St John's Gate, Clerkenwell

Last updated

St John's Gate, Clerkenwell in 2007 St John's Gate 2007 5.jpg
St John's Gate, Clerkenwell in 2007
St John's Gate, Clerkenwell in 1786, before the Victorian restoration St. John's Gate, in Clerkenwell, Middlesex (Plate 2).jpg
St John's Gate, Clerkenwell in 1786, before the Victorian restoration

St John's Gate, in Clerkenwell, Middlesex, now within central London, is one of the few tangible remains from Clerkenwell's monastic past. It was built in 1504 by Prior Thomas Docwra as the south entrance to the inner precinct of Clerkenwell Priory, the English headquarters of the Knights of the Order of St John (known as the Knights Hospitaller).

Contents

The substructure is of brick, while the north and south façades are of stone. After centuries of decay and much rebuilding, very little of the stone facing is original. Heavily restored in the 19th century, the Gate today is in large part a Victorian recreation, the handiwork of a succession of architects William Pettit Griffith, R. Norman Shaw, and J. Oldrid Scott.

History

The Priory was established in the 1140s in Clerkenwell as the English headquarters of the Order. The Order was dissolved by King Henry VIII as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries when its lands and wealth were seized by the Crown. The Order was re-established for a brief period by that king's Roman Catholic daughter, Queen Mary, who granted it a Royal Charter. However, when her Protestant half-sister Queen Elizabeth I succeeded her, the Order in England was dissolved once again. [1] The Order was re-established in England during the Victorian era.

Uses

The building has many historical associations, most notably as the original printing-house for Edward Cave's pioneering monthly, The Gentleman's Magazine , and sometime workplace of Samuel Johnson. From 1701 to 1709 it was the childhood home of the painter William Hogarth, whose father Richard Hogarth in 1703 opened a coffee house there, known as "Hogarth's Coffee House", which offered Latin lessons together with coffee. For many years the building was used as a tavern. In 1831 John Frost established a medical hospital (St John's Hospital) in the building, the original mediaeval usage of that word signifying a guest-house.

The Gate was acquired in the 1870s by the revived Order of St John and was gradually converted to serve as headquarters of both the Order and its subsidiary, the St John Ambulance Brigade. It now also houses the Museum of the Order of St John. [2] Much of its Tudor-style interior, including the Council Chamber over the arch, is attributed to Scott's Victorian restoration in the 1880s and 1890s.

St John's Gate was voted an iconic landmark to represent Islington for the London Olympics 2012. [3]

Stone plaque

A modern stone plaque is affixed to the building inscribed as follows: [4]

St John's Gate. This building was the main entrance to the Grand Priory of the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. The original gatehouse was erected about the year 1148 & was burnt down by Wat Tyler in 1381. It was restored by Prior John Redington & was finally rebuilt in its present form by Prior Thomas Docwra in 1504. The Grand Priory buildings were appropriated by the crown in 1559. The order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem resumed possession of this gatehouse in 1873.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clerkenwell</span> Area of central London

Clerkenwell is an area of central London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Finsbury</span> District of Central London

Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Hogarth</span> English artist and social critic (1697–1764)

William Hogarth was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects", and he is perhaps best known for his series A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode. Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ewenny Priory</span> Former monastery in Wales

Ewenny Priory, in Ewenny in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, was a monastery of the Benedictine order, founded in the 12th century. The priory was unusual in having extensive military-style defences and in its state of preservation; the architectural historian John Newman described it as “the most complete and impressive Norman ecclesiastical building in Glamorgan”. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, parts of the priory were converted into a private house by Sir Edward Carne, a lawyer and diplomat. This Elizabethan house was demolished between 1803-1805 and replaced by a Georgian mansion, Ewenny Priory House. The house is still owned by the Turbervill family, descendants of Sir Edward. The priory is not open to the public apart from the Church of St Michael, the western part of the priory building, which continues to serve as the parish church for the village. The priory is in the care of Cadw and is a Grade I listed building.

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

Smithfield, properly known as West Smithfield, is a district located in Central London, part of Farringdon Without, the most westerly ward of the City of London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Docwra</span>

Sir Thomas Docwra was Grand Prior of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in England, and thus ranked as Premier Lay Baron of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambeth Palace</span> Official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury

Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, 400 yards south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament, on the opposite bank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Order of Saint John (chartered 1888)</span> British royal order of chivalry constituted in 1888

The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedicated to St John the Baptist.

Farringdon is a small district in Central London, the southern part of the London Borough of Islington. The term is used to describe the area around Farringdon station. Historically the district corresponded to southern Clerkenwell and the small parish of St Sepulchre Middlesex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Museum of the Order of St John</span> Museum in London

The Museum of the Order of St John in Clerkenwell, London, tells the story of the Venerable Order of Saint John from its roots as a pan-European Order of Hospitaller Knights founded in Jerusalem during the Crusades, to its present commitment to providing first aid and care in the community through the St John Ambulance Brigade and running an Ophthalmic Hospital in Jerusalem. The museum is a member of the London Museums of Health & Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dover Priory</span>

The Priory of St. Mary the Virgin and St. Martin of the New Work, or Newark, commonly called Dover Priory, was a priory at Dover in southeast England. It was variously independent in rule, then occupied by canons regular of the Augustinian rule, then finally monks of the Benedictine rule as a cell of Christchurch Monastery, Canterbury.

<i>Four Times of the Day</i> A series of four paintings by English artist William Hogarth

Four Times of the Day is a series of four oil paintings by English artist William Hogarth. They were completed in 1736 and in 1738 were reproduced and published as a series of four engravings. They are humorous depictions of life in the streets of London, the vagaries of fashion, and the interactions between the rich and poor. Unlike many of Hogarth's other series, such as A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress, Industry and Idleness, and The Four Stages of Cruelty, it does not depict the story of an individual, but instead focuses on the society of the city in a humorous manner. Hogarth does not offer a judgment on whether the rich or poor are more deserving of the viewer's sympathies. In each scene, while the upper and middle classes tend to provide the focus, there are fewer moral comparisons than seen in some of his other works. Their dimensions are about 74 cm (29 in) by 61 cm (24 in) each.

The St Martin's Lane Academy, a precursor of the Royal Academy, was organised in 1735 by William Hogarth, from the circle of artists and designers who gathered at Slaughter's Coffee House at the upper end of St Martin's Lane, London. The artistic set that introduced the Rococo style to England was centred on "Old Slaughter's" and the drawing-classes at the St. Martin's Lane Academy were inextricably linked in the dissemination of new artistic ideas in England in the reigns of George II and George III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clerkenwell Priory</span>

Clerkenwell Priory was a priory of the Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, in present Clerkenwell, London. Run according to the Augustinian rule, it was the residence of the Hospitallers' Grand Prior in England, and was thus their English headquarters. Its great landholding – until Protestant monarch Edward VI of England – was in the ancient parish of Marylebone, in the now Inner London area known as St John's Wood, which it had farmed out on agricultural tenancies as a source of produce and income.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John Clerkenwell</span>

St John Clerkenwell is a former parish church in Clerkenwell, London, its original priory church site retains a crypt and has been given over to the London chapel of the modern Order of St John. It is a square, light-brick resurrection of the small church of Clerkenwell Priory – the crypt of which is beneath – without a spire or tower. Its three centuries of former decline reflected the disbandment of the medieval Order of St John, or Knights Hospitaller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackfriars, Hereford</span> Ruins of Blackriars Friary, in Hereford, England

Blackfriars Friary was a medieval Dominican friary dating back to the thirteenth century. The remains of the friary, located in Hereford, England, consist of monastery ruins, a cemetery, and a stone preaching cross. The ruins are surrounded by a rose garden established by the local community in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Llanarth Court</span> House in Llanarth, Monmouthshire

Llanarth Court is a late-18th-century country house with substantial 19th-century alterations in Llanarth, Monmouthshire, Wales. The court was built for the Jones family of Treowen and was subsequently the home of Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen, whose family still owns much of the Llanarth estate, although not the court itself. The court is a Grade II* listed building and is now a private hospital. The gardens are included on the Cadw/ICOMOS Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in Wales.

Revd John Trusler (1735–1820) was an eccentric English divine, literary compiler, and medical empiric.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Weston (prior)</span>

Sir William Weston was the last Prior of the Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem in England before the Dissolution of the Monasteries, during the reign of King Henry VIII. As such he ranked as Premier Baron in the roll of peers. He is characterised as one of the influential adherents of the papacy. His cadaver effigy survives in the crypt of the Priory Church of St John, Clerkenwell in Middlesex, the former headquarters of the Order.

References

  1. "The Clerkenwell Priory". Museum of the Order of St John.
  2. "Our Museum". Sja.org.uk. 2 November 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  3. "London 2012 Photos | Best Olympic Photos & Highlights". London2012.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  4. See image

Coordinates: 51°31′19.27″N0°06′10.10″W / 51.5220194°N 0.1028056°W / 51.5220194; -0.1028056