Folk singer-songwriter Angeline Morrison invites me to meet her at Calthorpe Community Garden in Clerkenwell, where The Black Mary Project’s week of events is culminating in a healing ritual and performance by Angeline herself. The Black Mary Project was founded to recover the hidden history of Mary Woolaston, the 17th century black woman who tended to a healing well on the property known as ‘Black Mary’s Hole’ back when Kings Cross was still countryside, and the River Fleet still ran above ground.
The lead artist of the project, Gaylene Gould, and a collection of other artists, historians and community members, are unveiling the Mary Woolaston Community Garden. Angeline inaugurates Mary’s garden with a hypnotic folk performance for the multi-generational, multi-ethnic crowd who have converged to celebrate the historical recovery of Mary Woolaston’s story.