St Nicholas Shambles

St Nicholas Shambles was a mediaeval church in the City of London.[1] It was on the corner of Butcher Hall Lane (now King Edward St) and Newgate St.[2] The site was extensively excavated in the 1970s in preparation for the GPO headquarters, now the BT Centre, the headquarters of BT Group.

First mentioned as St. Nicholas de Westrnacekaria ^[3], in 1253 Walter de Cantilupe, Bishop of Worcester granted indulgences to its parishioners^[4]. It took its name from the Shambles, the butchers area in the west of Newgate St.^[5]

At the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries it was demolished and the parish united in 1547^[6] with St Sepulchre-without-Newgate ^[7]. In 1975 the site was excavated and many significant finds were made^[8]

Notes

1. ^ National archive details
2. ^ http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tjEQAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA2-PA319
3. ^ "A Dictionary of London" Harben,H: London, Herbert Jenkins, 1918
4. ^ Records of St Nicholas Shambles parish, 1253-1526 (Held at St Bart’s Hospital)
5. ^ "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert,C;Weinreb,D;Keay,J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008) ISBN 978-1-4050-4924-5
6. ^ Guildhall Library data
7. ^ “The Old Churches of London” Cobb,G: London, Batsford, 1942
8. ^ 1975-77 Details of excavations