| St Botolph's Aldgate | |
|---|---|
| St Botolph without Aldgate and Holy Trinity Minories | |
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  St Botolph's Aldgate | |
| 51°30′50″N00°04′34″W / 51.51389°N 0.07611°W /51.51389; -0.07611 | |
| Location | London,EC3 |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Previous denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Churchmanship | Liberal /Modern Catholic |
| Website | www |
| History | |
| Status | Active |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Parish church |
| Heritage designation | Grade Ilisted building |
| Architect | George Dance the Elder |
| Architectural type | Georgian architecture |
| Years built | 1115; 16th century; 1741 |
| Completed | 1744 |
| Administration | |
| Diocese | London |
| Episcopal area | Two Cities (London and Westminster) |
| Archdeaconry | London |
| Deanery | City of London |
| Parish | St Botolph without Aldgate |
| Clergy | |
| Bishop | Bishop of London |
| Rector | Laura Burgess |
| Curate | Jarel Robinson-Brown |
| Chaplain | Andrew Richardson |
St Botolph's Aldgate is aChurch of England parish church in theCity of London and also, as it lies outside the line of the city'sformer eastern walls, a part of theEast End of London. The church served theancient parish ofSt Botolph without Aldgate which included the extramuralPortsoken Ward of the City of London, as well asEast Smithfield which is outside the City.
The full name of the church isSt Botolph without Aldgate and Holy Trinity Minories and it is sometimes known simply asAldgate Church.[1] The ecclesiastical parish was united with that of theChurch 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]
The church stands at the junction ofHoundsditch andAldgate High Street and is approximately 30 yards outside the former position ofAldgate, a defensivebarbican on theLondon Wall, laying in theEast End of London instead.
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 the near neighbourSt Botolph-without-Bishopsgate (outsideBishopsgate), as well asSt Botolph's Aldersgate (outsideAldersgate) andSt Botolph's, Billingsgate by the riverside (nearLondon Bridge – this church was destroyed by theGreat 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.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) inColchester'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 in turn, have taken its dedication fromSt Botolph-without-Bishopsgate to which it was linked byErmine Street.
By the end of the 11th century, Botolph was regarded as thepatron saint of boundaries, and by extension of trade and travel.[6] This association with travel was particularly strong before the legend ofSaint 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]
The earliest known written record of the church dates from 1115,[8] when it was received by theHoly Trinity Priory (recently founded byMatilda, wife ofHenry 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 theGreat 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]
St Botolph's was completely rebuilt between 1741[12] and 1744, to a design byGeorge 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]
The interior was redecorated byJohn Francis Bentley, the architect ofWestminster 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 andAldgate tube station.
The earliest record of the churchyard is in 1230; by 1875 it was being used as a public open space. The landscape gardenerFanny Wilkinson laid it out as a public garden in 1892. A drinking fountain, still extant, was installed in 1906 to the memory of the philanthropistFrederic Mocatta.[18]
The parish was united with that ofHoly Trinity, Minories when it closed in 1899. St Botolph's inherited from that church a preserved head, reputed to be that ofHenry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who had been executed for treason byQueen 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]
The church was severely bombed at intervals duringthe Blitz in theSecond World War. The church was designated a Grade Ilisted 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 theBishop of London, in the presence ofQueen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and SirRobert Bellinger, theLord 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]
The organ byRenatus Harris was built in the early 18th century.[15] It has undergone a historical restoration by the organ buildersGoetze 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 documentaryThe 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 byMander 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 inWelbeck, Nottinghamshire. The instrument was reinstalled in May 2006.
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