St. James Clerkenwell

St. James Clerkenwel Church.

It is situate on the Wly side of Clerkenwel green, in the County of Middlesex, being in the Nly part of London, without the Walls, Liberty, and Freedom of the City.

II. It is called so, as being dedicated to St. James the Less (I suppose) he being said to be Brother of our Lord; i.e. his Cousin German, and so was called his Brother, according to the Custom of the Jews. This St. James was an Apostle of Christ, and born about 16 years before him; and Anno Christ. 33. was by Jesus, after his Resurrection, made Bishop of Jerusalem. He is sometime called James the Just, and was one of those 3 Apostles to whom our Saviour immediately communicated the Gift of Knowledge, the better to fit him for that high Station of being the first Bishop of the first Church in the World. He was a very Holy Man, constant in Prayer and Fasting, was the Author of one of the 7 Catholick Epistles; was martyred by being cast down from the top of the Temple, and then by a blow on the Head with a Fuller's Club, in the Year of Christ 62, at Jerusalem; after he had been Bishop thereof 28 years. His Age was 78.

III. It was founded (as Mr. Stow has it) a Priory, about the Year 1100 by Jorden Brisset, who with Muriel his Wife were buried in the Chapter-house of this Church, which Priory was dissolved in the Year 1570. This Church-steeple having twice fallen down (once by reason of its Age, and again, either thro the Ignorance or Injustice of the principal Workman) the Year 1623, there had been a great Summ expended in the Repair; and the Ornament and Beautifying was finished in the Year 1627, which cost about 1400 l. The Altar-piece was finished in 1639, and the Wainscoting about the Communion-Table, with the Rails and Pews there, were done at the charge of Richard Cock, Inn keeper, in the Year 1638. And the Church (escaping, by its remoteness, the Fire in 1666) was last repaired at the Parish-charge, in the Year 1696. The SW Gallery was partly done at the charge of Fran. Loveday, in the Year 1704. …

XI. The Parish contains these Places; St. John str. from Pissing alley to the Guy of Warwick at Islington, and part of Musle hill, Swan-alley, St. John's lane, Priory and Court, Clerkenwel Green and Close; Turnmill str. from the Green to the Grate on the Nly side, and to Jacob's court on the Sly. Also to the Bar in Peter str. all Mutton lane to the Bridge, Hockley hole, Codpiece court, Townsend lane, Goswell str. from the corner of Charterhouse wall to Islington; also Northampton str. Compton str. and all the Building betn Goswell str. and St. John str. and the Lanes, Alleys, and Courts in this compass.

And NWd in the Fields, it extends to Sir John Oldcastles, thence to Black Mary's, thence Nd to the Stone in Woods field, and to a little Conduit where there is a Wheel-pond, thence to Sermon lane to the Guy of Warwick, and so to the Angel inn, and thence cross the Road to Goswell str. as I had it from a Collector of the Queen's Tax; containing in the whole 1146 Houses, and 5 Precincts; viz. 1. John of Jerusalem; 2. Westminster; 3. Clerkenwel close; 4. St. John str. or Swan alley; 5. Islington.

[St. James Clerkenwell]

Beyond this House of St. Johns, was the Priory of Clerkenwel, so called of Clarks Well adjoining. Which Priory was also founded about the Year 1100. by Jorden Briset, Baron, the Son of Ralph, the Son of Brian Briset: Who gave to Robert a Priest, fourteen Acres of Land, lying in the Field next adjoining the said Clarks Well, thereupon to build an House of Religious Persons, which he builded to the Honour of God, and the Assumption of our Lady; and placed therein black Nuns. This Jorden Briset, gave also to that House one Piece of Ground, thereby to build a Windmil upon, &c. Upon the Dissolution of this Priory, it became a Parish Church, called St. James Clerkenwel. About the Year 1623 the Steeple fell down, having stood time out of Mind without any Reparation; nor among the Records of that Church could any Mention be found of any such Thing. This Steeple in the rebuilding thereof, and being near finishing, fell again, upon the Undertakers Neglect in not looking into the Strength of that upon which he was to rear such a Burthen. With the Steeple fell the Bells, their Carriages and Frames, beating a great Part of the Roof down before them, the Weight of all these together, bearing to the Ground two large Pillars of the South Ile, a fair Gallery over against the Pulpit, the Pulpit , all the Pews, and whatsoever was under, or near it. But all these Decays and Ruins were recovered and made whole again, the Walls firm and fair; and a new Door made in the South Wall. And the Church furnished with all things new, and without and within beautified. And moreover the Steple begun from the Ground, and raised as high as the Roof of the Church. And all this thus far finished in the Year 1627. cost 1400l. or much upon that Sum. Notwithstanding there was then much to do.

Priory of Clerkenwel, called St. James at Clarkenwel. Clarks Well. Black Nuns. Repaired. R.

The East Part of this Church with the Communion Table, was repaired and beautify'd about the Year 1638. As appeareth by what is writ upon the Wainscot there; viz. This Wainscoting, Railing and Pewing of this Communion Table, was done Novemb. 20. Ann. Dom. 1638. at the sole Charge of Richard Cook, Innkeeper, dwelling at the Red Lyon in Grays Inn Lane: Who married with Suan the third Daughter of John Goodcote, of this Parish, Grazier, who was Churchwarden, An. 1588. And the Commandments finished, Ann. Dom. 1639.

East Part of this Church repaired. J. S. This Church was beautifyed and repaired again, at the Cost of the Inhabitants of this Parish, 1696. Repaired.

St. James's Clerkenwell, situated on the north side of Clerkenwell Green, is a part of the church of the ancient priory; and is thus denominated from its dedication to St. James the Minor, Bishop of Jerusalem. This priory was founded so early as the year 1100, and the church belonging to it not only served the nuns but the neighbouring inhabitants. The priory was dissolved by King Henry VIII. in the year 1539, and the church was immediately made parochial. See Clerkenwell.

The steeple of this edifice being greatly decayed by age, a part of it fell down in the year 1623, upon which the parish contracted with a person to rebuild it; but the builder being desirous of getting as much as possible by the job, raised the new work upon the old foundation, and carried it on with the utmost expedition; but before it was entirely finished, it fell down; and destroyed part of the church, which were both soon after rebuilt, as they are at present.

This church is a very heavy structure, partly Gothic, which was the original form, and partly Tuscan. The body, though it has not the least appearance of elegance, is well enlightened, and the steeple consists of a low heavy tower crowned with a turret.

The church is a curacy in the gift of the parishioners.

St. James, Clerkenwell,the churc of, is situated on the north side of Clerkenwell-green. (For the derivation of its name, see Clerkenwell.) On the spot where this church stands was anciently a priory, founded by Jordan Briset, a wealthy baron, who, about the year 1100, gave to his chaplain fourteen acres of land in a field adjoining to the Clerks' or Clerken (the ancient plural of clerks) Well, whereon he built a monastery for a certain number of Benedictine nuns. The church served the nuns and the neighbouring inhabitants as a place of worship, and was made parochial on the dissolution of the convent by Henry VIII. in 1539, and dedicated to St. James the Less, having been previously to the Virgin Mary, as appears from ancient records, which call it "Ecclesia Beatæ Mariæ de fonte Clericorum."

In 1623 the steeple of the old church being much decayed, the parish contracted with a builder to rebuild it. This person raised the new spire upon the old tower, which being also much decayed, it all fell and destroyed part of the church.

The old church was taken down in 1788, and rebuilt from the designs of the late Mr. Carr. It is a loft, substantial brick edifice, with solid stone rusticated quoins, lighted by two stories of windows. The tower and spire are of stone, and proportionally lofty. It was opened for divine service in 1790.

The living is a perpetual curacy in the county of Middlesex, in the diocese and archdeaconry of London, and in the gift of the parishioners. The present incumbent is the Rev. Thomas Shepherd, who was elected by the united parishioners in 1814.

James's (St.) Church, Clerkenwell (a church erected in 1625 intervening), north of Clerkenwell Green and the Sessions House, occupies the site of a much older church to the same saint. This was originally the choir of a Benedictine nunnery, founded circ. 1100, and of which the last lady-prioress was Isabel Sackville (d. 1570), youngest daughter of Sir Richard Sackville, ancestor of the Earls and Dukes of Dorset. The first stone of the present building was laid December 17, 1788, and the church consecrated July 10, 1792. It is a plain substantial building, the body brick with stone quoins and dressings, the tower and tall spire of stone: architect, James Carr. The spire was rebuilt under the direction of W.P. Griffith, architect. In the vaults are preserved the monuments of Prior Weston, the last Prior of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (d. 1540) and of the Lady Elizabeth Berkeley (d. 1585), from whose family Berkeley Street adjoining derives its name, second wife to Sir Maurice Berkeley, standard-bearer to Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queen Elizabeth. At the east end is a pile of coffins from the old church, and in this pile rest the remains of the celebrated Bishop Burnet, who died in St. John's Square, March 17, 1714–1715. His gravestone was cut by "Mr. Stanton, a stone-cutter, next door to St Andrew's Church, in Holborn."¹ John Weever, author of the folio volume of Ancient Funerall Monuments, and Richard Perkins and John Summer, celebrated actors before the Restoration, were buried in the burial-ground belonging to this church. Weever dates his epistle before his work "from my house in Clerkenwell Close this 28th of May, 1631." A brass plate on a pillar near the chancel bore an inscription written by himself (given by Strype); but the plate was lost when the church was taken down. Izaak Walton's son Izaak was baptized and buried here (1650), and the father made an entry in the register regarding another son of the same name. [See Clerkenwell.]

¹ Le Neve MS. in British Museum, fol. 108. Burnet's monument is engraved in the Gentleman's Magazine for February 1817.