Radical histories… Soul journeys… Time Travel… Night Creatures… Literary titans.

St Mary’s Old Church is London’s only surviving Elizabethan churchyard, where the tombstone inscriptions have been lost to weather and time. This self-directed audio trail pieces together the fragments of story.

Your guides are the poets Abstract Benna and Jean Sprackland. You’ll discover the setting for Edgar Allen Poe’s chilling tales. You’ll meet the man who lived for a year as a graveyard fox. You’ll experience the Enlightenment poetry and activism of the permanent residents. However, Stoke Newington’s 21st century teenagers have the first and last word – they are the ones who keep watch over the long-forgotten dead.

Start point: the archway with the lantern,
The Old Church, Stoke Newington Church Street, N16 9ES.

The audio tour features the following pieces of music by Mercury nominated folk singer Sam Lee, who regularly performs at The Old Church:
*Bonnie Bunch of Roses (sung a capella)
*Lay This Body Down (sung a capella)
*Lay This Body Down (album recording, licensed courtesy of Cooking Vinyl Limited), performed by Sam Lee and produced by Bernard Butler.