Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 2
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Chapter XII: Neighbourhood Of The Tower. (Continued).
Chapter XII: Neighbourhood Of The Tower. (Continued).
Stow describes a Jewish quarter near the Tower. he says,
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The churches near demand a brief notice. [extra_illustrations.2.107.1] , and Our Lady, in , Stow mentions as having, in the early ages, a of Our Lady on the north side, founded [extra_illustrations.2.107.2] , whose lion heart, as the erroneous tradition went, was buried there, under the high altar. Edward I. gave the chapel a statue of the Virgin. Edward IV. permitted his cousin, John Earl of Worcester, to form a brotherhood there, and gave them the advowson of Streatham and part of a Wiltshire priory for maintenance. Richard III. rebuilt the chapel, and founded a college of priests, consisting of a dean and canons, and made Edmund Chaderton, a great favourite of his, dean. The college was suppressed and pulled down in the reign of Edward VI. The ground remained a garden plot till the reign of Elizabeth, when merchants' warehouses were built there by Sir William Winter, whose wife was buried in the church. | |
The church derives its name of Barking from the vicarage having originally belonged to the abbey | |
p.108 | and convent of Barking, in Essex. The church was much injured in by an accidental explosion of barrels of gunpowder at a shipchandler's near the churchyard. A Mr. Leyborn, quoted by Strype, gives the following account of this calamity:-- |
says Leyborn,
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Allhallows, from its vicinity to the Tower, was the burial-place of several State criminals, and many minor Court officials; the poet Earl of Surrey, Bishop Fisher, and the narrow-brained Laud, were buried there, but have been since removed. The | |
p.109 | or brasses preserved here are, says an authority, among the best in London. The finest is a Flemish brass, Andrew Evyngar, a salter, and his wife, . There is also an injured brass of William Thynne, Clerk of Cloth, Clerk of the Kitchen, and afterwards This worthy man published the edition of the entire works of Chaucer, in . Strype mentions the monument of Humfry Monmouth, a draper and sheriff, who protected Tindal, and encouraged him in his translation of the Testament, for which he was thrown into the Tower by Sir Thomas More. In his will he appointed Bishop Latimer, Dr. Barnes (the ), |
and other reformed preachers, to preach sermons ( a week) at Allhallows, which, he said, would do more good than having masses said for his soul. He also forbad at his funeral the superstitious use of candles, the singing of dirges, and the tolling of bells. In the chancel Strype mentions the monument of Dr. Kettlewell, a famous controversial divine, who wrote and refused to take the oaths on the accession of William of Orange. | |
In the pavement of the south aisle, near the chancel, is a large brass, to the memory of John Rulche, who died in . There is another, with small figures of a man and his wives, with the date . From the mouths of the figures rise | |
p.110 | labels (as in old caricatures), with pious invocations of and Another brass of a nameless knight and his lady is dated ; and in the north aisle there is an ecclesiastic and a lady, date probably, says Mr. Godwin, . On a pillar in the south aisle is a brass plate, with doggerel verses to the memory of Armac Aymer, Governor of the Pages of Honour, or Master of the Henchmen, to Henry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, having served in the royal household years. At the north side of the chancel stands a panelled altar tomb, of carved granite, crowned with strawberry leaves. Under a canopy are groups of figures--the father and sons, the mother and daughters. Strype seems to erroneously connect this tomb with that of Thomas Pilke, who founded a chantry here in (Richard II.). Pilke's is more likely the canopied on the opposite side of the church, with a plate of brass, on which is represented the resurrection of Christ. |
The earliest legend connected with this very old church is relating to [extra_illustrations.2.110.1] That warlike king had a vision, which commanded him to erect an image of the Virgin at Allhallows Barking, promising him if he did, visited it times every year, and kept the chapel in repair, he should be victorious over all nations, should be King of England when his father died, and conqueror of Wales and Scotland. To the truth of this vision Edward swore before the Pope, and obtained a dispensation of days' penance for all true penitents who should contribute towards the lights, ornaments, and repairs of the chapel, and should pray for the soul of King Richard, whose heart was, as it is said, buried before the high altar. The pilgrims and worshippers of Our Lady of Barking continued numerous till the Reformation came and broke up these empty superstitions. | |
In the Puritan proceeded against Dr. Layfield, the vicar of Allhallows, who had introduced various Popish innovations. The parishioners complained that he had altered the position of the communion-table, set up various images, had erected a cross over the font, placed the letters I.H.S. in various places, and also that he had bowed several times during the administration of the sacrament. The vicar, however, contrived to escape punishment. At the Great Fire this interesting church had a narrow escape, the vicarage being burned down. The present brick steeple was built in , when the churchwardens put over the clock, which projects from the front of the church, the figure of an angel sounding a trumpet. In the succeeding churchwardens removed this figure, and placed it over the altar; but the clergyman being seen to perform genuflexions before it, the churchwardens were indicted, and compelled to burn the image. | |
The church, from an architectural point of view, is well worth a visit. The round massive pillars and sharp-pointed arches of the west end date from the beginning of the century, while the eastern portion of the church is Perpendicular and Late Decorated. There is a clerestory, containing windows, and the windows of the north and south aisles are of different periods. It is said that many years ago the basement of a wall was found running across the building near the pulpit, showing an earlier and a later structure. The roof and ceiling were constructed in , at a cost of . The marble font has a carved wooden cover (attributed, of course, to Gibbons), which represents angels plucking flowers and fruit. On the south side of the building is an old staircase turret, which formerly led to the roof, but is now stopped up. In the porch, on the same side, is a good Tudor doorway. | |
Dr. Hickes, the great scholar who wrote the was vicar of Allhallows for years (-). Hickes, a Yorkshireman, born in , was chaplain, in , to the Duke of Lauderdale, the mischievous High Commissioner of Scotland, and was sent to Charles's court, with Bishop Burnet, to report the discontent of the Scotch. He was presented to the living of Allhallows by Archbishop Sancroft. At the Restoration of , Dr. Hickes refused to take the oath of allegiance, and afterwards went over to France, to see King James, on the dangerous mission of arranging the consecration of fresh bishops. Hickes was very learned in the fathers and in the old northern languages, and wrote much for Divine right. | |
Another church of interest in this neighbourhood is [extra_illustrations.2.111.1] at the corner of . This saint was the warlike King of Norway who helped Ethelred against the Danes. There was a church on this spot at least as long ago as , for we find in that year the prior and brethren of the Holy Cross paying and a half per annum to the rector, and his successors for ever, for any damage that might accrue to them by the building of the priory. The patronage was vested in the Nevil family, then in that of Lord Windsor; but in it was bequeathed to the parish by Sir Andrew Riccard, who was Sheriff of London in . Maitland mentions, in the middle aisle, a brass of date . The most ancient | |
p.111 | brass now to be found is apparently that to the memory of John Orgene and Ellyne his wife, date . Near this is a fine monument to that of our English herbalists, Dr. William Turner, who died in . This deep student was a violent Reformer, whom Bishop Gardiner threw into prison. On his release he went to live abroad, and at Basle became the friend of Gesner, the great naturalist. In the reign of Edward VI. he was made Dean of Wells and chaplain to the Protector Somerset, in which former dignity Elizabeth reinstated him. |
On the south side of the communion-table there was, according to Strype, a monument to that brave and witty man, Sir John Mennes, or Minnes, vice-admiral to Charles I., and, after the Restoration, Governor of Dover Castle, and Chief Comptroller of the Navy. Born in the year , and holding a place in the Navy Office in the reign of James I., Minnes, after many years of honest and loyal service, died in , at the Navy Office in , where he must have spent half his long-shore life. He is generally spoken of as a brave, honest, generous fellow, and the best of all good company. Some of his poems are contained in a volume entitled , and he was the author of a clever scoffing ballad on his brother poet, Sir John Suckling's, foolish vaunts and miserable failure. In we find the celebrated lines, so often quoted, and which are almost universally attributed to Butler, whose Hudibrastic manner they so exactly resemble-
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In the chancel, near the monument of Lord Bayning, mentioned by of Stow's commentators as then hung with coat of arms and streamers, is a monument to the wife of Samuel Pepys, the Secretary to the Navy, who wrote the delightful stultifying which we have so often quoted. Who that has read it can forget the portrait of that buxom beauty who was so jealous of pretty Mrs. Knipp, the actress; or how Pepys took her, , to the great wedding of a Dutch merchant, at Goring House, where there was says the uxorious husband, Does he not record how she took to wearing black patches, and how she began to study dancing and limning? Mrs. Pepys was the daughter of a French Huguenot gentleman, who had been gentleman carver to Queen Henrietta, and was dismissed for striking of the queen's friars, who had rebuked him for not attending mass. Mrs. Pepys had been brought up in a Ursuline convent in France, and this fact was probably remembered when the Titus Oates party endeavoured to connect poor Pepys with the (supposed) murder of Sir Edmundbury Godfrey. In this same church was also buried Thomas Pepys, brother of the diary-keeper, whose funeral Pepys records with a curious mixture of grief, thrift, and want of feeling. The entry notes some curious customs of the period:-- | |
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Last of all of the Pepys family, to Allhallows came the rich Secretary of the Navy, that pleasant and musician, who was interred, , in a vault of his own making, by the side of his wife and brother. The burial service was read at at night, by Dr. Hickes, author of the | |
Under the organ gallery, at the west end of the church, is a sculptured marble figure, set up by the Turkey Company, to Sir Andrew Riccard, the great benefactor of the parish, and a potent man after the Restoration, being chairman of both the East-India Company and the Turkey Company. At the foot of the statue, which formerly stood in of the aisles, is the following inscription : | |
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Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.2.107.1] That of Allhallows, Barking [extra_illustrations.2.107.2] Richard I. [extra_illustrations.2.110.1] Edward I. [extra_illustrations.2.111.1] St. Olave's Hart Street |