Holy Sepulchre without Newgate

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 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 a 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 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 and, at 150 feet in length, was the largest parochial church in medieval London until surpassed by Christchurch in the mid-16^th century. 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. At around the same time the Franciscan Greyfriars monastery was dissolved and part of its church became a parochial church. In 1546 a new parish was formed, which included the section of the parish of Holy Sepulchre that lay within the city wall.

The tower was rebuilt between 1630 and 1634. The Great Fire ended close to St. Sepulchre but much of the building was damaged. The churchwardens took it upon themselves to have the tower rebuilt. The work on the tower and steeple was completed around the end of 1667 and a frame was ordered to hang six bells. Work then began on the body of the building, which was undertaken by mason Joshua Marshall. The old walls and porch were retained.

When the Commission responsible for the rebuilding of the City churches was formed in 1670, they made a list of fifteen churches that would be a priority. One of those was Holy Sepulchre. It would have been included because good progress was already being made to reconstruct the church, so funds were allocated by the Commissioners for it to be completed. It was one of six churches that had been destroyed where its churchwardens had taken it upon themselves to rebuild.

The piers that previously supported the roof were replaced by Doric columns with round arches, yet otherwise much of the perpendicular design was retained, including the windows and porch.

Work seems to have been finished by the summer of 1671 and it was examined by the Lord Mayor and Robert Hooke. Holy Sepulchre was one of the earliest of the rebuilt churches where services could resume.

Christchurch was rebuilt on a smaller scale and St. Sepulchre regained its position as the largest City church.

Holy Sepulchre in the late 18th century.

When the parishioners had arranged the rebuilding of the church following the Great Fire, there had been a lack of appreciation of the damage caused. By the end of the 17^th century the tower of Holy Sepulchre was crumbling. Repairs were carried out in 1680 and by 1695 it was clear that rebuilding was necessary. In 1706 its vestry appealed to the Commissioners to pay for that to take place.

Work began in 1711. It was one of the last City church projects by Sir Christopher Wren’s office, overseen by William Dickinson. The pinnacles, and other parts of the tower were rebuilt.

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 is united with these parishes of City churches that have been destroyed or are no longer parochial churches: St. Gregory by St. Pauls and St. Leonard Foster (neither rebuilt after being destroyed in the Great Fire); St. Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street (demolished in 1886); Christ Church Newgate Street (destroyed in the Second World War); St. Martin Ludgate (no longer a parish church).