“Strype, in his additions to Stow’s account of the church, says, ‘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 undertaker’s 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 aisle, a fair gallery over against the pulpit, the pulpit, all the pews, and whatsoever was under or near it.’ The church, however, was thoroughly repaired, and the steeple renewed, by 1627, at the expense of £1400. On August 25th, 1788, the ground was first prepared for the reception of a new church, which was consecrated on July 10th, 1792, by Beilby Porteus, Bishop of London.” (_London and Middlesex Notes_, pp. 80-81.) CHAPTER XI ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST, OR HOLIWELL NUNNERY The nunnery of Haliwell, or Holywell, was named after a holy spring or well on the eastern extremity of Finsbury Fields, in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. There were many other holy wells around London, especially that in the Strand, west of St. Clement Danes. How one spring came to be accounted holy above other springs, one knows not. However, there can be no doubt that this spring in Shoreditch was a place of considerable resort and great sanctity, which was reason enough why its owner, Robert Fitz Gelran, Canon of St. Paul’s, should enclose it with a wall, and to erect a nunnery over it. The House was built to the honour of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and St. John Baptist for Benedictine nuns. This was done about the year 1127. Robert, Earl of Gloucester, Richard the First, Henry de Hallingbury, Simon, Bishop of Ely, John de Gatesbey, Richard de Beaumes, Bishop of London, Stephen Gravesend, Bishop of London, Sir Thomas Lovell, were the chief benefactors of this House. Richard the First gave the nuns a part of the moor, on which their House was built; he also gave them the church at Dunton, with land in Bedfordshire, at Camberwell, in Surrey, and in the City of London. It is unnecessary to enumerate all the gifts. Very shortly before the Dissolution, the House was rebuilt by Sir Thomas Lovell. He endowed it with more land, and was buried in a chapel built by himself for his sepulchre, little dreaming that in less than a generation the House and the Chapel and all the rest would be destroyed. On the painted windows and on the walls were inscribed the verses:— “All ye nuns of Haliwell Pray ye both day and night For the soul of Sir Thomas Lovell Whom Harry the Seventh made knight.” Holiwell Nunnery, on surrender, had a yearly revenue of £293 according to Stow, of £347: 1: 3 according to Speed.