Christ Church Gardens Update

We write with an update on Christ Church Gardens.

The Church reports that works to the Churchyard will likely begin during Summer 2028 but details have not yet been shared. Both the Church and Local Authority are actively planning for removal of the building unlawfully built in 2013, and restoration of the churchyard open space. The Church has promised that local people will be kept informed of progress and that both the process itself and any associated documents will be fully disclosed and consulted upon in a timely manner.

We have asked whether the coffin of Philip Ouvry can be returned to his family vault.  The lead coffin was badly damaged by heavy diggers and reburied under the new building site without notice to the family who have 2 memorial plaques inside the church and their family vault in the churchyard.

In 2019 the ecclesiastical appeal court granted a Restoration (demolition) Order to remove the 2013 building unlawfully built next to the Church on the consecrated churchyard, the public open space Setting integral to the Grade 1 listed church.

The Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields were the Trust that planned, managed and funded the £15 million restoration of Christ Church. The restoration included £500k of works to the churchyard: Reinstatement of the South Steps, the new Crypt entrance, restoration of the Nash Monument, and the new Commercial Street railings and gates.  In 2000, the Friends established the Foundation Trust which would continue the Friends’ work of upkeep and maintenance after the restoration was completed.

The Friends, the Society and others gave formal written notice detailing the illegalities of the proposed new building well before it was built in 2013, but they were ignored.

The Friends and others therefore mounted a legal challenge for the churchyard public open space to be restored. This was heard in the Church of England’s Consistory Court and their appeal court, the Court of Arches in 2015, 2016, and a further appeal was heard in 2018.

In February 2017 the Consistory Court’s judgment confirmed that the building had indeed been built without the necessary consents and that such consent cannot be granted retrospectively.  In January 2019 the Court of Arches went further and granted a Restoration (demolition) Order.  Demolition was, however, stayed so that the building must be removed on or before 1 February 2029, or forthwith if not used by the school. The 2019 Judgment and Restoration Order are below.

Demographic trends apparent since the millennium have continued, and by September 2025 government statistics show that the school has 153 pupils enrolled and capacity for 235 pupils, despite closure of 7 primary schools nearby.

Funding for restoration of the Churchyard Gardens was first allocated by Tower Hamlets in 2007, a portion of the £8.5m planning gain arising from the Bishops Square development, completed in 2005.

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