St. Botolph Aldersgate

St. Botolph Aldersgate

On the west side of Aldersgate Street, at the south-east corner of Little Britain, in Aldersgate Ward Without (P.O. Directory).

Earliest mention found in records: "St. Botulph without Aldredesgate," 43 H. III. (Anc. Deeds, A. 1493).

Other form: "Sancti Botulphi de Aldresgate," 31 Ed. I. (Lib. Cust. I. 228).

In 1448 a grant of land was made for enlarging the church of St. Botolph without Aldrichgate, 27 H. VI. 1448 (Cal. L. Bk. K. p. 325).

Three fraternities in the Church, Holy Trinity, St. Katherine, and SS. Fabian and Sebastian (Staples, 17).

Church repaired 1627. Steeple decayed, pulled down and rebuilt (Strype, ed. 1720, I. iii. 113).

Rebuilt 1754–7, repaired 1833 and 1851.

A Vicarage. Patrons: Dean of St Martin's le Grand, 30 Ed. I., later the Dean and Chapter of Westminster.

St. Botoph was a hermit-abbot of the 7th century, and founded a monastery at Ikanho, a little village in Suffolk. But beyond this, little is known of his life and work. It is interesting to note that of the four churches dedicated to him in London, three stand near to the sites of three of the principal gates of the City on the high roads leading north and east out of the City.

St. Botolph's without Aldersgate Church.

It is situate on the Sly side of Little Britain, near Aldersgate, in the Ward of Aldersgate without the Walls, but within the Liberty or Freedom of London.

II. It is so called, as being dedicated to St. Botolph the Brittan, who was born in Cornwall , and (aś Tradition tells us, for we have little or no Account of him in History) he was eminent for working Miracles, &c. about the time of King Lucius; was bury'd in Lincoln-shire, and the Place call'd by his Name; and Aldersgate is added from its Situation, as abovesaid.

III. In this Church (Mr. Stow says) was sometime a Brotherhood of St. Fabian and Sebastian, founded in the Year 1377, or 51 Edw. 3. Then Hen. 6. in the 24th of his Reign, to the Honour of the Trinity, gave License to found the same a Fraternity perpetually to have a Master and two Custos, with Brethren and Sisters, which was suppressed by Edw. 6. having been endowed to the value of about 30 l. per Annum in Lands.

It is an old Church, having escaped the Fury of the fire in 1666. tho' it came so near as to burn part of it, since repaired; and has been lately new beautified.

IV. It is of the old Gothick Order, with Galleries on the N. and W. sides of the Church; also good Oak Pews, and a Pulpit carved of the same Species of Timber.

The Parish Church of St. Botolph Aldersgate.

In Britten streete, now called Little Britain, which took that Name of the Dukes of Britten lodging there, is one proper Parish Church of St. Buttolph. In which Church was sometime a Brotherhood of St. Fabian and Sebastian, founded in the Year 1377. the 51st of Edward III. and confirmed by Henry IV. in the 6th of his Reign. Then Henry VI. in the 24th of his Reign, to the Honour of the Trinity, gave Licence to Dame Joan Astley, sometime his Nurse, to Richard Cawood, and Thomas Smith, to found the same a Fraternity, perpetually to have a Master and two Custos, with Brethren and Sisters, &c. This Brotherhood was indowed with Lands, more than 30 l. by the Year; and was suppressed by Edward VI.	Britten street. St. Botolph. A Brotherhood founded in this Church.
This Brotherhood consisted of a Messuage, House and Tenement, called Trinity Hall, otherwise The common Hall of the Fraternity or Guild of the Holy Trinity, founded in the Church of St. Botolph Aldersgate, and also Eight Messuages and Tenements, commonly called The Trinity, also situate beneath Trinity Hall. They were in the tenure of Alexander Chapman, and coming into King Edward's hands by an Act of Parliament, he granted them to William Harris, alias Somers, in his second Year.	Guild of the Trinity dissolved. J. S.
In Trinity Hall Chappel. Orate pro bono statu Rogeri Russel, Civis & Salter. London, & Annæ Uxoris ejus. Pray for the Soul of Nic. Adhele, &c. In the Windows there, stood divers Coats of Cavendish, Smith, William Purchase, Maior of London, Agard, Gatton, &c.]     The Steeple of this Church of St. Botolph, being very much decayed and perished, was, so far as they found it needful, pulled down, and rebuilded with Portland Stone, beautified with new Battlements and a Turret. Some part of the Church repaired, and many of the Pews new made. As also, a new Clock and Dial (at the Cost and Charge of the Parishioners) in the Year 1627. The Charge of all this amounting to 415 l. John Wotton, Anthony Germain, Churchwardens. And but three Years before, viz. Anno 1624. was a fair new Pulpit set up, the Cost whereof was 35 l.]

St. Botolph's Aldersgate, so denominated from St. Botolph, a monk born in Cornwall, is situated at the south east corner of Little Britain, and tho' the fire in 1666 did not reach this edifice, it from tht time fell into decay, and was great part of it rebuilt in 1757. It is a plain brick edifice with a tower supported on a kind of arch work, and crowned with an open turret, and its fane. It is a curacy in the patronage of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey; but is subject to the Bishop and Archdeacon of London, to whom it pays procuration.

St. Botolph-Church, Aldersgate-Street,—about ⅛ of a mile on the L. from 66, Newgate-st. along St. Martin's-le-grand, being the corner of Little-Britain.

St. Botolph, Aldersgate, the church of, is situated at the south-east-corner of Little Britain, in Aldersgate-street Without, and received its name from St. Botolph, a British saint born in Cornwall, and from its contiguity to the ancient Alder's gate. Although the fire in 1666 did not reach the ancient church, yet it was so decayed that a part of it was rebuilt in 1757, and farther repaired and beautified in 1829. It was anciently a rectory, the advowson of which was in the dean and canons of St. Martin's-le-Grand, but being for some time unappropriated, Richard II., in 1399, gave the income to the dean for a perpetual anniversary for his decased consort Queen Anne. In 1593 Henry VII. annexed the collegiate church of St. Martin-le-Grand, with all its appurtenances, to the convent of St. Peter, Westminster; but at the suppression of monasteries it was granted by Henry VIII. to his new bishop of Westminster. That bishopric having been dissolved by Queen Mary, and the abbot and monks restored to their convent, this church reverted to its old masters; but when the monks were finally expelled, and the convent converted into a collegiate church by authority of parliament in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, she granted the curacy to the dean and chapter of Wesminster, in whom it still remains, subject however to the bishop and archdeacon of London, to whom it pays procuration. The advowson is a perpetual curacy, held by the Rev. Thomas H. Causton, who was instituted by the aforesaid dean and chapter in 1821.

Botolph (St.) Without Aldersgate, a church in the ward of Aldersgate, at the corner of Little Britain. Only a portion of the old church was burnt in the Great Fire of 1666, but becoming decayed was taken down and the present building erected on the site, 1754–1757. It has since been several times "repaired and beautified," as in 1833 and 1851. The right of presentation belongs to the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. Three churches dedicated to this saint stood near the gates of London—St. Botolph, Aldersgate; St. Botolph, Aldgate; St. Botolph, Bishopsgate. Observe.—Tomb (with brass) to Dame Anne Packington (d. 1563). Monument to Elizabeth, wife of Sir Thomas Richardson (d. 1639). Tablet to Richard Chiswell, bookseller (d. 1711). Monument to Dr. Francis Bernard, the Horoscope of Garth's Dispensary (d. 1698). Tablet to Daniel Wray, F.R.S., F.S.A. (d. 1782). Monument to Elizabeth Smith, with cameo bust by Roubiliac. Robert Cawood (d. 1466). Sir William Cavendish, husband of Elizabeth, Countess ("the Bess") of Hardwick (d. 1557). Alexander Gill, D.D., master of St. Paul's School (1597–1642), Rev. Edward Chilmead (1610–1653), and Thomas Rawlinson (d. 1725) were among the celebrities buried here.

The case of Edward Topsail and others v. Ferrars, tried 15 Jac. (Hobart's Reports, ed. 1678, p. 175), refers to the custom of the parish that a passenger dying there should pay fees there, though buried elsewhere. "Edward Topsail, clerk, Parson of Saint Botolphs Without Aldersgate, and the churchwardens of the same, libelled in the Court Christian against Sir John Ferrers, knight, and alledged that there was a custome within the city of London, and especially within that Parish, that if any person die within that Parish, being man or woman, and be carried out of the same parish, and buried elsewhere, that there ought to be paid to the Parson of this Parish, if he be buried elsewhere, in the Chancel so much, and to the Churchwardens so much." Sir John Ferrers had buried his wife (who died in this parish) in the chancel of another church. A prohibition of the demand made by the parish was granted on the ground that the custom was against reason.

Milton's "pretty garden-house" in Aldersgate Street was in this parish. Richard Baxter, the famous Nonconformist divine, was resident in it at the time of his marriage.

April 29, 1662.—Richard Baxter, of St. Botolph's, Aldersgate, London, Clerk, aged about forty years, batchelor; and Margaret Charleton of Christ Church [Newgate Street], London, about twenty-eight years, spinster; and at his own disposal, to marry at Christ Church aforesaid. Alledged by Francis Tyton, of St. Dunstan's in the West.—Marriage Licence in Vicar General's Office.

The churchyard has been converted into a garden.