The forgotten tomb of a former Lord Mayor of London has been uncovered during refurbishment works at All Saints Church in Kingston.

Workers revamping the historic Market Place church discovered the final resting place of John Garret beneath a platform which the altar previously sat upon.

It is believed the tomb was covered over during works in the 1970s, and forgotten about until now.

John Garret was Lord Mayor of London in 1824. He died in 1856.

Keith Long, company secretary of All Saints Church, said: “In the course of clearing the floor in the altar we have uncovered the tomb of a Lord Mayor of London.

"Looking back in the records of tombs in the 1970s it is recorded but I don’t think we had cottoned on to the fact that he was a former Lord Mayor of London.

"We've got a lot of pretty important graves at the church and this is one of them.

"He won't be moved - the tomb will be restored and he will take his place with all the other important tombs we have.

"It's one of those things you come across when you're working on an historic church like this."

The work is part of All Saints redevelopment plans. To donate visit whereenglandbegan.co.uk