Blessings and Bards: Southwark Cathedral to Crossbones Graveyard

Walking back from the pub in the backstreets of London Bridge, a short walk from Shakespeare's Globe, Southwark Cathedral and The Shard, you might pass a fence decorated with ribbons, poems, pictures, flowers and other sentimental items.

Behind it is Crossbones graveyard, an old burial ground with an extraordinary history. For centuries it was a paupers' graveyard for the area formerly known as The Mint, one of London's poorest and most violent slums. According to local lore, it was once the final resting place for the Winchester Geese, medieval sex workers licensed by the Bishop of Winchester to work in the brothels of The Liberty of the Clink, which lay outside the law of the City of London.

Although licensed (and taxed of course) by the church, the sex workers were prohibited from being buried in consecrated ground, and many of them, along with other societal outcasts, were buried at Crossbones, with an estimated 15000 burials including children.

Today, every year on the Sunday nearest to the feast day of Mary Magdalene, Southwark Cathedral carries out a procession from the Cathedral to Crossbones to perform an annual act of regret, remembrance and restoration.

The blessings are followed by music, songs and performances. All audience members are invited to participate, so feel free to prepare something to share, although this is by no means mandatory!

We will meet outside the cathedral (check comments on the day for exact location) to follow the procession and join the event which lasts until 4. If there's interest on the day, we can head to a nearby pub for drinks and chat afterwards!

(This is a free event, so we ask that you please keep RSVPs updated to ensure that as many people as possible who want to come are able to. Cancellations with less than three days’ notice may be removed from the group to prevent wasted spaces in future. Many thanks for your understanding!)

Source: https://crossbones.org.uk
Photo source: https://bost.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Bankside_SecretGardenFEB2022.pdf