Tag Archives: Smithfield

St Bartholomew the Less, the Chapel and Parish Church of St Barts

There is a very small connection between the locations of today’s and last Sunday’s post. The architect Inigo Jones was trapped during the siege of Basing House, and this week I am visiting the church where he was baptised, having been born in Smithfield.

The church of St Bartholomew the Great is a well known church close to West Smithfield and alongside Cloth Fair. Not so well known is that the church has a smaller brother – St Bartholomew the Less.

St Bartholomew the Less is not that visible from West Smithfield, but walk towards the hospital of St Bartholomew’s, or St Barts as it is now more commonly known, through the early 18th century Gate House shown in the photo below:

And you will find St Bartholomew the Less:

The history of St Bartholomew the Less, the nearby church of St Bartholomew the Great, and St Bartholomew’s Hospital (St Bart’s) all have a common root, dating back to the 12th century.

St Bartholomew the Great was founded in 1123 by Rahere, a prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The story goes that Rahere was originally a Jester or Kings Minstrel, however after the death of the King’s wife and children Rahere travelled to Rome where St Bartholomew appeared to him in a vision and commanded him to build the church. Other stories are that the saint appeared to Rahere during a near death experience.

With the distance of time, and variations of the story through the centuries, what is firm is that he established an Augustine Priory (possibly on the site of an earlier parish church, and part of the priory now remains as St Bartholomew the Great) along with the adjacent hospital of St. Bartholomew.

St Bartholomew the Less appears to have originally been a chapel attached to St Bartholomew the Great, moving to a chapel attached to the hospital around 1184.

It was rebuilt around the 15th century, and for the next few centuries the church appeared as shown in the following print:

(© The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.)

In 1546, during the Reformation, Henry VIII gave the church along with the hospital to the City of London.

In 1793, the church was rebuilt by George Dance the Younger. Whilst the medieval tower survived, Dance appears to have completely rebuilt the interior of the church, rebuilding it into the octagonal interior within rectangular outer walls that we see today, however much of the construction materials seem to have been wood, as within a couple of decades, wood rot had set in, and the church needed another major rebuild.

This was carried out by the architect Thomas Hardwick between 1823 and 1825 . Thomas Hardwick was St Bart’s Hospital Surveyor. Hardwick kept the octagonal layout of Dance’s rebuild, but used brick, stone and cast-iron to leave a more permanent structure, and apart from some later 19th century restoration and repairs of war-time damage, this is the church we see today, a medieval tower with an early 19th century octangle interior:

The ornate pulpit:

There is very little to be found on the history of the pulpit. The Pevsner Guide to the City of London states that the pulpit is made of alabaster and dates from 1864, and that it was designed by Philip Charles Hardwick, who was the grandson of the architect Thomas Hardwick who carried out the 1823 – 1825 rebuild of the church.

Philip Charles Hardwick appears to have carried out a further restoration in 1862 – 1863, so around the date of the pulpit, and the following from the London City Press on the 17th of October 1863 describes the reopening of the church:

“On Sunday last, the Church of St Bartholomew the Less, which is also the chapel of the hospital, was reopened for divine worship after its recent restoration. There was a crowded congregation, composed of the Governors, medical officers, students, nurses and patients of St Bartholomew. No one who knew the old church would recognise it in its transformed appearance. The beautiful chancel, the new tracery of the windows, the stained glass, the encaustic tiles, the chaste marble of the altar piece, render this building, hallowed by so many memories of the past, worthy of the fame of the most ancient, as it is one of the most useful, hospitals in Europe.

Too much praise cannot be given to Mr. P.C. Hardwick, the architect of the hospital, for the harmony and beauty of the restoration he has effected. The treasurer of the hospital has devoted much of his time in rendering the ancient church of St Bartholomew one of the gems of the City. No small portion of the cost comes from the private resources of the Governors and almoners of the hospital. the medical staff have shown their appreciation of the harmony which governs their institution by presenting the east window. The little parish church of St Bartholomew the Less, partly parochial, partly collegiate, in its character, reflects honour on the Governors and medical men of St Bartholomew, and is now one of the prettiest ornaments of the City”.

If you have spent any time reading memorials in churches, then you would have found many which tell a really sad story. This is one of them, but for a different reason:

This is the memorial to Richard Milbourne West who was a Lieut-Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps, and who served during the First World War.

He started as a Major in the North Midland Field Ambulance before eventually taking command.

I have not seen a memorial like this before, where the medals of the person named have been set within the memorial, although whether through theft, or removed for safe keeping, or returned to his family, the medallions are missing with just the medal ribbons remaining (with one exception).

The medal on the left (based on the ribbon) is, I believe, the Distinguished Service Order, or D.S.O. and the following report from the Isle of Wight County Press on the 9th of June 1917 records the award of this medal:

“Many Island friends of Lieut-Col. Richard Milbourne West, M.D., R.A.M.C., eldest son of the late Mr. Henry Algernon West, of High-park, Ryde, will heartily congratulate him on having been awarded the D.S.O. for distinguished service in the field. Lieut-Col. West has been in the war from the first, and some months since was wounded by a bursting shell. Fortunately he made a good recovery, and has again been at the Front for some months. Mrs. R.M. West, who is staying at the Bays, has been a worker at the Seely Red Cross Hospital, Gatcombe, since January.”

The medal which is third from the right, with the blue, white and gold vertical stripes is the British War Medal, which was issued to all those who served in the First World War.

To the left of this medal was either the 1914 Star or the 1914 – 1915 Star. This had the red, white and blue vertical stripes on the ribbon, and the medallion was star shaped and had a crown on top, identical to the remaining indentation.

The medal with both the medallion and ribbon missing was probably the Allied Victory Medal. Each of the allies involved in the war had their own version, with the British version having a rainbow coloured ribbon, a round medallion with the winged figure of Victory on the front of the medal, with the words ‘The Great War for Civilisation 1914-1919’ on the rear. As he served in the First World War, he should have been awarded this medal.

The medal on the right is the Territorial Decoration, and featured the Royal cipher of George V, the letters GvR.

I am sure sure of the other medals, but together they show the service of someone who was originally in the Territorial forces, and then working on the front in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War.

He died on the 18th of July, 1936, at the age of 69, at his home in Wooton on the Isle of Wight.

The majority of the memorials in St Bartholomew the Less are medical related, or for someone who had an administrative role in the life of the hospital.

The two memorials in the following photo are to Arthur Watkins, who was the Steward of the hospital and Christopher Rice Pyle who was the Clerk of Works:

The Clerk of Works was responsible for the fabric of the building, maintenance, building projects etc. whilst the Steward was one of the three historical roles, along with the Clerk and Matron, who were responsible for implementing the orders of the Board of Governors.

Mark Morris, another Steward:

Looking towards the entrance of the church (on the left), with the organ facing the centre of the nave. The organ was built in 1930 by Hill, Norman & Beard, and rebuilt in 1978:

St Bartholomew the Less lost its stained glass windows in the last war, and many of the new windows are also connected to the works of the hospital, and the medical profession in general.

The following window has the dates 1939 – 1945, a kneeling nurse to the right, and the words: “Praise God remembering those nurses from this hospital who gave their lives for their country”:

And the following window has “Praise God remembering those physicians & surgeons from this hospital who gave their lives for their country”:

Side view showing how the rebuilding of the body of the church has clustered all the monuments into alcoves formed by the octangle shape of the church:

Alcove towards the rear of the church:

Where there is another monument, continuing the tradition of recording those who had a significant role in the management of the hospital. This is to John Darker, who was the Treasurer of the hospital for 24 years in the 18th century. his wife Mary Darker is also named:

As well as being Treasurer of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, John Darker was also one of the two MPs for Leicester. He must have been reasonably wealthy as in 1774, the two MPs for Leicester donated £20 each to enable the purchase of a house adjoining the east gate in the city so that the passage could be widened.

The theory of nominative determinism is used to explain why people follow careers which match their name. Unfortunately Howard Henry Tooth was not one of those who followed this theory, as he was a physician rather than a dentist:

Tooth was a neurologist, and he appears to have specilised in peripheral nerve disease and the structure of the spinal cord.

He was at St Bartholomew’s as an assistant physician from 1895 and became a full physician in 1907. He was also at the National Hospital for the Paralysed and Epileptic at Queen Square.

He may well have had consulting rooms in Harley Street as in 1889, he was living at 34 Harley Street when a newspaper report reported on a chase to find a burglar who had tried to break into a house in Mansfield Mews, and being seen trying to open a skylight by the resident who was sleeping below.

Police pursued Thomas Wolsey who was aged 30 through the streets and across buildings until he was found hiding in Howard Tooth’s home, having broken through a rooflight in the lavatory to get in, no doubt hoping to stay concealed until the police had given up the chase.

He retired in 1921 and seems to have suffered from ill health following the First World War, he had also participated in some form, presumably medical, in the Boer War.

He died on the 13th of May 1925, at the age of 69 at The Moat, in Hadleigh, Suffolk, the home to which he had moved after retiring from his work in London.

The following photo show the view as you walk into the church through the door in the base of the tower:

The stone pillars here are very different to those in the main body of the church. These are almost certainly from the medieval construction of the church as they are part of the overall structure of the tower.

An unusual feature is that after entering the church, there are steps up to the raised level of the interior of the church. This higher level probably dates from when George Dance rebuilt the church.

The church is Grade II* listed, and the listing includes the following reference to the raised level of the church which “has not been fully explained but which may indicate the presence of vaults”. The Pevsner guide refers to the raised level of the church as simply being “a surprise”.

The area around the tower is all that remains of the medieval church, it is fascinating how structures of this age retain the evidence of many periods of rebuild and modification, of earlier doors and windows, and of how building materials have changed over time:

Walking to the rear of the church provides the best view of how the interior has been structured. From here we can see the rectangular outer walls, with at the upper level, the octagonal structure which was built by Dance, and rebuilt by Thomas Hardwick, and Philip Charles Hardwick added the semi-octagonal sanctuary at the end of the church, which internally contains the altar:

The buttresses added to the church, as seen in the above photo, may have been added around 1842 when the screen wall of the hospital (which is to the right of the above photo), was rebuilt.

Up until 2012, St Bartholomew the Less had been a parish church, but was then united with St Bartholomew the Great, and is now a chapel of ease – usually a chapel that is some distance from the parish church, allowing people to have a local chapel to attend, but with St Bartholomew the Great so close, I suspect the change in status is to more efficiently share resources whilst allowing the smaller church to continue to focus on the hospital of St Bart’s.

St Bartholomew the Less is a wonderful little church, and if you are in Smithfield, walk through the old gateway into St Bart’s and take a look.

The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great

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For this week’s post I am in West Smithfield, at the gatehouse entrance to the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great. The photo below is my father’s post war photo of the gatehouse.

And in the following photo is the same view on a rather damp and overcast January morning.

The gatehouse building is basically the same apart from some cosmetic differences as is the building to the left. The building on the right is of a similar style to the original but was part of reconstruction work carried out between 1950 and 1952.

The other difference is that road running to the right has been pedestrianised along the length leading out into West Smithfield with an additional large area of paving in front of the gatehouse.

The gatehouse entrance now opens onto the path leading to the church with the graveyard on the left, however originally the church of St Bartholomew the Great covered the area now occupied by the graveyard and path. The stone entrance of the gateway is part of the original 13th Century doorway to the south aisle of the church. The timber framed building above was added in the 16th Century.

The following plan of the original layout is displayed within the church. The nave is the area that once occupied the space which is now the graveyard and the South Aisle is the path from today’s entrance to the church up to the gatehouse, of which the original stonework is shown by the dark green at the left hand end of the South Aisle.

For many years, the timber framed upper floors of the gatehouse were covered by a later brick and plaster frontage. The timber framework was uncovered when the gatehouse suffered damage from nearby bombing during the First World War. The brickwork was later removed and the gatehouse restored to the condition we see today.

A newspaper report from the Leeds Mercury of the 7th August 1916 titled “A City Improvement” records the change:

“Passing through Little Britain this afternoon on entering West Smithfield it seemed for a moment that I had lost my bearings, for I was confronted with a beautiful oak and plaster facade which I had not noticed before. The phenomenon was not due to the wizard’s magic wand, but to the rector and churchwardens of St. Bartholomew the Great, who have restored the old gate-house above the Norman dog toothed arch by which Rahere’s Church of St. Bartholomew is entered. In the days when Vandalism reigned under the name of improvements the front of the gate-house was modernised and covered with stucco. After much expense and pains the quaint old structure can be seen as the architect left it, for not a single timber has been left disturbed.”

The following photo from Getty Images shows the gatehouse before the First World War with the plaster and brickwork overlay to the original timber frame. The buildings on either side of the photo are the same as in my father’s photo however the building on the right was occupied by the Stationers & Bookbinders Evans & Witt at the start of the 20th Century before changing to the Gateway Tobacco & Confectionery Company by the time of my father’s photo.

Embed from Getty Images

Walk through the gatehouse and this is the view of St Bartholomew the Great. This whole area would once have been covered by the original church and the path leading up to today’s entrance was once the south aisle. The raised area on the left, formerly the nave, is now the churchyard.

As well as the loss of the original nave, the church has been through many major and minor changes over the centuries. The following photo from 1877 shows the same view as above, however in 1877 there was no entrance or porch at the base of the tower and a large window occupied the wall of the church on the left, along with an entrance to the church. (I am fascinated by the steps up to the wooden door into the tower, I wonder why the door was placed in this position?)

And in 1739, houses in Cloth Fair, the street to the left of the church, formed a boundary along the churchyard.

St Bartholomew the Great was founded in 1123 by Rahere, a prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The story goes that Rahere was originally a Jester or Kings Minstrel, however after the death of the King’s wife and children Rahere traveled to Rome where St Bartholomew appeared to him in a vision and commanded him to build the church. He established the church as an Augustine Priory (possibly on the site of an earlier parish church) along with the adjacent hospital of St. Bartholomew.

Over the centuries the church went through many changes. After the dissolution, the majority of the nave and the north and south aisles were pulled down and the choir was annexed to the old parish church. Queen Mary gave the church to the Black Friars who used it as a conventional church, then Queen Elizabeth restored the church to the parish, although by then the church was in a very poor condition as Stow wrote that the steeple of the church “of rotten timber readie to fall of itselfe.”

The current tower was built in 1628 and for the following centuries the church went through periods of decay, restorations, parts of the building were pressed into different use such as a school and workshops and the buildings of Cloth Fair crowded close up to and sometimes within the fabric of the church.

The church survived both the Great Fire and the Blitz.

The restoration of the church to the state we see today began around 1886 lasting through to the early 20th Century, including the work on the entrance from West Smithfield.

Time to have a walk around the church. My visit was on a wet Saturday in January, the type of day that is much underrated for a visit to this type of building. They are generally much quieter and the dampness and limited light at this time of year seems to make the history and fabric of the church far more visible.

On the right of the church is the Font which dates from 1404. It was at this font that William Hogarth was baptised on the 28th November 1697. He was born close by in Bartholomew Close. He also was responsible for the magnificent murals along the stairs leading to the Great Hall of the adjacent St Batholomew’s Hospital.

The tomb of Sir Walter and Lady Mary Mildmay. The founder of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth 1, Mildmay died in 1589 after Mary who died in 1576.

There are not that many monuments in St Bartholomew the Great, probably due to the many periods of reconstruction, loss of much of the nave and the different uses to which the church has been put, however those that remain are impressive.

Doorway through to the Vestry, much of which is the original medieval stonework.

Prior Bolton’s door.

Prior Bolton was Prior of St Bartholomew the Great between 1505 and 1532 and carried out repair and construction work across the church. As well as being Prior, Bolton was a member of Gray’s Inn and a builder of some considerable success. Bolton was responsible for building work at Westminster Abbey, including construction of the chapel for Henry VII. In his will Henry VII left direction that the chapel should be completed and, “delivered to the Priour of Sainct Batilmews beside Smythfeld of the work of our said chapell’

He continued to work for Henry VIII and was responsible for a number of construction projects in London and across the country. The King’s Book of Payments include records of payment to Bolton of over £5,000 for work on New Hall, near Chelmsford in Essex, a considerable sum of money at the time.

Looking back down the South Aisle. In the original medieval church, this view would have been twice a long, all the way to the gatehouse.

The Lady Chapel at the east end of the church. After the dissolution, from 1539 all the way to the 1880s this part of the church buildings was used for alternative activities including use as a house and as a printing works. Beneath the Lady Chapel are the remains of the original medieval crypt.

During the 19th century restoration work, the crypt had to be dug out and restored having been used for a range of purposes including coal and wine cellars. Parts of St. Bartholomew the Great were also used as a blacksmith’s forge and in a 1916 newspaper report on the restoration work there is a comment that one of the pillars still has smoke staining from the forge – I could not find that today.

The High Altar.

On the left of the High Altar is the tomb of Prior Rahere, the founder of the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great. Rahere died in 1143 and the current tomb dates from 1405.

The potential for damage during the Zeppelin raids across London during the First World War, and which assisted with the uncovering of the original gatehouse, resulted in precautions being taken to protect many of the ancient artifacts across the City. In St Bartholomew the Great, the tomb of Rahere was sandbagged.

Another or Prior Bolton’s additions to the church, an oriel window as seen from the Choir.

On the base of the window is Bolton’s rebus, or personal symbol consisting of a crossbow and a cask.

Not all of the Prior’s and Ministers of St Bartholomew the Great were as beneficial to the church as Prior Bolton. In the Harleian Manuscripts held by the British Museum there is an anecdote about a minister of St. Bartholomew’s during the reign of Charles II which starts:

“One Dr . Dee, minister of Great Saint Bartholomew, who was a man but of a debauched life, understanding that his Parishioners did disgust him so far as that they had articled against him and ment to prefrre him into the high comission Court, he thus plotted…”

The story continues that the minister offered to resign the living if his parishioners would give him a certificate of good conduct to assist him elsewhere. As they were anxious to be rid of him, they provided the certificate, however he then refused to go. The problem for the parishioners was that they were either open to a charge of falsehood or of collusion with their minister.

Looking from the Choir towards the great lectern, the choir stalls and the organ. Prior to the loss of the nave, this view would have carried on a considerable distance to end parallel with the existing gatehouse.

Looking back up towards the High Altar from behind the Great Lectern. Given that originally there would have been over half as much again of the church running back towards Smithfield, the original church must have been an extremely impressive medieval building.

Looking back to the western end of the church. Behind the wooden screen and paintings was the original divide between the Choir and the Nave.

Colour on a grey and damp day in January.

I suspect my father took the original photo of the Gatehouse on the day he visited the Butterworth Charity which takes place in the churchyard of St. Bartholomew the Great every Good Friday. I wrote about this in April 2014 and you can read more here. The following two photos are one of my father’s original and my later photo from 2014.

The gatehouse to the Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great demonstrates what an impressive medieval church this once was as this was the original entrance to the south aisle with the nave running to the left.

A sense of what this magnificent church must have been like and the impression it must have had on the surroundings of Smithfield can still be had by visiting the church, even if it is not a damp and overcast day in January.

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St Bartholomew the Less, the Chapel and Parish Church of St Barts

The Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great

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