Clerkenwell, The Order of St John, EC1 - geograph

St John Clerkenwell is a former parish church in

Clerkenwell Clerkenwell () is an area of central London, England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the mediaeval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The well after which it was named was redis ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, its original priory church site retains a crypt and has been given over to the London chapel of the modern Order of St John. It is a square, light-brick resurrection of the small church of

Clerkenwell Priory Clerkenwell Priory was a priory of the Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem, in Clerkenwell, London. Run according to the Augustinian rule, it was the residence of the Hospitallers' Grand Prior in England, and was ...

– the crypt of which is beneath – without a spire or tower. Its three centuries of former decline reflected the disbandment of the medieval Order of St John, or

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

Sites

Buildings and garden of remembrance of the Order of St John of Jerusalem

A chapel, crypt beneath, garden of remembrance and narrow Georgian entrance building alongside, are owned by the order's eventual successor, the

Order of Saint John (chartered 1888) The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

, which fundraises for and supports St John Ambulance.

St John's Gardens, Benjamin Street

A small public park or garden is a block south-west, beyond the Order's Museum and other small retail outlets and professional offices. This replaced the Victorian enlarged edition of the church.

History

Queen Anne church

The crumbling structure was purchased and conserved by early 18th century London's partly successful

Commission for Building Fifty New Churches The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches (in London and the surroundings) was an organisation set up by Act of Parliament in England in 1711, the New Churches in London and Westminster Act 1710, with the purpose of building fifty new church ...

Victorian restoration and conservation

The church was lightly

restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian music musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004 by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard ...

and improved by a Mr. Griffith in 1845. In 1878 one of the large painted windows at the east end survived, as did remains of Prior Thomas Docwra's church in the south and east walls, and capitals and rib mouldings of the former church underpinned the pews. In 1868 its living was a rectory valued £260, in the patronage of the lord chancellor.

Redundancy of the parish church and wartime bombing of the old and new buildings

In 1931, because of falling attendances, the parish was united with that of St James, Clerkenwell, and St John's ceased to be a parish church. The original site here was handed over to the worldwide

to be its main English chapel, which it remains.Temple 2008. The larger, successor Victorian church one block away, 150 metres to the south-west, was largely gutted by

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

in 1941 as was this site.

Reconstruction of the old chapel

This replacement chapel for the Order was rebuilt from 1951 to 1958 by the architects John Seely and Paul Paget. The crypt of the medieval building survives in the present structure. The outline of the round church consecrated in 1185 is marked out in St John's Square in front of the church; to the south of the church is the Garden of Remembrance that occupies the site of a 16th-century chapel.

Bibliography

* *

References

External links

GENUKI

History of Islington
- has several pages on the church and priory

- 'Archives in London' has more detail {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John, Clerkenwell History of the London Borough of Islington

Buildings and structures in Clerkenwell