| St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate | |
|---|---|
 Exterior from Bishopsgate | |
  St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate | |
| 51°31′0.15″N0°4′53.96″W / 51.5167083°N 0.0816556°W /51.5167083; -0.0816556 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England andAntiochian Orthodox Church |
| Previous denomination | Roman Catholicism |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | London |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | David Armstrong |
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is aChurch of England church in theBishopsgate Without area of theCity of London, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's (now demolished) eastern walls, part ofLondon's East End.
Adjoining the buildings is a substantialchurchyard – running along the back ofWormwood Street, the former course ofLondon Wall – and a former school.[1] The church is linked with theWorshipful Company of Coopers and theWorshipful Company of Bowyers.
The church lies on the west side of the road namedBishopsgate (RomanErmine Street), nearLiverpool Street station. The church and street both take their name from the 'Bishop's Gate' inLondon's defensive wall which stood approximately 30 metres to the south.
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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".[2] 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 byescalade more difficult.
The church was one of four in medieval London dedicated to Saint Botolph orBotwulf, a 7th-centuryEast Anglian saint, each of which stood by one of the gates to the city. The other three were near neighbourSt Botolph's Aldgate,St Botolph's Aldersgate near theBarbican Centre andSt Botolph's, Billingsgate by the riverside (this church was destroyed by the Great Fire and not rebuilt).[3]
By the end of the 11th century Botolph was regarded as thepatron saint of boundaries, and by extension of trade and travel.[4] The veneration of Botolph was most pronounced before the legend ofSt Christopher became popular amongst travellers.[5]
It is believed[6] 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.
ThePriory just inside Aldgate was founded by clergy fromSt Botolph's Priory inColchester, 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 theColchester's Wall. The Priors held the land of thePortsoken, outside the wall, and are thought to have built and dedicated the church, St Botolph without Aldgate, that served it.
The church ofSt Botolph's Church, Cambridge just outside the south gate of that city, may[original research?] in turn, have taken its dedication from St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate to which it was linked byErmine Street.
The first known written record of the church is from 1212.[7] However, it is thought that Christian worship on this site may have Roman origins, though this is not fully proven.[8]
The church survived theGreat Fire of London in 1666, and was rebuilt in 1724–29.
In around 1307, theKnights Templar were examined here by an inquisition on charges of corruption,[7] and in 1413 a female hermit was recorded as living here, supported by a pension of forty shillings a year paid by the Sheriff.[7]
It narrowly escaped theGreat Fire of London, the sexton's house having been partly demolished to stop the spread of the flames.[9] 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.[2]
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| St. Botolphs Bishopsgate Church Rebuilding Act 1723 | |
|---|---|
| Act of Parliament | |
 | |
| Long title | An Act for re-building the Parish Church of St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, in the City of London, at the Charge of the Inhabitants of the said Parish. |
| Citation | 10 Geo. 1. c.5Pr. |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 19 March 1724 |
In 1710, the parishioners petitioned Parliament for permission to rebuild the church on another site, but nothing was done.[10] In 1723 the church was found to be irreparable[9] and the parishioners petitioned again. Having obtained an act of Parliament, theSt. Botolphs Bishopsgate Church Rebuilding Act 1723 (10 Geo. 1. c.5Pr.), they set up a temporary building in the churchyard, and began to rebuild the church. The first stone was laid in 1725,[11] and the new building was consecrated in 1728, though not completed until the next year. The designer was James Gold[12] or Gould.[13] 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.[12]
The interior is divided into nave and aisles by Composite columns, the nave beingbarrel vaulted. The church was soon found to be too dark, so a large west window was created, but this was largely obscured by the organ[12] installed in front of it in 1764.[9] In 1820 a lantern was added to the centre of the roof.[12]
The church was designated a Grade II*listed building on 4 January 1950[14] and contains memorials to the war dead of5th and8th BattalionsLondon Regiment.
The church suffered minor bomb damage in the Second World War and subsequently in the1993 Bishopsgate bombing.
The infant son of the playwrightBen Jonson is buried in the churchyard, and baptisms in this church includeEdward Alleyn in 1566,Emilia Lanier (née Bassano; widely considered to be the first Englishwoman to become a professional poet) on 27 January 1569, andJohn Keats (in the present font) in 1795.[15] Emilia Lanier married Alfonso Lanier in the church on 18 October 1592.[16]Mary Wollstonecraft, author ofA Vindication of the Rights of Woman, was baptised there in 1759.[17]
At one point the satirist and essayistStephen Gosson wasrector. The didactic poetRobert Carliell (fl. 1619), who championed the newChurch of England, held property in the parish.[18]
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Within the churchyard, the church hall is the Grade II, formerlivery hall of theWorshipful Company of Fan Makers. It is a single-storied classical red brick andPortland stone building, with niches containing figures of charity children.[19]
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.[20]
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Also within the area of the church is the entrance kiosk to a former undergroundVictorian Turkish bath. It was designed by the architect, Harold Elphick, and opened by City of London Alderman Treloar on 5 February 1895 for Henry and James Forder Neville[a] who owned other Turkish baths[21] in Victorian London.
†Rector died in post
(rpnt 1992)
(rev 1993, 2008)
Media related toSt Botolph-without-Bishopsgate at Wikimedia Commons| International | |
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