All Hallows Church, Barking

9 Annotations

First Reading

Lea  •  Link

Do we know if this does mean All Hallows, Barking (by the Tower) or whether it refers to the lost church of All Hallows the Great that was also in Thames Street?

Paul Brewster  •  Link

Wheatley Footnote: Allhallows the Great, a church in Upper Thames Street. The old church destroyed in the Great Fire was also known as "Allhallows in the Ropery."

Terry Foreman  •  Link

All Hallows-by-the-Tower was first established in 675 by the Saxon Abbey at Barking[2] and was for many years named after the abbey, as All Hallows Barking....The church was badly damaged by a nearby explosion in 1649, which demolished its west tower, and only narrowly survived the Great Fire of London in 1666. It owed its survival to Admiral William Penn, father of William Penn of Pennsylvania fame, who saved it by having the surrounding buildings demolished to create firebreaks. During the Great Fire [5 September, 1666] Samuel Pepys climbed its spire to watch the progress of the fire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_…

Second Reading

Bill  •  Link

Allhallows Barking, a church at the east end of Great Tower Street, in the ward of that name, dedicated to Allhallows and St. Mary, said to be "the most complete mediaeval church remaining in London." The distinguishing title of Barking was appended thereto by the Abbess and Convent of Barking, in Essex, to whom the vicarage originally belonged. Richard I. added a chapel to the building, and Edward I. a statute of "Our Lady of Barking" to the treasures of the church. Richard III. rebuilt the chapel, and founded a college of priests, suppressed and pulled down in the 2d of Edward VI. It is 180 feet long, 67 wide, and 35 high; the tower (rebuilt 1659) rises about 80 feet from the ground. The whole building had a narrow escape at the Great Fire, for, as Pepys records, the dial and porch were burnt, and the fire there quenched. This church, from its near neighbourhood to the Tower, was a ready receptacle for the remains of those who fell on the scaffold on Tower Hill. The headless bodies of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (the poet), Bishop Fisher, and Archbishop Laud were buried here, but have been long since removed. The body of Fisher was carried on the halberds of the attendants and buried in the churchyard. Laud's body was removed after the Restoration to the chapel of St. John's College, Oxford.
---Wheatley. London, Past and Present, 1891.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

All-Hallows-by-the-Tower is very, very old. Go down into its crypt museum, almost overlooked under the stairs, and you will find one of the most perfectly preserved tessellated Roman pavements in the City.

The Church predates the Tower of London by a good 400 years.

There has been a church here since 675, an offshoot of the Abbey in distant Barking. Independence brought expansion and Royal connections. The heart of Richard I is said to be buried in the churchyard, and the church was used to house decapitated heads of traitors prior to their removal to spikes on London Bridge.

The church was nearly destroyed in the Great Fire of London, but was saved by Admiral William Penn. Restored in the late 19th century, it was gutted by WW2 bombs and rebuilt in the 1950s. But, unless you look for it, the restoration might escape notice.

Down a narrow staircase at the back of the church and you’ll find yourself in a gloomy corridor that is part of the Saxon church crypt. The crypt museum has lots of displays in glass cases. The model of Roman London looks like something a school might have put together, but is interesting. Historic documents sit in displays within alcoves with lights that switch on as you approach – or not. A rare use of the camera flash helps.

If you don’t know the Church's history, the drawing of Barking Abbey might confuse, but the panorama of London should be instantly recognizable.

The church has a strong links with the maritime trades as you'll see throughout the building.

The altar at the end of the corridor sits in a smaller chapel. This was originally outside the Saxon-era church and contains three burial urns. The three stones under the Altar came from Israel, probably brought by the Knights Templar.

At the other end, under the stairs you came down, you’ll see the famous Roman floor. Considering the scale of other Roman remains in London it’s not that impressive, but it is the best flooring of them all. It comes from a domestic house and has a gully thought to be the position of a lost wall. The house might have been part of the nearby Roman Bath House complex, which currently sits under an office block, and is open occasionally.

The Crypt museum is open whenever the church is open, which is most of the day throughout the week.

Considering its age, it’s not a surprise that All Hallows also hosts important City ceremonies, such as the Beating the Bounds and the Knolly’s Rose.

For pictures, see https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/…

Third Reading

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

My L&M is headed by "22. Sunday. Easterday."

Maybe Pepys isn't quite as Presbyterian as we are led to believe? Maybe he is practicing to become an Anglican?

The 20th is not headed Good Friday, so he wasn't that tapped into the future.

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

Ignore the above -- posted in the wrong place. Sorry.
(It's always good to check where your annotation is going when you see your preview.)

San Diego Sarah  •  Link

All Hallows by the Tower is at the other end of Seething Lane from St. Olave's. When Pepys surveyed the Great Fire's damage from its tower, he was only steps from home.

There is the most magnificent 17th century font cover I've ever seen in a glassed off space there. The guide told me that it replaced an old one which was then shipped by the rector to William Penn Jr. in America to remind him that he was baptized as an Anglican at All Hallows.
I wonder what Penn did with it? It's now probably a disused horse trough in New Jersey, or someone's planter in Pennsylvania.

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References

Chart showing the number of references in each month of the diary’s entries.

1660

1662

1664

  • Oct

1666

  • Sep