Cleary Garden: Peonies, Romans, the Tube and hogs
- London On The Ground
- Mar 2
- 5 min read
A former City of London bombsite with pretty plants. And hidden secrets.
Cleary Garden is a small park on three levels, hiding in plain sight at the corner of Queen Victoria Street and Huggin Hill, a narrow pedestrian pathway sloping down to Upper Thames Street.
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For a schedule of forthcoming London On The Ground guided walks, please click here.
In the 1980s the garden was named in memory of Frederick Cleary, Chairman of the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association and a member the City of London’s Court of Common Council. He was a driving force behind preserving and improving open spaces in the City.
However, the park owes its initial creation to Joseph Brandis, who planted the first garden here on a bombsite during World War II in 1940. He was a shoemaker and member of the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers, who worked nearby.
He brought soil and plants from his own garden in Walthamstow, in north east London, and mud from the banks of the Thames at the bottom of the hill on which the site stands. The garden was a great success, receiving an award and a visit from Queen Elizabeth, wife of George VI (and later known as the Queen Mother) in 1949.
In 1982, the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association funded a re-landscaping of the garden to mark the association’s centenary. This included significant replanting and the installation of a pergola along the Queen Victoria side of the garden, paved areas and seating. After Fred Cleary died in 1984, the garden was named after him.
There was another refurbishment in 2007 by Loire Valley Wines, a company selling wine. This included planting a vine, which stretches around much of the walls on the middle level of the three tiered garden.
In addition to symbolising the company that sponsored the refurbishment, the vine provides a link back to the wine merchants, or vintners, that were based near here in medieval times (the Vintners’ Livery Company Hall still stands only a few minutes’ walk away).
It is easy to miss Cleary Garden, but, for those City workers who know about it, it is a lovely spot to eat lunch, to find respite from the pressures of work and to meet friends and gossip.
In another link with London’s past, a much older one this time, people were also meeting on this site almost 2,000 years ago, although not in a garden.
The remains of a Roman bathhouse were discovered at this location in the 19th century, although not fully excavated until 1964, when new buildings were about to be constructed.
The Romans built public baths here in c80AD, extended them early in the second century and demolished them towards the end of the third century.
The baths sat on terraces on the sloping north bank of the Thames, reaching the water's edge at their lowest point (at that time, the river bank was where Upper Thames Street is now). They were fed by spring water collected in a cistern at the top of the slope.
The bathhouse had a large footprint - bigger than today’s garden site - an indication that it was a public facility and not a private baths. As with all Roman bathhouses, it included three main chambers: frigidarium (cold) , tepidarium (lukewarm) and caldarium (hot).
The most significant remains of the Roman baths are underneath the lower tier of the gardens and Senator House, the adjacent office building, and so are not visible to the public. However, in a wall close to the Huggin Hill entrance to the gardens, there is some exposed rubble sandwiched between two layers of brick, which is quite possibly at least partly Roman.
Baths were a place for Roman Londoners to meet and do deals as well as for washing and applying aromatic oils. Echoing that time, City workers meet here today over a sandwich or a coffee, surrounded by vegetation including a number of aromatic plants.
In medieval times the air on this spot would have been decidedly less aromatic. Pigs were once farmed here and Huggin Hill was originally called Hoggin Hill or Lane, a reference to hogs (see City of London Street names: a dozen of the best for more unexpected and unusual City street names).
Also underneath Cleary Garden lies another example of historical infrastructure. It is not as old as the Roman baths, but it is still visible and is still in use. It is the London Underground, specifically the District and Circle lines as they pass through Mansion House station.
Built in 1871, long before the deep level tube lines, this part of the Underground network is shallow and includes sections that are open to the air above, so that the early locomotives could literally let off steam.
Click here for my short YouTube video showing how it is possible to see the Underground from Cleary Garden and Cleary Garden from Mansion House station.
Although I am no horticulturalist, there are three examples of the botany in Cleary Garden that even I have noticed, in addition to the vine, and consider worth mentioning.
First is the Golden Acacia planted by Fred Cleary in around 1982.
Second is the Swamp Cypress, a rare example of a deciduous conifer (it drops needles in the autumn and grows them back in the spring).
Finally, on the upper level and visible from Queen Victoria Street, a row of Tree Peonies grow under the pergola. A gift from the Japanese town of Yatsuka in 2004 as a symbol of goodwill, they are particularly beautiful when they bloom in the Spring.
Cleary Garden is a Site of Importance for Nature Conservation, one of 10 in the City of London. It is considered important for wildlife and for people to experience nature.
It is also unique in being the only park anywhere that unites modern office workers, beautiful plants, a Roman bathhouse, Victorian transport infrastructure, vintry and a history of hog farming.
A typical hidden City of London gem, in other words.
Cleary Garden features in my walk Secret City Gardens, which will have its next outing on 26 April 2025 at 11am. Click here for more details and to book.
Walks available for booking
For a schedule of forthcoming London On The Ground guided walks, please click here.
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