The Watch House near the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (also known as St Sepulchre-without-Newgate) in London is a small historic structure built in 1761 to guard the church’s graveyard. Located on Giltspur Street in Holborn, it protected against body-snatching by “resurrection men” who supplied corpses to medical students at nearby hospitals like St Bartholomew’s.
This watch house allowed night watchmen to monitor the larger graveyard, which once extended across the road, deterring grave robbers during a time of high demand for cadavers in 18th-century anatomy studies. It reflects London’s grim past of bodysnatching, with similar structures at other churches like St Mary’s in Rotherhithe.
 
Interesting facts...
Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown, Virginia—famously saved by Pocahontas—is buried in the south aisle (1631). Sir Henry Wood, founder of the BBC Proms who grew up nearby, rests in the Musicians’ Chapel.