Potters Fields
Potters Fields
Potters Fields is a public park located immediately south-east of what was City Hall and north of Tooley Street. The park was pleasingly landscaped and furnished in 2007 – but was subsequently permitted to deteroriate. It is one of the few green spaces close to the riverside.
The name ‘potter’s field’ was traditionally applied to a burial ground reserved for strangers and the friendless poor, in an allusion to the field bought by the chief priests with the 30 pieces of silver returned to them by the repentant Judas Iscariot. However, in this case, the park’s identity seems to derive from the presence of potteries operated hereabouts by Dutch immigrants in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
In September/October 2003 an estimated 250,000 people visited Potters Fields over a 44-day period to watch (and in some cases abuse) the American illusionist and endurance artist David Blaine as he dangled in the air inside a transparent case.
In October 2017 the Bridge Theatre opened at 3 Potters Fields Park. It is the home of the London Theatre Company.