Nominal: 1545.5 Hz Weight: 224 lbs Diameter: 22" Bell 1 of 2
Founded by Lester & Pack 1755
Dove Bell ID: 56955 Tower ID: 21750 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
St Botolph without Aldersgate
Diocese of London
Church, 623029
http://www.stbotolphsaldersgate.org.ukOverview
Grid reference: TQ 321 815
The east front is the showpiece of the outside of the church, and is covered with stucco. The central feature is an aedicular composition of pairs of unfluted Ionic half-columns standing on a plinth and carrying a simple pediment within which is a circular clock face, black with gold Roman numerals. Below the pediment is a round-healed window consisting of a "Venetian" window with a semi-circular light above.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Church open to visitors on Tuesdays between 1:30 and 4:00pm Wheelchair access ramp and toilets available Visitor toilets available Guidebook available
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Externally the church is a rectangle with a square bell-tower set at a slight angle against the west wall. Internally, the galleried nave is four bays long with apses at each end, one for the sanctuary and one for the organ gallery. Behind both are contrived several small rooms and passages.
Footprint of Church buildings: 531 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
Strangely for a London church, the building history is obscure. Clarke records that a Faculty for rebuilding was given in 1751, but only £1,500 was spent at this time and before long the church was described in an Act of 1792 as having been a few years before "very antient and in an extremely decayed state" (Act 32 Ges. III c.xxxix), and further mentions that the work undertaken at this time cost £12,225, which sounds like a thorough rebuilding. The old church was demolished in 1789 but the old east wall was preserved and the new church, built in 1789-91, was erected under the supervision of Nathaniel Wright, District Surveyor for the north district of the City of London.
In 1831 the old east front was taken down in order to widen the read, and a new front was built and encased in Roman cement with a simple temple-like facade by the builder John Ward and Son of Jewin Street. At this time John William Griffith of Clerkenwell was surveyor to the parish, and he may therefore have been responsible for the design of the east end since he is recorded as having enlarged and decorated the church. (Perhaps it is immaterial that the church was in fact made smaller at this time, or perhaps he was responsible for some of the arrangements at the west end). The church was redecorated and refitted by J. Blyth in 1874, restored in 1892 and again in 1953 after War Damage.
Exterior Description
The north wall is faced with brick and has two rows of windows suggesting galleries within the lower with segmental heads and the upper with semi-circular heads and a plain stucco stringcourse linking the sills. The wall head is capped with plain stone copings and there is a doorway near the west end with a blind roundel above. The west wall of the church was formerly attached to a row of houses demolished in 1887 and is therefore unpierced by openings and without any regular shape, the tower standing at an angle and not in the centre of the wall. The tower is square, also of brick, and has a louvred opening to north and south and a blocked doorway. At the top is a curved lead roof from which rises a square timber cupola with weatherboarding on the lower part and louvred round-headed arches above. The cupola is finished by an ogee lead roof and a gilded weathervane. The south elevation of the church is a mirror-image of the north, with the addition of small porch for the western doorway. The large semi-circular windows which form a clerestory to the nave are not normally visible from the ground, and are therefore treated functionally rather than architecturally, the wall surface which they pierce being covered with sheets of copper.
The east front is the showpiece of the outside of the church, and is covered with stucco. The central feature is an aedicular composition of pairs of unfluted Ionic half-columns standing on a plinth and carrying a simple pediment within which is a circular clock face, black with gold Roman numerals. Below the pediment is a round-healed window consisting of a "Venetian" window with a semi-circular light above (cf. the east window of St. James, Clerkenwell, which Griffith doubtless knew well), and a keystone carved as a console bracket. Outside this pedimented section the wall is pierced by a pair of doorways with simple architraves on console brackets above and, over these, a pair of round-headed windows, each combination of doorway and window taken together under a tall recessed arch. The plane of the wall is simply rusticated with straight horizontal lines, with no verticals, which give light and shade to a composition scarcely a foot deep at any point. The stucco returns about three feet on the north and south walls before stopping abruptly.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
1788
The east window is very important, representing The Agony in the Garden, and was designed by Nathaniel Clarkson and made by Jones Pearson.
Stained Glass
1886
North aisle I: Christ with St. Mary Magdalene, by ward and Hughes.
Stained Glass
1886
North aisle II: Christ with the Good Shepherd, by Ward and Hughes.
Stained Glass
1886
North aisle III: Christ Walks on the Water, by Ward and Hughes.
Stained Glass
1886
North aisle IV: Christ with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, by Ward and Hughes
Stained Glass
1955
South aisle I: William I confers patronage of St. Botolph's church on the Dean of the Priory of St. Martin le Grand; by M.C. Farrar Bell.
Stained Glass
1955
South aisle II: James I enters the City of Aldersgate from Scotland, 1618; by M.C. Farrar Bell
Stained Glass
1955
South aisle III: Compton Bishop of London gives refuge to Princess Anne, 1688; by M.C. Farrar Bell.
Stained Glass
1955
South aisle IV: John Wesley preaches in Moorfields, 1738; M.C. Farrar Bell
Stained Glass
1934
North gallery I: The Flight into Egypt.
Stained Glass
1890
North gallery II: The Baptism of Christ, by Ward and Hughes.
Stained Glass
1890
North gallery III: The Supper at Emmaus, by Ward and Hughes
Stained Glass
1890
North gallery IV: Christ in Glory, by Ward and Hughes.
Stained Glass
c.1880
Four south gallery windows representing The Nativity, The Crucifixion, The Resurrection and The Ascension.
Little is known about the history - they are possibly by Clayton & Bell.
Interior
Interior Description
The church should be entered by one or other of the doorways at the west end, both of which lead into a lobby stretching the width of the church, and there is a similar but smaller space at the east end, the reason being that although the church is virtually rectangular outside the interior is a rectangle with an apse at each end. The western ante-room is irregularly shaped with a square timber construction in the middle of the west wall (not, as it seems, the base of the tower since that is further west again). This is lit by a circular window of eight panes of glass surrounding a circular centre pane, and the stone floor retains its original chequers amongst the stone flags. There are no windows, and the lobby is lit by an oval dome not visible externally. On each side of the square room rise elegantly curved staircases to the galleries. First, however, these lead to a first floor landing above the lobby, which is one of the most interesting parts of the building. It is twice divided by railings hinged to serve as gates, and these seem intended to divide the charity children from the more distinguished inhabitants of the parish for on each side of the western apse of the nave are tiny square rooms approached from this landing. Each of these is only about six feet square, but they are said to have served as schoolrooms for the children.
The plan of the body of the church is symmetrical about both the east-west and the north-south axes, so that the two doors leading into the aisles at the west end and the two leading into the galleries above are matched by a similar set of four doors at the east end. These each lead into four small rooms, the lower door on the south giving access to a panelled vestry and its pair on the north to a small lobby. Above each of those is a small room. The most extraordinary feature of this part of the building is that the window seen externally is not the east window internally, but merely a source of light to illuminate the transparency which the latter contains. The resulting narrow space between the two, which reaches from the floor level to the roof of the church, has two narrow timber staircases for access to the upper two rooms and a timber gangway linking the two above the level of the windows, very narrow and provided with wooden banisters.
The design of the interior of the church evidently owes something to the younger George Dance's All Hallows at the other end of London Wall, built twenty-five years earlier. This is especially noticeable in the provision of semi-circular window at clerestory level and of an eastern apse.
The space is simple, a four-bay rectangle with shallow apses at each end and rows of piers down each side supporting galleries and an upper row of unfluted Corinthian columns supporting the roof. The colour scheme is of special interest since much of it appears to be original, and reflects a desire to conceal the fact that all the interior surfaces are plaster. The square panelled piers under the galleries are marbled in brown and buff, with a paler, more clearly veined surface being employed for the panels than for the surrounds, and this paler colour is also used for the marbling of the pillars above. Between the two however, is a stringcourse which encompasses the whole building at one level, along the gallery fronts and then across the front of the west gallery and round the eastern apse. This is decorated with a continuous pattern of S scrolls picked out in dull red against a dark brown background, and there is also a little gilding on the florets in each scroll. The captials of the Corinthian capitals are also partly gilded.
The ceilings under the galleries are flat, as are those above, the latter with half-capitals against the outer walls which support shallow beams decorated with guilloche marking the bays, these linking up with similar decoration on the underside of the cornice between the pillars. The cornice itself has several finely detailed orders with dentils, egg and-dart and other continuous motifs. The fillets dividing one bay of the curved vault from the next are the same as those on the soffit of this cornice, and the bays between have circles within square panels, the spandrels filled with foliage and flowers. The big ceiling bosses have flowers with hanging stamens and retain their gasoliers. The cornice continues round both apses, and above it both are coffered with octagonal panels each containing a floret.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
1787
The altar table in the eastern apse is mahogany, with tapered legs and a curved edge to the top to fit the wall behind.
Altar
1639
The alter table of 1639, in painted oak with turned legs in the form of columns, also survives.
Pulpit
The pulpit was originally placed in the centre of the chancel, but is now against the first free-standing pier from the east on the south side; it is of ook inlaid with oak and kingwood, with applied decoration in grained plaster near the tops of the panels forming wreaths round symbols The Chalice, The Name of God in a Triangle, the Agnus Dei and The Name of God in a Triangle again. The body is hexagonal, supported on a palm tree, and the panels are very plain save for the front one which has the sacred monogram inlaid in a sunburst.
Lectern
1876
The lectern is a brass desk on a pedestal.
Font (object)
1878
The font replaces one contemporary with the church, given away by the same Rector who disposed of the pulpit tester. It is of marble, of an egg-cup shape on a stem of green marble in a vaguely classical style, the domical oak cover on a suspended chain with an urn and floral wreath.
Organ (object)
The organ was originally built by Samuel Green in 1778, rebuilt by Speechly in 1867 improved by Bryceson in 1872 and enlarged by the addition of three stops and a new pedalboard in 1894.
Rail
Communion rails: mahogny rail contemporary with the church carried on iron uprights between which are S scrolls with gilded leaves
Bells
Nominal: 793 Hz Weight: 1358 lbs Diameter: 41" Bell 2 of 2
Founded by Charles & George Mears 1847
Dove Bell ID: 56956 Tower ID: 21750 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 321 815
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
The churchyard is closed for burial by order in council.
The date of the burial closure order is 08/08/1853
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Quinquennial Inspections
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