I don’t know why it has taken me so long to visit this extraordinary building but the wait was certainly worth it. And entry is free!
You know you’re in for a treat when, at the entrance, you encounter these charming cherubs chatting to one another over a late 19th century telephone …
The way in …
Two Temple Place is ‘a dazzling neo-Gothic gem’ on Victoria Embankment …
Then the richest man in the world, William Waldorf Astor emigrated to England from America in 1891 and he spared no expense when work began on Two Temple Place in 1892. It was designed by one of the foremost neo-Gothic architects of the late nineteenth-century, John Loughborough Pearson, and served as an impregnable bolthole with the eccentric Astor’s private apartment and bedroom upstairs. Its main purpose, however, was to accomodate the people managing Astor’s vast estate.
The man himself …
If you love stained glass as much as I do this must be on your list to visit. Here are just a few of the many images I took as I walked around. I haven’t included captions since the ones at the venue are so detailed this blog would be far too long. So I hope these pictures are good enough to encourage you to visit in person …
At the bottom of the stunning staircase you encounter D’Artagnan …
And further up, Athos …
More breathtaking glass awaits you upstairs …
In the foreground is a modern piece from a special exhibition that is also resident at Temple Place for the time being …
Entitled ‘The Glass Heart’, the guide tells us that ‘this bold new exploration of glass in the UK brings together for the very first time rarely seen works from key UK collections, celebrating this remarkable material – unforgiving, fragile, strong, sustainable. The Glass Heart will make you think again about glass as we explore how it has illuminated and contained human narratives and ideas’.
Here are a few images from this exciting and unusual exhibition …
Well written and beautifully illustrated, at £10 the guide book is fantastic value for money and a great memento of your visit …
Two Temple Place is a truly magnificent one-off. Make sure you check on the website for opening times before you visit since these can vary : https://twotempleplace.org/
If glass is your passion, don’t forget you can watch the creative process in action at the London Glassblowing Gallery …
The items for sale there may change forever your perception of what glass can do and the way it can influence the way we see the world – a fantastic place to visit …
There are glass hearts like these in the Temple Place exhibition. If you visit see if you can spot them …
Forever trying to move with the times, some of the City churches have adapted brilliantly to take advantage of new technology which allows people to work virtually anywhere. This has also enabled me to indulge two of my main passions – churches and their history and cake.
St Nicholas Cole Abbey was the first church to be rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire (1672-78). You can see one of its most interesting features before you actually go in the door. The beautiful galleon weathevane came from St Michael Queenhithe, another Wren church, demolished in 1876 under the Union of Benefices Act 1860 …
The view from the south side of Queen Victoria Street …
The interior is spacious and light …
My orange and cranberry cake was delicious and tasted home-made. The tea was good too (£6.70 in total – well, it is the City!) …
A striking ‘wall’ of innovative, modern glass depicts Christ’s Kingdom Spreading throughout the World (1962). Abstract elements connect all three windows with details of landscapes from across the globe at their base. Igloos, tepees and skyscrapers for the Americas, towers and domes for Europe, and minarets and domes for Africa and Asia …
The maker was Keith New (1926-2012), a pioneering British modernist stained glass artist. His career was launched by the 1952 Royal College of Art commission to design the windows for Coventry Cathedral.
On the way to the loo you encounter some old grave markers that have been re-sited on the floor ..
Somerset Place was a very posh address in the 18oos – no wonder Mrs Stewart wanted it on her gravestone.
Onward to St Mary Aldermary and its witty advertising board …
It was 12:15 when I got there and there was already a formidable queue for the food stall in the churchyard …
Before you head into the church, look down at what I believe is the most accurate grave marker in the City …
There is a well preserved coat of arms which includes four beavers suggesting involvement in the fur trade which was flourishing at the time. It’s a tribute to the quality of the stone and the carving that (even assuming it wasn’t laid until Henry died) it has survived so well after 200 years of footfall.
Under the coat of arms the inscription reads as follows …
Mrs Anna Catharina Schneider. Died 15th of June 1798 at half past Six O’clock in the Evening. Aged 57 Years, 3 months and 9 Days
I have written more about this memorial and others in my ‘favourite tombs’ blog from February 2021.
Having looked down outside the door, look up on entering and admire the fabulous intricate fan-vaulted ceiling that I wrote about in last week’s blog …
The cafe food selection …
There’s plenty of room to sit in the church …
St Mary-le-Bow is just 100 yards or so to the north. This is the view from Cheapside …
You can see the dragon weathervane very well on a sunny day like this …
The cafe in the crypt …
The menu is very comprehensive and you can view it here.
As I walked down the steps to the cafe I was struck by the incredibly worn nature of the stone – this could well have been the crypt entrance long before the 1666 Great Fire and Wren’s rebuilding of the church …
The church was totally gutted during the Blitz but it’s very much worth a visit to see the beautiful post-war stained glass. For example, to the north (left) of the sanctuary is depicted the Patron of the parish, the Blessed Virgin Mary, holding (and thus symbolising her care for us) the church built by Wren. She is clothed in blue (the traditional colour for Our Lady) and her feet appear to be resting on the arches of the crypt. Surrounding Our Lady’s image are seventeen Wren churches which survived the Second World War, each held by the patron saint of the parish …
This is a place for silent prayer and contemplation …
I was fascinated by some of the gravestones …
And the fine collection of heraldic symbols …
And last, but by no means least, St Mary Woolnoth, designed by Christopher Wren’s esteemed protégé Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661 – 1736) …
The food service area is tucked away just inside the door …
Do visit the interior where you can admire the memorial to John Newton, the reformed slave trader who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace …
The stunning, bulging pulpit dates from Hawksmoor’s time and Newton delivered his sermons from it. It was made by Thomas Darby and Gervaise Smith …
Don’t miss the 1810 ‘price list’ hanging on the west wall …
You can eat outside and watch the world go by. The air is a lot cleaner now that Bank Junction is closed to most traffic …
I have written about St Mary Woolnoth before and you can find my blog here.
Now, an important message: It has been proven time and time again that music, particularly live music, can have immense beneficial psychological effects. This is especially true for folk who may be feeling isolated or are experienceing dementia. And it’s not just the elderly who can benefit, but also young people who may be spending much of their life receiving care in hospital. There is a lovely charity, the Spitz Charitable Trust, who have delivered this life enhancing service for over ten years and, because I love what they do, I am for the first time promoting a charity in my blog. All charities are having tough times at the moment so do, please, see if you can make a contribution, however modest, to help them in their work. Click here for their crowdfunding page and to find out more about them.
Poor St Bartholomew the Less has had a tough time (EC1A 9DS). Designated ‘the less’ to distinguish it from its better known namesake nearby, it has also had to be substantially rebuilt a number of times including the need to repair damage inflicted in the Blitz. Nonetheless, it is a fascinating place containing many interesting historical monuments.
To find its modest doorway you must enter the grounds of St Bartholomew’s hospital through the Henry VIII gates and look to your left. Inside a rather spooky white hand directs you up stairs to the main body of the church …
It was once a parish church in its own right, the parish boundary being the walls of the hospital. The parishioners were made up of the hospital staff and patients and at one time attendance at services was compulsory for all who were fit enough. It was the only parish of this nature in existence but since 2015, however, it has become part of the Parish of St Bartholomew the Great.
There are many features to admire but, for reasons of space, I have tried to pick some of the most interesting and will look at others in a future blog.
This stained glass commemorates the founding of he monastic complex of St Bartholomew in 1123. The person responsible was Rahere, a courtier to Henry I, who was inspired by a vision of the saint whilst recovering from a serious illness …
Rahere is shown kneeling and beneath his cassock is rather a surprise. He is wearing some very colourful tights, a reference to the fact that he’s often referred to as a minstrel or jester as well as a courtier …
High up on the south wall is the memorial to Robert Balthrope, Sergeant Surgeon to Queen Elizabeth I …
The inscription reads …
Here Robert Balthrope Lyes intombed, to Elizabeth Our Queene Who Sergeant of the Surgeons Sworne, Neere Thirtye Yeeres Hathe Beene He Died at Sixtye Nine of Yeeres, Decembers Ninthe The Daye The Yeere of Grace Eight Hundred Twice Deductinge Nine A waye. Let Here His Rotten Bones Repose Till Angells Trompet Sounde To Warne The Worlde of Present Chaunge And Raise the Deade From Grounde.
He died in 1591, but the poet who devised this eulogy presumably had a problem getting 1591 to rhyme with anything. So he chose the frankly odd solution of asking the reader to do some mental arithmetic – ‘The Yeere of Grace Eight Hundred Twice’ (i.e. 800 x 2 = 1600) Deductinge Nine A waye (1600 – 9 = 1591).
The current windows in the church were designed by Hugh Easton, following the loss of the earlier windows during World War Two. Easton was an eminent stained glass maker who also designed the Battle of Britain memorial window in Westminster Abbey. The design of the nurse in the window in Westminster Abbey is strikingly similar to that in the window here …
The doctors’ memorial window …
The mid-19th century alabaster pulpit depicts Christ healing the sick …
On the east wall is the poignant memorial plaque to Arthur Jermyn Landon …
The reflections make it difficult to read so here it is in full …
His former medical contemporaries at St Bartholomew’s Hospital have set up this tablet to keep in memory the bright example of ARTHUR JERMYN LANDON Surgeon Army Medical Department who, while continuing to dress the wounded amid a shower of bullets in the action on Majuba Hill, was in turn mortally wounded. His immediate request to his assistants “I am dying do what you can for the wounded” was characteristic of his unselfish disposition. His habitual life was expressed in the simple grandeur of his death. He was born at Brentwood Essex 29th June 1851. Died two days after the action at Mount Prospect South Africa 1st March 1881.
Here he is in an image of him dated 1881 held at the Wellcome Foundation …
Before you leave, look to the right of the door and you will see the tomb of Surgeon John Freke (1688-1756) …
English History Online has the following to say …
… a remarkably curious tomb of the fireplace kind, most elaborately wrought. It is the tomb of Freke, the senior surgeon of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, who wrote many works upon surgery, still to be found in its library. His bust is to be seen in the museum of the hospital, and he is represented by Hogarth, in the last plate of “The Stages of Cruelty,” presiding aloft over the dissecting-table, and pointing with a long wand to the dead “subject,” upon whom he is lecturing to the assembled students.
And here it is …
You can read more about Hogarth’s The Four Stages of Cruelty here.
Look back after leaving the church and observe the oldest parts of the building, the 15th-century tower and west end of the church …
Within the tower are three bells, the oldest being cast in 1380. The bells are hung in the original wooden frame thought to be the oldest in London.
