St. Botolph, Aldgate, stands at the junction of Aldgate Street and Houndsditch, and is said to have been originally founded about the reign of William the Conqueror. The old building remained standing till 1741, when it was pulled down and the present one erected under the direction of the elder Dance and completed in 1744. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1362. The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Prior and the Canons of Holy Trinity, London; Henry VIII.; Robert Halywell, by grant of Elizabeth; George Puttenham, granted by Elizabeth in the 30th year of her reign; Francis Morrice, by James I., in the 7th year of his reign, since which time it has been held by several private persons, but is now in the hands of the Bishop of London. The benefice, which had been previously united with that of St. Katherine by the Tower, was in 1899 united with that of Holy Trinity Minories. Houseling people in 1548 were 1530. The present church is built of brick, with stone dressings. It includes two side-aisles separated from the central portion by Tuscan columns, supporting a flat ceiling. There are a great many windows, mostly filled with stained glass. The tower stands at the south, facing Aldgate High Street, and is surmounted by a small spire. Chantries were founded here: For John Romeney, at the Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to which Humphrey de Durham was admitted chaplain, June 3, 1365; by Thomas Weston, whose endowment fetched £5 : 6 : 8 in 1548; by Alex. Sprot and John Grace, whose endowments yielded £22 : 15 : 8 in 1548. The most interesting monument in this church is a tomb inscribed to the memory of Thomas, Lord Darcy and Sir Nicholas Carew, both of whom were concerned in the Roman Catholic plots against Henry VIII. and beheaded on Tower Hill, the former in 1537 and the latter in 1538. The memory of Robert Dowe, the charitable Merchant Taylor, is preserved by a monument erected by his Company, originally affixed to a pillar in the chancel, but now removed to the east gallery. A great number of benefactors are recorded by Stow, some of the most notable of whom were: Robert Cockes, donor of £100; George Clarke, donor of £200 for a public school, and other large sums for parish purposes. The sum total of all the yearly gifts belonging to this parish recorded, amounted to £151 : 15 : 8. There were two charity schools, one in the Freedom having fifty boys and forty girls, erected by Sir John Cass, alderman; the other, in East Smithfield, having forty boys and thirty girls maintained by subscription. James Ardene (1636-91), D.D., Dean of Chester, 1682, was perpetual curate here in 1666; also White Kennett (1660-1728), Bishop of Peterborough.