How a Young Thomas Hardy Accidentally Created One of London’s Strangest Sights

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In 1866, a 23-year-old named Thomas Hardy was given a strange job in North London. He was not yet famous. He had not yet written a single novel. His task was simple, and a little grim: move the dead.

What he did next created one of London’s most photographed curiosities — a sight that draws visitors from across the world, even though almost nobody knows it exists until they stumble upon it.

The Young Man Nobody Had Heard Of

Thomas Hardy spent much of his twenties in London, working as a junior draughtsman for the architect Arthur Blomfield. The firm was based in Covent Garden. The work was steady and unglamorous — measuring, surveying, the practical machinery of Victorian construction.

Hardy was a quiet young man from Dorset who spent his evenings reading poetry and studying Greek. Nobody in the office suspected he would one day write Far From the Madding Crowd. He was simply the man with the measuring tape.

In 1866, Blomfield’s firm received an unusual commission. The Midland Railway was laying a new line into the newly built St Pancras Station. The route cut directly through the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church — one of the oldest Christian sites in England, with origins stretching back possibly to Roman times.

Thousands of graves lay in the path of the railway. Someone had to move the headstones. That someone was Hardy.

What He Did With the Stones

Hardy worked methodically. There were hundreds of carved Victorian headstones — far too many to deal with individually, and no obvious place to put them.

Near the back of the churchyard stood a large ash tree. Hardy stacked the headstones upright around its base, leaning them together in a loose ring. Their inscriptions faced outward. Some bore full names and dates. Others were worn smooth by decades of London weather.

He moved quickly. The railway was not going to wait.

The tree grew. Its roots spread outward and curled around the stone edges. The bark thickened. Over the following decades, the headstones sank slowly into the churchyard earth, held in place by roots that had grown around and through them.

Nobody meant for it to become remarkable. But that is exactly what it became.

The Church That Has Stood for Fifteen Centuries

St Pancras Old Church sits on Pancras Road in Camden, easy to miss if you are walking quickly. A low wall separates it from the street. A handful of old trees lean over the path. It does not announce itself.

But this is one of the oldest Christian sites in England. Some historians trace its origins to the fourth century — before the concept of England itself, when Roman soldiers still occupied what would become London. The Normans rebuilt it. The Victorians modified it. It has survived the Great Fire, two world wars, and the relentless pressure of a city that never stops changing.

Step through the gate and the street noise fades. The churchyard is small and green and quiet — the way old London churchyards often are, as though the city agreed, long ago, to leave this particular place alone.

If you are planning a visit to this part of the city, our three-day London itinerary for first-time visitors covers the best way to structure your time around King’s Cross and the surrounding area.

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The Writer Buried Here Before Hardy Was Born

At the far end of the churchyard, look for a simple flat stone.

It marks the grave of Mary Wollstonecraft, who published A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. She was one of the first people in Britain to argue in print that women deserved equal education and equal rights. She died in 1797, aged 38, shortly after giving birth to her daughter.

That daughter was Mary Godwin — later Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

As a girl, Mary Shelley spent hours in this churchyard reading beside her mother’s grave. She met the poet Percy Shelley here for quiet conversations in the early days of their relationship. Some biographers believe this place — the atmosphere of loss and memory and silence — shaped the imagination that would create one of literature’s most enduring monsters.

Hardy moved the stones. Mary Shelley dreamed of the dead brought back to life. Both did it in the same small North London churchyard, decades apart, without knowing they would one day share this connection.

For another corner of literary London, the story of Southwark Cathedral and Shakespeare’s theatre district is one of the city’s great untold histories.

Visiting the Hardy Tree Today

The ash tree at the centre of the Hardy Tree died in 2022. Camden Council felled it that year for safety reasons.

What remains — the ring of stacked Victorian headstones around the old stump and roots — is still there. If anything, it feels more affecting now. The tree is gone but the stones stay, leaning together as Hardy left them, quietly marking the passage of time in a city that barely pauses to notice.

To reach St Pancras Old Church, head to Pancras Road in Camden, roughly ten minutes on foot from King’s Cross St Pancras Station. Exit via the Pancras Road exit and walk north. The church sits on the left, behind a low stone wall.

The churchyard is open during daylight hours. Entry is always free. The Hardy Tree is near the far end of the ground, to the left of the main church building. You will know it when you see it.

If you are still planning your trip, our guide to the best time to visit London will help you choose when to come.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Hardy Tree in London?

The Hardy Tree is a ring of Victorian gravestones stacked around an old ash tree stump in the churchyard of St Pancras Old Church in Camden. Thomas Hardy arranged them in 1866 while clearing the churchyard to make way for the Midland Railway line. The original tree died in 2022, but the circle of headstones remains in place and is free to visit.

Can you still visit the Hardy Tree?

Yes. Although the ash tree was felled in 2022 after it died, the ring of headstones remains intact around the old stump and roots. The churchyard of St Pancras Old Church is open during daylight hours and is always free to enter. The Hardy Tree is near the far end of the churchyard, to the left of the church building.

Who is buried at St Pancras Old Church?

Mary Wollstonecraft, the pioneering eighteenth-century writer and mother of Mary Shelley, is buried in the churchyard. Her simple grave is at the far end of the site. The churchyard contains graves spanning several centuries of London history, making it one of the oldest burial sites in the city.

How far is St Pancras Old Church from King’s Cross Station?

It is roughly a ten-minute walk. Exit King’s Cross St Pancras Station via the Pancras Road exit and head north along Pancras Road. The church is on the left, behind a low stone wall. Look for the small gate entrance on the right side of the wall.

London has landmarks that everyone photographs and places that almost no one finds. St Pancras Old Church belongs firmly in the second category.

Come for the Hardy Tree. Stay for Mary Wollstonecraft. Leave wondering what else this city has quietly hidden in plain sight — if you only know where to look.

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