St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
church in the
Bishopsgate Without area of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's (now demolished) eastern walls, part of
London's East End
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have u ...
.
Adjoining the buildings is a substantial
churchyard
In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can also ...
– running along the back of
Wormwood Street
Wormwood Street is a short street in the City of London which runs between London Wall at its western end and a junction with Bishopsgate and Camomile Street in the east. It is a dual carriageway which forms part of the A1211 route between Bar ...
, the former course of
London Wall
The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and ...
– and a former school.
The church is linked with the
Worshipful Company of Coopers
The Worshipful Company of Coopers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation of coopers existed in 1422; the Company received its first Royal Charter of incorporation in 1501. The cooper trade involved the making of ...
and the
Worshipful Company of Bowyers.
Position and dedication
The church lies on the west side of the road named
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate gave its name to the Bishopsgate Ward of the City of London. The ward is traditionally divided into ''Bishopsgate Within'', inside the line wall, and ''Bisho ...
(Roman
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London ('' Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earn ...
), near
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the ...
. The church and street both take their name from the 'Bishop's Gate' in
London's defensive wall which stood approximately 30 metres to the south.
Stow, writing in 1598 describes the church of his time as standing "in a fair churchyard, adjoining to the town ditch, upon the very bank thereof".
The City Ditch was a defensive feature, that lay immediately outside the walls and was intended to make attack on the walls by mining or by
escalade
{{Unreferenced, date=May 2007
Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare ...
more difficult.
The church was one of four in medieval London dedicated to Saint Botolph or
Botwulf, a 7th-century
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
n saint, each of which stood by one of the gates to the city. The other three were near neighbour
St Botolph's Aldgate
St Botolph's Aldgate is a Church of England parish church in the City of London and also, as it lies outside the line of the city's former eastern walls, a part of the East End of London.
The full name of the church is St Botolph without Aldga ...
,
St Botolph's Aldersgate
St Botolph without Aldersgate (also known as St Botolph's, Aldersgate) is a Church of England church in London dedicated to St Botolph. It was built just outside Aldersgate; one of the gates on London's wall in the City of London.
The church ...
near the
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhib ...
and
St Botolph's, Billingsgate by the riverside (this church was destroyed by the Great Fire and not rebuilt).
By the end of the 11th century Botolph was regarded as the
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
of boundaries, and by extension of trade and travel. The veneration of Botolph was most pronounced before the legend of
St Christopher
Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is venerated by several Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249–251) or alternatively u ...
became popular amongst travellers.
It is believed the church just outside Aldgate, 450 metres to the south-east, was the first in London to have been dedicated to Botolph, with the other dedications following soon after.
The
Priory just inside Aldgate was founded by clergy from
St Botolph's Priory in
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian.
Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...
, just under fifty miles along the Roman Road from Aldgate. The Priory at Colchester, like the church at Aldgate (though not the Priory at Aldgate), lay just outside the South Gate (also known as St Botolph's Gate) in the
Colchester's Wall. The Priors held the land of the
Portsoken
Portsoken, traditionally referred to with the definite article as the Portsoken, is one of the City of London's 25 ancient wards, which are still used for local elections. Historically an extra-mural Ward, lying east of Aldgate and the City wall ...
, outside the wall, and are thought to have built and dedicated the church, St Botolph without Aldgate, that served it.
The church of
St Botolph's Church, Cambridge
St Botolph's Church, Cambridge is a Church of England parish church in the city of Cambridge, England. The church is a Grade I listed building.
History
The church is dedicated to Botolph, a seventh-century abbot in East Anglia, who is a patron s ...
just outside the south gate of that city, may in turn, have taken its dedication from St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate to which it was linked by
Ermine Street
Ermine Street is a major Roman road in England that ran from London ('' Londinium'') to Lincoln ('' Lindum Colonia'') and York ('' Eboracum''). The Old English name was ''Earninga Strǣt'' (1012), named after a tribe called the ''Earn ...
.
History
The first known written record of the church is from 1212.
However, it is thought that Christian worship on this site may have Roman origins, though this is not fully proven.
The church survived the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...
in 1666, and was rebuilt in 1724–29.
Middle ages
In around 1307, the
Knights Templar
, colors = White mantle with a red cross
, colors_label = Attire
, march =
, mascot = Two knights riding a single horse
, equipment ...
were examined here by an inquisition on charges of corruption,
and in 1413 a female hermit was recorded as living here, supported by a pension of forty shillings a year paid by the Sheriff.
It narrowly escaped the
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...
, the sexton's house having been partly demolished to stop the spread of the flames.
[ Writing in 1708, Hatton described it as "an old church built of brick and stone, and rendered over". By this time the Gothic church had been altered with the addition of Tuscan columns supporting the roof, and Ionic ones the galleries.][
]
Present church
In 1710, the parishioners petitioned parliament for permission to rebuild the church on another site, but nothing was done. In 1723 the church was found to be irreparable and the parishioners petitioned again. Having obtained an act of Parliament, they set up a temporary building in the churchyard, and began to rebuild the church. The first stone was laid in 1725, and the new building was consecrated in 1728, though not completed until the next year. The designer was James Gold[ or Gould.] During construction, the foundations of the original Anglo-Saxon church were discovered.
To provide a striking frontage towards Bishopsgate, the architect placed the tower at the east end, its ground floor, with a pediment on the exterior, forming the chancel. The east end and tower are faced with
stone, while the rest of the church is brick, with stone dressings.
The interior is divided into nave and aisles by Composite columns, the nave being barrel vault
A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...
ed. The church was soon found to be too dark, so a large west window was created, but this was largely obscured by the organ[ installed in front of it in 1764.][ In 1820 a lantern was added to the centre of the roof.][
The church was designated a Grade II* ]listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...
on 4 January 1950 and contains memorials to the war dead of 5th
Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five.
Fifth or The Fifth may refer to:
* Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth"
* Fifth column, a political term
* Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...
and 8th Battalions London Regiment.
The church suffered minor bomb damage in the Second World War and subsequently in the 1993 Bishopsgate bombing.
By permission of the Rector, the Orthodox Parish of Saint Botolph in London worships there, part of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of the British Isles and Ireland.
Baptisms, marriages and burials
The infant son of the playwright Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
is buried in the churchyard, and baptisms in this church include Edward Alleyn
Edward "Ned" Alleyn (; 1 September 156621 November 1626) was an English actor who was a major figure of the Elizabethan theatre and founder of the College of God's Gift in Dulwich.
Early life
Alleyn was born on 1 September 1566 in Bishop ...
in 1566, Emilia Lanier (née Bassano; widely considered to be the first Englishwoman to become a professional poet) on 27 January 1569, and John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...
(in the present font) in 1795. Emilia Lanier married Alfonso Lanier in the church on 18 October 1592. Mary Wollstonecraft
Mary Wollstonecraft (, ; 27 April 1759 – 10 September 1797) was a British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Until the late 20th century, Wollstonecraft's life, which encompassed several unconventional personal relationsh ...
, author of ''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
''A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects'' (1792), written by British philosopher and women's rights advocate Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797), is one of the earliest works of feminist philosop ...
'', was baptised there in 1759.
At one point the satirist and essayist Stephen Gosson was rector. The didactic poet Robert Carliell (fl.
''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...
1619), who championed the new Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...
, held property in the parish.
Church hall
Within the churchyard, the church hall is the Grade II, former livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers
The Worshipful Company of Fan Makers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The company was incorporated by a Royal Charter in 1709. As fan making is now done by machines rather than by craftsmen, the company is no longer a trade ...
. It is a single-storied classical red brick and Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building ...
building, with niches containing figures of charity children.
The figures which stood in the niches at the front of the building were previously painted every year by schoolchildren, but have since been restored and stripped of paint and, due to theft attempts, moved inside the hall. Modern replicas now stand in the niches on the front of the building.
Church surroundings
Also within the area of the church is a Turkish bath designed by the architect, Harold Elphick, and opened by City of London Alderman Treloar on 5 February 1895 for Henry and James Forder Nevill who owned other Turkish baths[Turkish baths in Victorian London](_blank)
/ref> in Victorian London.
Rectors of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate
*—— John of Northampton
*1323 Henry of Colne
*1354 Richard of Pertenhale
*1361 Robert Suardiby
*1362 John of Bradeley
*1363 Adam Keme
*1365 Elias Finch
*1368 Robert Fox
*1370 Thomas de Boghee
*1378 Thomas Ridilyngton
*1379 John Grafton
*1383 John Rydel
*—— John Bolton
*1390 John Porter
*1395 John Campeden
*1398 John Gray
*1399 Roger Mason
*1404 John Philipp
*—— John Saxton
*1433 Robert Coventre
*—— John Wood (as Archdeacon of Middlesex)
*1461 Thomas Knight (as Bishop of Down and Connor)
*1468 John Prese
*1471 Thomas Boteler
*1472 Robert Keyvell
*1482 John Pykyng
*1490 Richard Sturton
*1492 Clement Collins
*1492 William London
*1503 Robert Ayschum
*—— Brian Darley
*1512–1515† Robert Woodward (or Woodruff)
*1515–1523† John Redman
*1523–1524 Robert Ridley
*1524–1525† John Garth
*1525–1534 Richard Sparchforth
*1534–1541† Simon Matthew
*1541–1544† Robert Hygdon (or Higden)
*1544–1558† Hugh Weston (as Dean of Westminster 1553, Dean of Windsor 1556)
*1558–1569 Edward Turner
*1569–1584† Thomas Simpson
*1584–1590 William Hutchinson (as Archdeacon of St Albans)
*1590–1600 Arthur Bright
*1600–1624† Stephen Gosson
*1624–1639† Thomas Worrall
*1639–1642 Thomas Wykes
*1642–1660† Nehemiah Rogers (sequestered )
*1660–1662 Robert Pory (as Archdeacon of Middlesex)
*1663–1670 John Lake
*1670–1677 Henry Bagshaw
*1677–1678 Robert Clarke
*1678–1687† Thomas Pittis
*1688–1701 Zacheus Isham
*1701–1730† Roger Altham
Roger Altham was Archdeacon of Middlesex from 9 February 1717 until his death on 27 February 1730.
Altham was born in Eastwick, Hertfordshire and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was Rector (ecclesiastical), Rector of St Andrew Undershaft wi ...
(as Archdeacon of Middlesex 1717)
*1730–1743† William Crowe
*1743–1752 William Gibson
William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, hi ...
(as Archdeacon of Essex 1747)
*1752–1775† Thomas Ashton Thomas Ashton may refer to:
*Thomas Ashton (schoolmaster) (died 1578), English clergyman and schoolmaster
*Thomas Ashton (divine) (1716–1775), English cleric
*Thomas Ashton (cotton spinner) (1841–1919), British trade union leader
*Thomas Ashto ...
*1776–1815† William Conybeare
*1815–1820 Richard Mant
*1820–1828 Charles James Blomfield
Charles James Blomfield (29 May 1786 – 5 August 1857) was a British divine and classicist, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.
Early life and education
Charles James Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the eldest son (an ...
(as Archd. of Colchester 1822, Bishop of Chester 1824)
*1828–1832 Edward Grey (as Dean of Hereford 1830)
*1832–1863† John Russell
*1863–1896† William Rogers
*1896–1900 Alfred Earle
Air Chief Marshal Sir Alfred Earle, (11 December 1907 – 27 March 1990) was a senior officer in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War who later served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff (1964–66), and Director General of Britis ...
(as Bishop of Marlborough)
*1900–1911 Frederick Ridgeway
Frederick Edward Ridgeway (18484 May 1921) was an Anglican bishop from 1901 until his death 20 years later.
Frederick Edward Ridgeway was educated at Tonbridge School and Clare College, Cambridge; he was younger brother of Charles, sometime Bi ...
(as Bishop of Kensington 1901)
*1912–1935 G. W. Hudson Shaw
*1935–1942 Bertram Simpson (as Bishop of Kensington)
*1942–1950 Michael Gresford Jones (as Bishop of Willesden)
*1950–1954 Gerald Ellison (as Bishop of Willesden)
*1954–1961 Hubert H. Treacher
*1961–1978 Stanley Moore
*1978–1997 Alan Tanner
*1997–2006 David Paton
*2007–2015 Alan McCormack
*2018–present David Armstrong
† ''Rector died in post''
Gallery
File:St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate 2.JPG
File:St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate 3.JPG
File:St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate 4.JPG
File:St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate war memorial.jpg
File:St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate nave.jpg
File:St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, Church hall.jpg, St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, Church hall
File:Turkish bath 20130323 032.jpg, Turkish bath
Notes
External links
Worshipful Company of Coopers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Botolph without Bishopsgate
Church of England church buildings in the City of London
Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch
Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom
18th-century Church of England church buildings
Grade II* listed churches in the City of London
Diocese of London