6/13 All Hallows by the Tower, Oldest Church in London

This is the oldest surviving church in London and one of my favorite places!  It is located very near the Tower of London and across the street from Seething Lane, which is often mentioned in the Diary of Samuel Pepys.  Pepys was a young man who was secretary of the Navy.  He is well known as having written a detailed diary about his life in London from 1660 to 1671, and from which we learn much about London during those years.  He lived only a couple of blocks from here, and in 1666, he wrote about climbing the tower of this church to view the Great Fire of London.  

During this period, many of the buildings in London were made of wood with thatch roofs, and the fronts hung over the streets, causing them to be very prone to fire.  After climbing the tower, Pepys notified King Charles and his brother, the Duke of York, that the fire seemed to be almost unstoppable, so he got permission to use Navy sailors to bomb nearby wooden homes, and thus stopped the fire from going farther. 

If you take the Tube to Tower Hill, the closest station to the Tower of London, and you look around, you will find this spire about a block away. 

 

 

As I got ready to enter the church, i saw a family of tourists reading this sign and trying to decide whether to go inside or not.  I told them it had a crypt from Medieval times, and they had to go in to see the basement crypt and Roman floor.  They were a bit concerned that they would not be welcomed, but I told them it was a museum, as well as a church, and everyone is welcomed.  Later the one lady who spoke English thanked me for encouraging them to come in.  As the sign says, "All Welcome."

 

 

My first stop was to immediately go down the steps into the crypt!  This posted sign about the Roman floor shows that there was some kind of building here when the Romans founded Londinium 2,000 year ago!

 

 

A bit more history.  Thanks for Pepys and the British Navy sailors, the church was saved from the Great Fire, but it got heavily bombed in WWII.  Basically, only the outer walls were left standing.  They had to replace inner walls and replace the ceiling as it was before the war.

 

However, during the bombing, much of the plaster was blown off the remaining walls, and damage was done to the floor and basement.  In removing the rubble, they discovered the older church and many of the architectural stones and crypt rooms.  These were restored and the artifacts have been put on display here.  

 

 

Several small rooms which were likely originally burial chambers but were empty of bodies have become small chapels and quiet prayer places.  

 

 

This was just a dark corridor blocked by a heavy iron gate, but I used the flash on my camera and stuck the lens through the bars and discovered this!  Wonder where it goes? 

 

 

More of the crypt basement.  

 

 

One of the artifacts with some advice about work. 

 

 

This is a columbarium, or a place where ashes of people are stored in sealed niches.  It is still used for burials.   

 

 

Another side room that deadends. 

 

 

I went back upstairs to the more modern church and got a private tour by one of the volunteer ladies because the church was not busy.  This is an ancient baptismal font carved entirely of oak.  It is still used today.  Note that there is a chain coming out of the heavy carving.  It is pulled up to the ceiling so the font can be used.  

 

Note about famous people associated with this church:  William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was baptized here in 1644.  John Quincy Adams was married in this church in 1797, and Albert Schweitzer played the organ here!!  Check out this historical summary for more information:  https://www.ahbtt.org.uk/visit/historyeducation/

 

 

This medieval wall was discovered after the WWII bombing when plaster fell off of it.  Notice that the Medieval builders reused Roman floor tiles for the arch.   

 

 This is the crows nest from one of Shackleton's ships.  Check out this page for more details:  https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/sir-ernest-shackleton-s-crows-nest

 

 

This center part of the church was the part that had to be completely rebuilt, but they used the drawings and photos of the original to make it as close to the original as possible.   

This strange shell canopy over the pulpit is modern and was added to reflect the voices of the speakers so they do not need electronic amplifiers. 

 

 

These next two photos show how the inner parts of the outside walls of the church were blackened by the WWII bombing.  

 

 

A modern organ replaced the one destroyed in WWII.