St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate

St. Botolph-without-Bishopsgate

Exterior photo of St. Botolph-without-Bishopsgate
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Church of England

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the City of London, first mentioned in 1212[1] and dedicated to St Botolph.

The nearest London Underground station is Liverpool Street.

History

The church is on the west side of Bishopsgate, outside where the former gate stood,[2] near Liverpool Street station. Adjoining the buildings is a substantial churchyard — running along the back of Wormwood Street, the former course of London Wall — and a former school.[3] The church is linked with the Worshipful Company of Bowyers.

Christian worship on this site may have Roman origins, though this is not fully proven. The present church (the fourth on the site) was completed by George Dance the Elder in 1725,[4] the previous one having survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 only to be demolished in the eighteenth century.[5] During construction, the foundations of the original Anglo-Saxon Church were discovered.

To provide a striking façade 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.[6]

The infant son of the playwright Ben Jonson is buried in the churchyard, and baptisms in this church include Edward Alleyn in 1566 and John Keats (in the present font) in 1795.[7] At one point the satirist and essayist Stephen Gosson was rector.

By permission of the Rector, the Antiochian Orthodox Church worships there.[8]

The church was designated a Grade II* listed building on 4 January 1950.[9] Within the churchyard, the church hall is the Grade II, former Hall of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers. It is a single storied classical red brick and Portland stone building, with niches containing painted figures of charity children.[10]

Notes

  1. ^ "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert,C;Weinreb,D;Keay,J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008) ISBN 978-1-4050-4924-5
  2. ^ "The Old Churches of London" Cobb,G: London, Batsford, 1942
  3. ^ The City of London Churches Betjeman,J Andover, Pikin, 1967 ISBN 0853721122
  4. ^ "London:the City Churches” Pevsner,N/Bradley,S : New Haven, Yale, 1998 ISBN 0300096550
  5. ^ Samuel Pepys-The Shorter Pepys Latham,R(Ed) p484: Harmondsworth,1985 ISBN 0140094180
  6. ^ Godwin, George; John Britton (1839). The Churches of London: A History and Description of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of the Metropolis. London: C. Tilt. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AtI9AAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover. Retrieved 19 September 2011. 
  7. ^ "The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches" Tucker,T: London, Friends of the City Churches, 2006 ISBN 0955394503
  8. ^ [1]
  9. ^ Details from listed building database (199309) . Images of England. English Heritage. accessed 24 January 2009
  10. ^ Details from listed building database (199320) . Images of England. English Heritage. accessed 24 January 2009

External links