Guilds -- England -- London; London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History
The church measures 75 feet in length, 45 feet in breadth, and 40
feet in height. There are two side-aisles separated from the nave by
Ionic columns, six on either side, with a clerestory above. This is
interrupted at the centre, and three eastern and three western
columns each bear half of it, thus presenting a cruciform
appearance. The tower, measuring 20 feet square at the base, rises
at the west, surmounted by a dome, lantern, ball finial, and vane;
the total height is 125 feet. The transitions are softened by vases
and urns. Above the door projects a bracket clock topped by the
grotesque figure of St. James in pilgrim’s garb, locally known as
“old Jimmy Garlick.” Much of the woodwork in the interior was
brought from St. Michael, Queenhithe, when that church was pulled
down.
Chantries were founded here: By John Whitthorn, of three
chaplains—one Thomas Haverbergh, chaplain, exchanges it with William
Gedelston, rector of Ongar ad Castrum, Essex, July 31, 1381; by
William Hawye, at the Altar of St Katharine, whose endowment fetched
£12 : 18 : 8 in 1548, when Thomas Dale was priest; by John de
Oxenford, citizen and vintner, which was augmented by Roger de
Fordham, whose will is dated next after the Feast of St. Barnabas,
1349; by Thomas Lincoln and Richard Lyon in 1548, when John Borell
was chaplain; by Thomas Bodynge, whose endowment yielded £22 : 10s.
in 1548.
Richard Rothing, the reputed founder of this church, was buried
here. So also were the following: Walter Nele, vintner, sheriff in
1337; John Oxenford, vintner, mayor in 1341; John Wroth, fishmonger,
mayor in 1360; John Bromer, fishmonger, alderman in 1474; William
Venor, grocer, mayor in 1389; William Moor, vintner, mayor in 1395;
Robert Chichele, grocer, mayor in 1421; James Spencer, vintner,
mayor in 1527; Richard Lyons, sheriff in 1374, beheaded by Wat
Tyler; Richard Platt, brewer, founder of a free school and
almshouses in Hertfordshire. There were tombs of importance:
especially curious were those of Richard Lyons and the Countess of
Worcester, which had either great brasses or recumbent effigies;
also the tombs of Sir George Stanley, K.G., and his first wife; John
Stanley; Lord Strange, 1503; and the Countess of Huntingdon. The
church owned many precious things: an inventory of its jewels in
1449 is still preserved at Westminster Abbey.
There was a charity school in Maiden Lane, which by the subscription
of the whole ward maintained fifty boys.
Arthur Bulkely (died 1553), Bishop of Bangor, was rector here. Also
Charles Booth, Bishop of Hereford, 1516.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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