St Botolph's, Billingsgate was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

in London. Of medieval origin, it was located in the

Billingsgate Billingsgate is one of the 25 Wards of the City of London. This small City Ward is situated on the north bank of the River Thames between London Bridge and Tower Bridge in the south-east of the Square Mile. The modern Ward extends south to the ...

ward of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

and destroyed by the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

in 1666.

History

The church, which dated back to medieval times stood on the south side of Thames Street, at the corner of Botolph Lane.Seymour 1939, p.433 It was one of four churches in medieval London dedicated to St Botolph, a 7th-century

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

n saint, each of which stood by one of the gates of the

London Wall The London Wall was a defensive wall first built by the Romans around the strategically important port town of Londinium in AD 200, and is now the name of a modern street in the City of London. It has origins as an initial mound wall and di ...

. The others erected were St Botolph's, Aldgate;

St Botolph's, Aldersgate St Botolph without Aldersgate (also known as St Botolph's, Aldersgate) is a Church of England church in London dedicated to St Botolph. It was built just outside Aldersgate; one of the gates on London's wall in the City of London. The churc ...

; and St Botolph's, Bishopsgate. By the end of the 11th century Botolph was regarded as the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of boundaries, and by extension of trade and travel. This was apt as the church was close to the city wharves and also to

London Bridge Several bridges named London Bridge have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark, in central London. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 1973, is a box girder bridge built from concrete and steel. It r ...

, which at the time of the church's construction lay slightly further east. During the 15th century the church was extended to the south over an undercroft. On the south side of this extension, at the south-east corner of the enlarged church, was a small stone-built vestry, which also had a cellar beneath. The parish rented out these cellars, usually to the same tenant. Archaeological excavations beneath part of the Billingsgate Lorry Park in 1982 uncovered the remains of the vault beneath the aisle of the church, and what may have been those of the one beneath the vestry. Angel Corbel from St Botolph Billingsgate London

Angel Corbel from St Botolph Billingsgate London

A piece of land, formerly used as a passageway was given to the parish by the City corporation for use as an additional churchyard. Having been enclosed within a brick wall, it was consecrated in 1617.Newcourt 1708, p.311 In 1620 the church was "repaired and beautified" at a cost of more than £600. The composer

Thomas Morley Thomas Morley (1557 – early October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, singer and organist of the Renaissance. He was one of the foremost members of the English Madrigal School. Referring to the strong Italian influence on the Englis ...

was buried in the churchyard.

Destruction

St Botolph's, Billingsgate was destroyed by the

in 1666 and not rebuilt. Instead, the parish was united to that of

St George Botolph Lane St George Botolph Lane was a church off Eastcheap, in the ward of Billingsgate in the City of London. The rear of the church overlooked Pudding Lane, where the fire of London started. It was first recorded in the twelfth century, and destroyed in ...

. The site of the church and its adjoining churchyard continued to be used for burials, although a house was built on part of the site of the nave and rented out by the parish. In around 1677 a shop was built above a newly constructed burial vault in the churchyard and leased out for the benefit of the poor at a rent of £4 a year; a second vault was built, and a shop constructed over it in 1693. In the same year the site of the chancel was sold and the land used to widen the lane between Thames Street and Botolph Wharf. The upper churchyard was also retained as a burial ground for the united parishes. It survives as a privately owned garden at the corner of Monument Street and Botolph Lane, under the name of "One Tree Park".

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Botolph Billingsgate 9th-century church buildings in England 1666 disestablishments in England Churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt Churches in the City of London Former buildings and structures in the City of London