Guilds -- England -- London; London (England) -- Description and travel; London (England) -- History
The old church was the burying-place of a considerable number of
eminent citizens. Among them were: Richard Rich, ancestor of the
Earls of Warwick and Holland, who died in 1469; Sir Geffney Bullen,
Lord Mayor in 1459 and great-great-grandfather to Queen Elizabeth;
Sir Richard Gresham, Lord Mayor in 1537 and father of Sir Thomas
Gresham; Sir Michael Dormer, Lord Mayor in 1541; Roger Thorney, who
founded a Fellowship at Jesus College, Cambridge; Dame Alice Avenon,
a benefactress to the parish. Against the west wall there is a
monument displaying three busts, in memory of Alderman Sir William
Halliday, sheriff in 1617; this was erected in 1687 by Dame Margaret
Hungerford in place of that destroyed by the Fire. Dr. John Wilkins,
Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and vicar here in 1662, was
buried under the north wall of the chancel. There are monuments also
to John Tillotson, lecturer here for some years, and to Dr. Benjamin
Whichcote, the celebrated preacher, who succeeded Wilkins as vicar.
On the western part of the south wall a large monument commemorates
Mrs. Sarah Scott, who died in 1750, leaving £700 for parish
purposes. Sir John Langham was a donor of £250 for the purpose of
church repairing, etc., and no gifts or bequests belonging to the
parish are recorded by Stow, except two weekly lectures each at £30
per annum, the donors of which are not stated by him. There was one
Grammar School, kept over the vestry. William Bell, Master of
Balliol College, Oxford, in 1494 was a rector here; also William
White, Master of Balliol College, Oxford 1125-39; Edward Reynolds
(1629-1698), Bishop of Norwich; Seth Ward (1617-1689), Bishop of
Exeter; John Mapletoft (1631-1721), President of Zion College; and
Benjamin Morgan Cowie (1816-1900), Dean of Exeter.
Gresham College stands at the end of a row of uniform plaster-faced
houses. The College itself is a great yellow-plastered building with
disproportionately heavy cornice and rigid balconies.
[Illustration:
_Drawn by J. Coney._
SS. ANNE AND AGNES
]
In Guildhall Yard is a fine view of the ornamental gateway of the
Guildhall. On the east is the Guildhall Tavern, and on the west, beyond
the church, is an open space, formerly the churchyard, with a few
plane-trees dotted about, and a fountain of Gothic design, erected in
1866, with statues upon it representing St. Lawrence and the Magdalene.
St. Martin’s House, on the north side, is a modern red sandstone
building.
St. Anne’s Churchyard, with one or two plane-trees of good size, makes a
break in the line of modern houses beyond.
SS. ANNE AND AGNES, ALDERSGATE
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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