St John’s Wood All Saints

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Parish History
St John’s Wood All Saints, Middlesex. During the Middle Ages, St John’s Wood really was a wood, which took its name from the Knights Hospitaller of St John of Jerusalem who owned the land. There was a small settlement on the bourne or river that flowed to the south, with a church dedicated to St Mary from about 1400. This became known as St Mary on the Bourne - later shortened to St Marylebone. London itself began to expand northwards from Westminster in the 17th century as far as the new Road - now known as Marylebone Road. The area that now forms Regent’s Park was farmland until the Prince Regent employed his architect, John Nash, to build the grand terraces that still dominate the park. A proposal to build a royal palace in the middle of the park was abandoned in favour of building the present Buckingham Palace at the beginning of the 19th century. Westminster City Council first bought the plot of land, which now forms the burial ground behind St John’s Wood Church in 1808, and the church itself was built to accommodate the growing population of the neighbourhood by the Vestry of St Marylebone Church in 1814. The architect was Thomas Hardwick who also built the new church at St Marylebone shortly afterwards. Thomas Lord moved his cricket ground to St John’s Wood at the same time, and he offered his new Pavilion for the celebrations connected with the consecration of the completed church on Tuesday 24th May 1814. In 1886 the burial ground was closed and in 1889 St John’s Wood Chapel became part of the parish of Christchurch Cosway Street. In 1952 the Chapel became a parish church replacing St Stephen’s, Avenue Road, which had been damaged in the war.

[Adapted from St John's Wood All Saints website.]

The original "All Saints, St John's Wood" was situated in Finchley Road, just north of the current St John's Wood underground Station. In 1974 All Saints' Church was closed and the Vicar of Saint John's Wood was appointed Priest-in-Charge of All Saints' parish. The parish was united with the parish of Saint John's Wood (P89/JN1) in 1976, except for the parts of the former parish lying to the west of Wellington Road and Finchley Road which were transferred to the parishes of Saint Mark, Hamilton Terrace, Saint Marylebone (P89/MRK2) and All Souls, Loudoun Road, South Hampstead.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
To find the names of the neighbouring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

The London Metropolitan Archiveshold records of the parish of All Saints, Finchley Road, Saint John's Wood, (1845-1978) including registers of baptisms, marriages, confirmations and banns; registers of services and preachers; papers relating to personnel; Parochial Church Council minutes and correspondence; financial records; parish magazines; photographs; citations, faculties, agreements and reports relating to the maintenance of the church building. (P89/ALL1/001-081)

The London Metropolitan Archives also holds the records of the parish of Saint John, Lord's Roundabout, St John's Wood, (1814-1993) including registers of burials, baptisms, marriages, banns and church services; papers of the incumbents including licences; papers relating to parochial boundaries; papers relating to the benefice; faculties and citations; financial records; minutes of the Parochial Church Council; records of Christ Church Schools; histories of the church; statistics; and parish newsletters. (P89/JN1/001-225)

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Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Middlesex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites

 * St John's Wood Church (official website)