St. Botolph without Aldgate
St. Botolph’s without Aldgate, which was located outside of the old Roman gate on the east side of London, is one of four City churches that were dedicated to the patron saint of travellers.
There were in the past four churches at London’s gates dedicated to St. Botolph, patron saint of travellers, where those making journeys to or from London could pray for a safe passage or arrival. Three of those churches survive, at Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, and here at Aldgate. The fourth was at Billingsgate for those travelling by boat. Botolph was an early 7th century Christian who founded a monastery, probably in Suffolk, becoming a popular saint during the medieval period.
St. Botolph stood immediately outside Aldgate, as shown in Civitas Londinum (the ‘Agas map’) from about 1561.
St. Botolph’s is located on Aldgate High Street. For centuries it stood immediately outside Ald Gate on the road that led out east to Whitechapel, Stratford, and then onward to Essex. During the Saxon period St. Botolph without Aldgate was the church of the Knighten Guild, a group of knights founded during the reign of King Edgar. In the 12th century it was given to the Priory of the Holy Trinity, which stood immediately inside the city wall at Ald Gate, who had the church rebuilt. Their canons conducted the services until the priory was dissolved in 1531 by Henry VIII.
St. Botolph’s survived the Great Fire but was rebuilt by George Dance the Elder, who was also responsible for Mansion House, and was completed in 1744. It has a red brick exterior, with Portland stone dressings, and a square tower, topped by an obelisk spire. Unusual amongst City churches, it is aligned on a north-south axis instead of the more normal east-west, as are St. Edmund the Martyr and St. Dunstan in the West. The interior was extensively refurbished in the 1880s by John Francis Bentley, architect of Westminster Cathedral, with alterations to the windows, galleries and ceiling. There are galleries on three sides of the nave, supported on Tuscan columns. The organ dates from 1676.
In 1899 the parish of Holy Trinity Minories was united with that of St. Botolph’s. The church had a lucky escape during the Second World War when in 1941 a bomb came through the roof but failed to explode. However, it suffered severe damage in 1965 during a fire. Restoration, alterations and improvements were made under Rodney Tatchell, with a vestibule transformed into a baptistry for the 17th century font and cover. The restored church was re-hallowed in 1966, attended by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
In 1683 writer Daniel Defoe was married in the church and in 1748 the social philosopher Jeremy Bentham was christened here. There are monuments in the baptistry to Thomas Lord Dancy and Sir Nichols Carew, two Catholics executed on the orders of Henry VIII, and Sir John Cass, the founder of a nearby school.
Sources include:
- Stephen Millar ‘London’s City Churches’
- R.G. Ellen ‘A London Steeplechase’
- Tony Tucker ‘City of London Churches’
