "Hot Codlins", a song popularised by Grimaldi. [5]
Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about 1.6 hectares in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Corporation.
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Joseph Grimaldi was an English actor, comedian and dancer, who became the most popular English entertainer of the Regency era. In the early 19th century, he expanded the role of Clown in the harlequinade that formed part of British pantomimes, notably at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and the Sadler's Wells and Covent Garden theatres. He became so dominant on the London comic stage that the harlequinade role of Clown became known as "Joey", and both the nickname and Grimaldi's whiteface make-up design were, and still are, used by other types of clowns. Grimaldi originated catchphrases such as "Here we are again!", which continue to feature in modern pantomimes.
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Charles Isaac Mungo Dibdin, or Charles Pitt or Charles Dibdin the younger, as he was professionally known, was an English dramatist, composer, writer and theatre proprietor. He was perhaps best known for his proprietorship of the Sadler's Wells Theatre and for the pantomimes and satirical farces that he wrote, and which were staged at many theatres across London. He employed Joseph Grimaldi at Sadler's Wells where Grimaldi appeared in many of his most successful pantomimes. He was the son of Charles Dibdin, brother of Thomas John Dibdin and godson of David Garrick.
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