St. Dunstan in the East

A garden grown in bombed out church ruins, St. Dunstan’s is a lovely surprise tucked into a business district down the road from the Tower of London. The church was originally built in the 12th century, partially rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great London Fire, patched up a few times in the 19th century, then destroyed again during the Blitz. At this point, the Anglican churches in London were reorganized and the church perhaps understandably threw in the towel with this structure. Church’s loss, garden lovers’ gain. The City of London acquired the property in the 1960s and transformed it into a beautiful, sometimes eerie garden that won a Landscape Heritage Award in 1976.