St Botolph's Aldgate

Last updated

St Botolph's Aldgate
St Botolph without Aldgate and Holy Trinity Minories
St Botolph's Aldgate.JPG
City of London UK location map.svg
Red pog.svg
St Botolph's Aldgate
51°30′50″N00°04′34″W / 51.51389°N 0.07611°W / 51.51389; -0.07611
Location London, EC3
CountryEngland
Denomination Church of England
Previous denomination Roman Catholic
Churchmanship Liberal / Modern Catholic
Website www.stbotolphs.org.uk
History
StatusActive
Architecture
Functional status Parish church
Heritage designationGrade I listed building
Architect(s) George Dance the Elder
Architectural type Georgian architecture
Years built1115; 16th century; 1741
Completed1744
Administration
Diocese London
Episcopal areaTwo Cities (London and Westminster)
Archdeaconry London
Deanery City of London
Parish St Botolph without Aldgate
Clergy
Bishop(s) Bishop of London
Rector Laura Burgess
Curate(s) Jarel Robinson-Brown
Chaplain(s) Andrew Richardson

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 church served the ancient parish of St Botolph without Aldgate which included the extramural Portsoken Ward of the City of London, as well as East Smithfield which is outside the City.

Contents

The full name of the church is St Botolph without Aldgate and Holy Trinity Minories and it is sometimes known simply as Aldgate Church. [1] The ecclesiastical parish was united with that of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories, in 1899.

The current 18th-century church building is made of brick with stone quoins and window casings. [2] The tower is square with an obelisk spire. [3]

Position and dedication

The church stands at the junction of Houndsditch and Aldgate High Street and is approximately 30 yards outside the former position of Aldgate, a defensive barbican on the London Wall, laying in the East End of London instead.

The church was one of four in medieval London dedicated to Saint Botolph or Botwulf, a 7th-century East Anglian saint, each of which stood by one of the gates to the City. The other three were the near neighbour St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate (outside Bishopsgate), as well as St Botolph's Aldersgate (outside Aldersgate) and St Botolph's, Billingsgate by the riverside (near London Bridge – this church was destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt). [4]

It is believed [5] the church just outside Aldgate is 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, 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 Colchester's Wall. The Priors held the land of the Portsoken, 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 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.

By the end of the 11th century, Botolph was regarded as the patron saint of boundaries, and by extension of trade and travel. [6] This association with travel was particularly strong before the legend of Saint Christopher became popular. These aspects of Botolph's patronage are thought to be the reason why churches at the City gates have this dedication. [7]

History

Medieval church

The earliest known written record of the church dates from 1115, [8] when it was received by the Holy Trinity Priory (recently founded by Matilda, wife of Henry I) but the parochial foundations may very well date from before 1066. [9]

The church was rebuilt in the 16th century [3] at the cost of the priors of the Holy Trinity, [10] and renovated in 1621. [11] It escaped the Great Fire of London, and was described at the beginning of the 18th century as "an old church, built of Brick, Rubble and Stone, rendered over, and ... of the Gothick order". [11] The building, as it stood at that time, was 78-foot long (24 m) and 53-foot wide (16 m). There was a tower, about 100-foot tall (30 m), with six bells. [11]

Eighteenth century

The church interior looking north-west St Botolph's Aldgate, London, UK - Diliff.jpg
The church interior looking north-west
Ceiling detail St Botolph's Aldgate ceiling detail, London, UK - Diliff.jpg
Ceiling detail

St Botolph's was completely rebuilt between 1741 [12] and 1744, to a design by George Dance the Elder. [13] The exterior is of brick with projecting quoins, stone windows surrounds and a stone cornice. The tower, also of brick, has rusticated quoins, and a stone spire. [14] The interior of the building is divided into nave and aisles by four widely spaced piers [15] supporting a flat ceiling. There are galleries along three sides. The church is lit by two rows of windows in each side wall, one above and one below the gallery. [14] The monuments from the old building were preserved, and reinstalled in the new church. [15]

Nineteenth century

The interior was redecorated by John Francis Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral in the late 19th century. [16]

St Botolph's was often referred to as the "Church of Prostitutes" in the late Victorian period. [17] The church is sited on an island surrounded by roadways and it was usual in these times to be suspicious of women standing on street corners. They were easy targets for the police, and to escape arrest the prostitutes would parade around the island, now occupied by the church and Aldgate tube station.

The earliest record of the churchyard is in 1230; by 1875 it was being used as a public open space. The landscape gardener Fanny Wilkinson laid it out as a public garden in 1892. A drinking fountain, still extant, was installed in 1906 to the memory of the philanthropist Frederic Mocatta. [18]

The parish was united with that of Holy Trinity, Minories when it closed in 1899. St Botolph's inherited from that church a preserved head, reputed to be that of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who had been executed for treason by Queen Mary I in 1554. [19] During an archaeological investigation of the crypt in 1990, a preserved head, reputed to be Grey's, was rediscovered and buried in the churchyard. [19] [20]

Twentieth century

The church was severely bombed at intervals during the Blitz in the Second World War. The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950. [21]

Following its restoration by Rodney Tatchell, the church was much damaged by an unexplained fire in 1965, necessitating further restoration. [22]

St Botolph's was rehallowed on 8 November 1966 by the Bishop of London, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Sir Robert Bellinger, the Lord Mayor of London, who attended in state. [3]

In the early 1970s, the crypt of the church served as a homeless shelter at night and by day a youth club for Asian boys. [23]

Organ

The organ by Renatus Harris was built in the early 18th century. [15] It has undergone a historical restoration by the organ builders Goetze and Gwynn, and been returned to its 1744 specification using many of the original components. The organ has been described as the oldest church organ in the United Kingdom. [24] Although there are older pipes and cases, this is the oldest collection of pipes in their original positions on their original wind chests. [25] Because of its historic importance, the organ was filmed and recorded for the documentary The Elusive English Organ .

Donated by Thomas Whiting in 1676, it was built between 1702 and 1704. It was enhanced for the new church (the current building) by Harris' son-in-law, John Byfield, in 1740. The organ was considerably enlarged several times in the 19th century and again rebuilt by Mander Organs in the 1960s. The decision to restore the instrument was taken by St Botolph's in 2002 after which a fundraising campaign was launched. The restoration, which took nine months, was carried out under the consultancy of Ian Bell and the workshops of Goetze and Gwynn in Welbeck, Nottinghamshire. The instrument was reinstalled in May 2006.

Notable parishioners

Other burials

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldgate</span> Human settlement in England

Aldgate was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bishopsgate</span> Ward of the City of London

Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning of Ermine Street, the ancient road running from London to York (Eboracum). The gate was rebuilt twice in the 15th and 18th centuries, but was permanently demolished in 1760.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minories</span> Street in the City of London

Minories is the name of a small former administrative unit, and also of a street in the Aldgate area of the City of London. Both the street and the former administrative area take their name from the Abbey of the Minoresses of St. Clare without Aldgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Botolph of Thorney</span> English abbot and saint

Botolph of Thorney was an English abbot and saint. He is regarded as the patron saint of boundaries, and by extension, of trade and travel, as well as various aspects of farming. His feast day is celebrated either on 17 June (England) or 25 June (Scotland).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houndsditch</span> Street in the City of London

Houndsditch is a street running through parts of the Portsoken and Bishopsgate Without wards of the City of London; areas which are also a part of the East End of London. The road follows the line of the outside edge of the ditch which once ran outside the London Wall. The road took its name from the section of ditch between Bishopsgate and Aldgate. The name may derive from the widespread dumping of rubbish in this stretch of ditch; relating to the dumping of dead dogs, or the scavenging of the waste by feral dogs.

Minories is a street in Central London and former civil parish also known as Holy Trinity Minories

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Botolph's Priory</span> Ruined medieval building in Colchester, England

St. Botolph's Priory was a medieval house of Augustinian canons in Colchester, Essex, founded c. 1093. The priory had the distinction of being the first and leading Augustinian convent in England until its dissolution in 1536.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St George Botolph Lane</span> Church in London, England

St George Botolph Lane was a church off Eastcheap, in the ward of Billingsgate in the City of London. The rear of the church overlooked Pudding Lane, where the fire of London started. It was first recorded in the twelfth century, and destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. It was one of the 51 churches rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The church was demolished in 1904.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate</span> Church in the City of London

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's eastern walls, part of London's East End.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Botolph's, Aldersgate</span> Church in London, England

St Botolph without 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks</span> Guild of the City of London

The Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks is one of the Guilds of the City of London. It has no livery, because "in the 16th century, the Parish Clerks declined to take the Livery on the grounds that the surplice was older than the Livery and was the proper garb of members of the Company." It is not, therefore, technically a livery company although to all intents and purposes it acts as such. It is one of two such historic companies without livery, the other being the Company of Watermen and Lightermen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portsoken</span> Ward of the City of London

Portsoken, traditionally referred to with the definite article as the Portsoken, is one of the City of London, England's 25 ancient wards, which are still used for local elections. Historically an extra-mural ward, lying east of the former London Wall, the area is sometimes considered to be part of the East End of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate</span> Monastery for Augustinian canons in medieval London

The Holy Trinity Priory, also known as Christchurch Aldgate, was a priory of Austin canons founded around 1108 by the English queen Matilda of Scotland near Aldgate in London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Botolph Billingsgate</span> Former church in London, destroyed 1666

St Botolph's, Billingsgate was a Church of England parish church in London. Of medieval origin, it was located in the Billingsgate ward of the City of London and destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Smithfield</span> Human settlement in England

East Smithfield is a small locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, east London, and also a short street, a part of the A1203 road. Once broader in scope, the name came to apply to the part of the ancient parish of St Botolph without Aldgate that was outside of the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Knighten Guilde</span> Obscure medieval guild of the City of London

The Knighten Guilde or Cnichtengild, which translates into modern English as the Knight's Guild, was an obscure Medieval guild of the City of London. According to A Survey of London by John Stow (1603), it was in origin an order of chivalry founded by the Saxon king Edgar for loyal knights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church of Holy Trinity, Minories</span> Former church-site in London

Holy Trinity, Minories, was a Church of England parish church outside the eastern boundaries of the City of London, but within the Liberties of the Tower of London and therefore in the East End of London. The liberty was incorporated in the Metropolitan Borough of Stepney in 1899, and today is within the City of London. Converted from the chapel of a nunnery, Holy Trinity was in use as a church from the 16th century until the end of the 19th century. It survived as a parish hall until it was destroyed by bombing during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Botolph without Aldgate</span> Ancient parish in London

St Botolph without Aldgate was an ancient parish immediately east of and outside (without) Aldgate, a gate in London's defensive wall. The parish church was St Botolph's Aldgate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Osyth's Priory</span> Grade I listed priory in St Osyth, Essex, England, UK

St Osyth's Abbey was a house of Augustine Canons Regular in the parish of St Osyth in Essex, England in use from the 12th to 16th centuries. Founded by Richard de Belmeis, Bishop of London, c. 1121, it became one of the largest religious houses in Essex. It was dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul as well as St Osyth (Osith), a royal saint and virgin martyr. Bishop Richard obtained the arm bone of St Osyth from Aylesbury for the monastic church and granted the canons the parish church of St Osyth.

References

  1. ↑ Hughson, D.; Higham, T.; Reid, W.H.; Sherwood, Neely, and Jones (1817). Walks Through London,: Including Westminster and the Borough of Southwark, with the Surrounding Suburbs; Describing Every Thing Worthy of Observation in the Public Buildings, Places of Entertainment, Exhibitions, Commercial and Literary Institutions, &c. Down to the Present Period: Forming a Complete Guide to the British Metropolis. Vol. 1. Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, Paternoster-row; Murray, Albemarle-Street; Clarke, New Bond-Street; Lindsell, Wigmore-Street; Chapple, Pall-Mall; Colnaghi, Cockspur-Street; Walker, Strand; Taylor and Hessey, Fleet-Street; J.M. Richardson, Cornhill; Cowie and Company Poultry; Blackwood, Princes-Street, Edinburgh; Brash and Reid, Glasgow; and M. Keene, and J. Cumming, Dublin. p. 36. Retrieved 12 June 2015.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Cobb, G (1942). The Old Churches of London. London: Batsford.
  3. 1 2 3 Saunders, Ann (1984). The Art and Architecture of London: An Illustrated Guide. Oxford: Phaidon. p. 80.
  4. ↑ Daniell, A.E. (1896). London City Churches. London: Constable. p.  317.
  5. ↑ London 800-126, Brooke and Keir, p. 146
  6. ↑ Churches in the Landscape, pp. 217–221, Richard Morris, ISBN   0460045091
  7. ↑ Richardsn, John (2001) The Annals of London: A Year-by-year Record of a Thousand Years of History, W&N, ISBN   978-1841881355 (p. 16)
  8. ↑ Hibbert, C.; Weinreb, D.; Keay, J. (2008). The London Encyclopaedia (revised) ed.). London: Pan Macmillan. ISBN   978-1405049245.
  9. ↑ "The City of London Churches" Betjeman, J Andover, Pikin, 1967 ISBN   0853721122
  10. ↑ Newcourt, Richard (1708). "St Botolph, Curacy". Repetorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense. London. pp. 250–251.
  11. 1 2 3 Hatton, Edward (1708). A New Picture of London. Vol. 1. London. p. 165.
  12. ↑ "The City Churches" Tabor, M. p. 120: London; The Swarthmore Press Ltd; 1917
  13. ↑ "The City of London Churches: monuments of another age" Quantrill, E; Quantrill, M p. 98: London; Quartet; 1975
  14. 1 2 Proposed Demolition of Nineteen City Churches. Odhams Press for London County Council. 1920. p. 20.
  15. 1 2 3 Pearce, Charles William (1909). Notes on Old London City Churches: their organs, organists, and musical associations. London: Vincent Music Company.
  16. ↑ Pevsner, Nikolaus; Bradley, Simon (1998). London:the City Churches. New Haven: Yale. ISBN   0300096550.
  17. ↑ St Botolph without Aldgate. (2021, September 14). In The Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks. https://londonparishclerks.smugmug.com/Parishes-Churches/Individual-Parish-Info/St-Botolph-without-Aldgate
  18. ↑ "London Gardens Trust: St Botolph without Aldgate Churchyard" . Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  19. 1 2 Roud, Steve (2010). London Lore: The legends and traditions of the world's most vibrant city. Arrow Books. p. 1. ISBN   978-0099519867.
  20. ↑ "St Botolph, Aldgate T Q 3358 8120 (Julian Ayre, Sean O'Connor) SAB87". London Archaeologist. 6 (10). 1990. Retrieved 12 January 2018.
  21. ↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1359143)". National Heritage List for England . Retrieved 23 January 2009.
  22. ↑ Tucker, T. (2006). The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches. London: Friends of the City Churches. ISBN   0955394503.
  23. ↑ Colpus, Eve. "Fitting in by Being Yourself: Avenues Unlimited and Youth Work in the East End c. 1960s–2000s." In Diasporas Reimagined: Spaces, Practices and Belonging, edited by Nando Sigona, Alan Gamlen, Giulia Liberatore, and Hélène Neveu Kringelbach, 108–111. Oxford: Oxford Diasporas Programme, 2015
  24. ↑ http://www.organfocus.com/features/events/stbotolphs.doc Organ restoration press release
  25. ↑ http://www.goetzegwynn.co.uk/restored/aldgate.shtml Restorers website
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.