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at hill was set a church. But, with the building of the White Tower, the church was eclipsed as a landmark for boats on the river, and now it is quite obscured from the water-side by hideous brick warehouses that only men of the nineteenth century could conceive and erect. In early days this church stood on the edge of London; now it is in its very centre. Yet few buildings equally well preserved have altered as little as this old building has-this "fair church on Tower Hill"-and we have here handed down to us much that is unique as a record not only of English history but of the progress of architecture. The furnishings of

ls of London, constituted the germ of the present parish, and stood within sight of the earlier church. What the history of the church was then we have no means of knowing, but as it wou

o serve the religious needs of the parishioners. It was thus the surname Barking was acquired. It is, however, a surname that is somewhat misleading, as printers, even to this present day, have an awkward habit of placing a comma between "Allhallows" and "Barking"{172} and so send many who would visit the church on an empty quest into Essex. But the poor printer is not altogether to blame. The people here have a way of

al divisions in Doomsday Book. The ground now included in Allhallows parish was undoubtedly included in Roman London, which extended from Tower Hill to Dowgate Hill, the present Fenchurch and Lombar

R LIBERTIES, furvey in the Year 1597

TOWER LIBERTIES, furvey in the Year 1597 by GULIELM

er's Col

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pillars of Allhallows date from that time. Of these pillars the one that shows its great age more than the others-which, after

the Virgin, in accordance with a command received by him in a vision, before his father's death, in which he was assured that he should subdue Wales and Scotland, and would be victorious while this Berkinge Chapel was kept in repair. Tradition asserts that the heart of the Lion-hearted Richard was placed under the altar of the chapel here, but others maintain that after it

nd supporter of Caxton, and has been called "the nursing father of English printing." A man of great learning, he had studied under Guarino at Ferrara, had occupied a professor's chair at Padua, was termed by Walpole "one of the noble authors of England," is remembered as a good, but ruthless, soldier, lawyer, and politician, and was, in the end, by the infl

deeds, and is known here only as pious benefactor. He achieved this by "newbuilding this chapel," and adding to the original foundation a college of priests, consisting of a Dean (Chaderton, a friend of Richard's), and six Canons. In the Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, Henry VII

e Leiburn, who was "lodging in the Tower," meeting the representatives of the City at Berkyngechurche on their proposing to make their submission to the king, after the battle of Evesham. To that meeting came the Mayor "and a countless multitude of citizens." Again, in 1280, the burgesses "apparelled in their best attire" gathered at Berkyngechurche and proceeded to the Tower to meet the King's Justiciars "for the purpose of holding an Inquest, or inquiring into the peace of the City." "Gregory, the Mayor," as we read in the Liber Albus of the Corporation of London, "disputing the right of the Crown to hold an Inquest for the City of London, for the honour of the Mayoralty refused to enter the Tower as Mayor, but, laying aside his insignia a

d to the Archbishop of Canterbury, in whose hands it remains to this day. Another interesting fact we gather from the ancient records of the City is that Allhallows was one of the three churches where the curfew was rung each night as a warning that

d of half a circular and half a clustered column worked together" attracts the attention of even the most casual observer. Mr. Fleming, in his admirable little pamphlet on the church, sums up the various alterations that have taken place in the structure when he says "the view of the stately interior tells at once, and more fully than the outside features, the story of the changes that have befallen the church through the{179} centuries since its foundation. For the columns of the nave are Norman, the east window with its intricate tracery was the work of the sumptuous Decorated period, whilst the clerestory and

years the history of Allhallows resolves itself into a record of successive restorations. Few churches have been more carefully and lovingly tended than this has been, and its present state of preservation is due to this interest which it has always inspired in those who appreciate its worth and beauty. Allhallows, unlike so many other churches, has not lost but gained by its restorations. An old building, such as this, is in constant need of attention. The problem has e

out seven o'clock in the evening, when it became ignited and blew up, not merely that house, but fifty or sixty others. The number of persons destroyed was never ascertained, for the next house but one was a tavern, known as 'The Rose,' which was full of company, in consequence of a parish dinner: it must have been very great, however, judging from the number of limbs and bodies which were dug up from the ruins. The hostess of the tavern, sitting in the bar, and the waiter standing by with a tankard in his hand, were found beneath some fallen beams, but were dead from suffocation. It is recorded that, the morning after this disaster, a female infant was discovered lying in a cradle on the roof of the church neither bruised nor singed." The parents of the babe were never traced.

of those absurd squabbles that too often mar the harmony of a quiet parish. One or two of the congregation indicted the churchwardens "at Old Bailey, under the statute of Edward VI., against images," but the prosecution was abandoned on the ground of expense. A Mr. Shearman supported the parishioners, "and upon his own responsibility destroyed the image." This occasioned "a furious war of words between him and the lecturer, Jonathan Saunders," acting as curate of the parish. Shearman wrote virulent pamphlets which were "published by a friend of the Author's, to prevent false reports," and addressed them to the Vicar, Dr. Hickes, and his wardens. The latter part of this entertaining publication asserts-as a dig at Saunders as compared with the Vicar-that "men of the least learning are always the most formal." It goes on to insinuate "that Barking parish w

n the centre represents the Virgin (the church being dedicated to St. Mary and All Saints), with St Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, o

FROM GREAT TOWER STREET (SOUT

WER STREET (SOUTH PORCH

ier times were, it is conjectured, recesses for meditation and study. In front of us is the second doorway, delicately carved, and much weather-worn owing to exposure of the soft ston

Society in 1856, it appears that "in the XIX yr. of King Harry, the Friday before midsummer, a Priest called Sir Ric. Wyche, a Vicar in Essex, was burnt on Tower Hill for heresy, for whose death was a great murmuring and many simple people came to the place making their prayers as to a saint and bare away the ashes of his body for reliques. Some were taken to prison [in the Tower]: amongst others the Vicary of Barking Church beside the Tower, in whose parish all this was done." Virby was charged with scattering "powder and spices over the place where the heretic was burnt that it might be believed that the sweet flavour came of the ashes of the dead." But evidently this was considered no very great offence, for Virby was subsequently set free, restored to his position at Allhallows, and died Vicar in 1453. Nearer the altar steps will be found the beautifully engraved brass, in the French style, of John Bacon, who{187} died in 1437. A heart, inscribed with the word "Mercy," and encircled by a scroll, lies in the upper part of the stone, and the figures of Bacon

which there were many in the church until 1547 and the beginning of "the years of spoliation." A well-carved crest will be seen on the pavement stone covering the Marishall tomb, and, nearer the altar-steps, a grey marble slab of the year of the{189} Great Fire lies over the grave of Sir Roger Hatton, Alderman, whose coat-of-arms may be traced near the head of the stone. On the north wall we find a memorial to Charles Wathen, "the indulgent parent of nine children," one of which, Master William, "received his death-wound in battling with a pirate in the East Indies" and should therefore be somewhat of a hero to all boys in the adventure stage of their careers. A broken pillar on this wall was put up in 1696 in memory of Giles Lytcott, "the first Controller-General of the Customs of England and the English Colonies in America," whose mother was the daughter of Sir Thomas Overbury, poisoned in the Tower. Pepys, in his account of the Fire of 1666, refers to an "Alderman Starling, a very rich man, w

and more delicate connections of private life." But his is certainly the misfortune to be remembered by as ugly and depressing a memorial as could be imagined. Even in the year of its erection a vestry minute records "that the monument now erecting for the late Mr. Gordon is a nui

example of the art of 1686. Some elaborate carving is hidden beneath the coverings and frontal of the Communion Table: it is an excellent example of the skilful workmanship in wood that has been to some extent neglected since the days of Gibbons. For many years the brass altar-rails, erect

mended to read the beautiful Latin lines inscribed in the registers where, under the date Dec. 1, 1703, Dr. Gaskarth records the burial of his wife. On the wall, to the left of the entrance, there are two interesting old maps, the lower one, which is more of a picture than a map, giving an excellent idea of the appearance of London before the Fire, and the small one, higher on the wall, a representation of Allhallows, standing almost alone on Tower Hill, before the parish consisted of more than a few rows of cottages. This is the valuab

of very great interest, and time spent in their examination will not be lost. There are thirteen

her-in-law of Oliver Cromwell, and a City merchant of considerable importance. He possessed an estate at Felsted in Essex, and a town house beside Tower Hill, "then a favourite residence of the lesser aristocracy." In 1616 we{194} find that a son of Sir William Apsley, Lieutenant of the Tower, was baptised here, showing the close connection that has always existed between this church and the Tower. But the most interesting of all the entries is that against October 23, 1644,

lebrated Dr. Parr, married "Margaret Cox of this parish, spinster." This Margaret was "the daughter of Dr. Cox, formerly Head-master of Harrow School." Another interesting entry is that referring to John Quincy Adams, afterwa

decently interred," of Bishop Fisher, executed on the East Smithfield side of Tower Hill in 1535. Reference has already been made to Fisher in connection with his imprisonment in the Bell Tower, and the removal of his body, after it had lain for some time in this churchyard, to St. Peter's, on Tower Green. Another victim of Henry VIII.'s wrath, Henry Howard, the poet Earl of Surrey, was, in 1547, buried beside the church after a mock trial and subsequent execution on Tower Hill. His remains, also, were removed and taken, in 1614, to Framlingham in Suffolk. Lord Thomas Grey, brother of the Duke of Suffolk and uncle of Lady Jane Grey, was "heddyd on Tower Hill, April 28, 1554, and berried at Allhallows Barking." In Queen Mary's luckless reign, "a plot to rob the Queen's Exchequer was discovered and the leaders sent to the Tower." Machin's Diary thus records the event: "On the eighth day of July, Henry Peckham and John Daneel were hanged on Tower Hill. Their bodies were cut down and headed, the heads

e soldier, dying in the streetes in ye night whose name was unknowne" (February 18, 1606); another is "a poore boy that dyed in the streetes" (1620); and yet another is "one unknowne, starved on Tower Hill" (January 15, 1627). With the entries for January 1 and 2, 1644, we are introduced to the period of the Civil War, during which time Tower Hill was the scene of frequent executions and Allhallows Barking received the headless bodies of many of the victims. Against the dates just mentioned there are the names of John Hotham, Esq., "beheaded for betraying his trust to the State," and Sir John Hotham, Knt., "beheaded for betraying his trust to the Parliament." Sir John Hotham and h

r the priests serving at the altar. This was accidentally found when the walls were stripped of their plaster, in 1904. From its position it would le

chancel pillars as contrasted with the massiveness of those in the nave, the imposing appearance of the handsome organ case-all these striking features will leave

, was buried "in the same grave where Archbishop Laud was before interred." His funeral rites were solemnised by Bishop Ken, who read the Burial Office, and the w

uth wall is an early monument worthy of careful examination. Like the Croke altar-tomb already described, it dates back to the fifteenth century and is the more ancient of the two. A gilt brass plate at the back of the to

f art, the carving of fruit and flowers and decorative scroll-work, in wood, are to be seen in other parts of this church, in other City churches, and in many a manor-house and ancie

ger brass, which had covered the tomb of some dignitary of the Church, was cut down to the size of the figures we see on this Thynne slab, and the back of the former engraving became the front of the present one. Thynne "married Ann, daughter of William Bonde, Esq., of the city of London, who now lies by his side. He left three daughters and one infant son, Francis, who became a distinguished antiquarian, and held the office of Lancaster Herald. The extreme youth of this child prevented his inheriting his father's prestige at Court, which in consequence descended to his nephews, one of whom was Sir John Thynne

WS BARKING BY THE TOWER (EAST SIDE OF

THE TOWER (EAST SIDE OF SOUTH

t in the church. From the mouths of the three figures issue scrolls, which unite over their heads in an invocation to the Blessed Trinity. But these scrolls are in one respect unique." Reference is made to the wording of the scrolls, "Salva nos, Libera nos, and Iustifica nos, O beata Trinitas." "'Save us' and 'Deliver us' are of course expressions common enough; 'Vivifica nos,' 'Quicken us,' occurs in a similar context in medi?val services; but search may be made without finding anywhere else, I believe, in liturgical formulas or in sepulchral inscriptions, another {204}example of 'Justify us.'... In the year 1518 the controversies about justification raised on

ry VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth, who died in 1560." His wife's burial is entered in the registers against May 1, 1563. She i

ed{205} in this aisle without intermission du

ean of the "free chaple of Berkynge" by Richard III. Carter, appointed in 1525, was a friend of Wolsey's, and resigned in the year of the{206} Cardinal's fall, 1530. Dawes, 1542-1565, was the first Protestant incumbent and possessed many of the attributes of the Vicar of Bray as sketched in the verses of the old song; Wood, 1584-1591, was the first vicar appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury; Ravis, vicar from 1591 to 1598, was one of the translators of the present Authorised Version of the Bible; as was also his successor at Allhallows, Dr. Tighe. The twenty-fifth vicar, Edward Layfield, appointed in 1635, was a nephew of Archbishop Laud. "Layfield was deprived in 1642 [by an ordinance of the House of Commons] under circumstances of considerable barbarity. He was interrupted during the performance of divine service, dragged out of church [while the walls of the old church resounded to the shrieks of an infuriated mob within and without the building], set on a horse with his surplice not

ay instance Dr. Collins, now{208} Bishop of Gibraltar-have been members of it. Its first Head was Dr. A. J. Mason, now Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, to whom Allhallows is indebted for the restoration of the north porch and the gift of the upper schoolroom. His successor, the present Warden, Dr. Arthur W. Robinson, has since carried on the arduous duties of the College and has brought all departments of the work in connection with Allhallows as a parish church up to a point of remarkable efficiency. Never was the old building more zealously served than it is now, and never has it been

uare sheet of latten which is set in the pavement to the west of the Litany desk. It dates back to 1530 and is a memorial of "Andrewe Evyngar, Cityzen and Salter, and Ellyn his wife." The Puritan defacements are only too plain, yet, in spite of this, it is possible to decipher the beaten-out lettering, which ran: "Of youre charite praye fo

s us that whether the preacher in that pulpit looks south, or east, or west, his one subject is to be Christ crucified. The fine sword-rests, rising above the choir screen behind the Vicar's stall, were erected by successive Lord Mayors and bear their respective crests, with the City coat-of-arms. The one on the south side, the smallest of the three, was erected in 1727 by Lord Mayor Eyles. That in the centre commemorates the mayoralty of Slingsby Bethel,

and the interior of the church, by this alteration, regains the open appearance of earlier times. In the entrance-chamber of the tower there is preserved a very fine leaden water-cistern on which appear the date 1705

ry. Hatton describes the organ-case as he saw it in 1708 as "enriched with Fames, and the figures of Time and Death, carved in basso relievo and painted, above." The organ was improved by Gerard Smith in 1720, and again in 1813. It was again overhauled and enlarged by{212} Bunting in 1872 and 1878, was partially burnt in 1880, and "restored" (very badly indeed) in 1881. On Sunday, 3rd November 1907, during Evensong, this ancient instrument broke down and was not used again. The choral s

of the church and two old parish plans. The royal arms above the door, on the side of the organ-loft, used, in Georgian days, to hang above the altar. A spacious music-, or school-room lies over the north porch, and this portion of the

nd