Holy Sepulchre without Newgate church

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre without Newgate was first recorded in 1137 and originally dedicated to St. Edmund. It stands on Holborn Viaduct, roughly halfway between Smithfield and the Old Bailey law courts.

Holy Sepulchre is shown in Civitas Londinum (the ‘Agas map’) from about 1561, standing between New Gate to the east and Holborn Bridge to the west.

New Gate was the Roman western entrance to the City, which throughout the Middle Ages stood a few yards to the east of the church. Being then outside the wall, neither its parish nor the church were constrained for size. The large parish stretched from the wall, westwards as far as the River Fleet and incorporated West Smithfield to the north. It remains the largest parish church in the City of London. The jurisdiction of the City of London was expanded westwards beyond the wall as far as Temple Bar in the medieval period, thus bringing the church within the official City boundary.

In the medieval period Crusaders, who had witnessed the Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem, brought back with them the idea of a similar dedication and the church was renamed. It is often referred to as St. Sepulchre, although there is no saint of that name.

From the 12^th century New Gate housed a prison, which was later enlarged and moved to the site of the current Old Bailey courthouse. Prisoners who were condemned to be hanged were taken by horse-drawn cart from Newgate Prison, often several at one time, to the gallows at Tyburn, the modern-day Hyde Park Corner. Large crowds congregated along the route to witness the spectacle. The church was linked to the prison by an underground passage. From 1605, at midnight preceding the execution, the sexton of Holy Sepulchre would pass through to the prison, ring a handbell and recite a prayer outside of the condemned person’s cell. The handbell is still preserved within St. Sepulchre. The church bells were rung to mark the time of the execution and flowers given to the condemned as they passed the church gates on their way to Tyburn. During the late 18^th century executions were moved from Tyburn to Newgate and people thronged around the area to watch the spectacles.

The church was rebuilt in 1450 at the cost of Sir John Popham. Says Tudor-period historian John Stow:

This church was newly edified or built about the reign of Henry VI, or of Edward IV. One of the Pophames was a great builder there, namely, of one fair chapel on the south side of the choir, as appeareth by his arms and other monuments in the glass windows thereof, and also the fair porch of the same church towards the south. His image , fair graven in stone, was fixed over the said porch, but defaced and beaten down. His title by offices was this, Chancellor of Normandy, Captain of Vernoyle, Pearch, Susan, and Bayon [Verneuil, Perche, Suzanne, and Bayonne], and treasurer of the king’s household. He died rich, leaving great treasure of strange coins, and was buried in the Charterhouse Church by West Smithfield.

When the nearby priory of St. Bartholomew the Great at Smithfield was dissolved under Henry VIII its bell-tower was demolished and the peal of six bells was sold to Holy Sepulchre.

The tower, outer walls, and porch date from then but most of the building was destroyed in the Great Fire. It was not rebuilt by Wren, who was somewhat preoccupied building numerous City churches. The parishioners instead commissioned the master mason Joshua Marshall. In 1791 a watchhouse was erected at the side of the church on Giltspur Street to protect against bodies being stolen from the churchyard and taken to the nearby Bart’s hospital for medical research. In the mid-19^th century a drinking fountain was built into the church railings on the corner of High Holborn and Giltspur Street.

Large pinnacles were added to the tower in the late 19^th century. The 150-feet-high tower contains 12 bells, mostly from the early 18^th century. The roof and plaster ceilings are from the early 19^th century, and much of the interior is from 1875 and 1932.

The vicar John Rogers was burnt at the stake at nearby Smithfield in 1555, the first Protestant martyr during the reign of Queen Mary. John Smith, Governor of Virginia who was saved by Pocahontas, lived nearby and in 1631 was buried in the church. There is a large window depicting Smith holding a map of Virginia.

The conductor and co-founder of the Proms concerts, Sir Henry Wood, was christened in the church. He had become assistant organist at the age of fourteen, having learnt to play on the church’s organ at the age of ten. His ashes lay in the north aisle under the window to Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music. In 1955 the north aisle was converted to become the Musicians’ Chapel, with memorials to great composers and musicians.

Holy Sepulchre includes various former parishes of City churches that have been destroyed or are no longer parish churches.