Saint Mary de Castro, a 900-year-old church within the precincts of Leicester Castle

Saint Mary de Castro Church in Leicester is a 900-year-old parish church within the precincts of Leicester Castle (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

Saint Mary de Castro is a 900-year-old parish church in a beautiful quiet location within the precinct of Leicester Castle, and I managed to visit it twice during my visits to Leicester within the past two weeks. At the far end of the churchyard, a section of the mediaeval wall separates the castle from the Newarke. It stands on the course of the old Roman city wall of Leicester.

The name Saint Mary de Castro means Saint Mary of the Castle, and the name differentiates the church from the nearby Saint Mary de Pratis or Saint Mary of the Meadows, also known as the monastic church of Leicester Abbey. The unusual church name in Leicester also reminded me of the name of Castro Petre Church, the Church of Ireland parish church on a hill at the west end in Edenderry, Co Offaly, in the Diocese of Kildare.

Saint Mary de Castro was closed for some time after the spire was found to be unsafe and was taken down about 10 years. But the church is open to the public again, and there are regular Sunday and mid-week services.

Saint Mary de Castro dates from 1107, when it was founded as a chapel for the castle after King Henry I granted the lands and castle to Robert de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Leicester.

Saint Mary de Castro dates from 1107, but may stand on the site of an earlier Anglo-Saxon church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The chronicler Henry Knighton implies that an Anglo-Saxon college of Saint Mary had existed and that Robert merely refurbished it. Local tradition suggests the earlier church on the site long was founded by Æthelflæd, daughter of Alfred the Great.

Æthelflæd, also known as ‘Lady of the Mercians’, ruled the kingdom of Mercia and helped free the East Midlands from Danish occupation. Today she may be ‘England’s forgotten Queen,’ but she was a formidable leader in a shadowy history of the dark ages, and in Tamworth she is celebrated in sculptures, statues and stained-glass windows.

Robert de Beaumont established the church within the castle bailey as a collegiate church served by a dean and a college of 12 canons. The church was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and All Souls and he provided a chantry chapel for prayers for the souls of William the Conqueror, his queen Matilda, William II, Henry II and his wife and children, and Beaumont’s own family and relatives. To support the college, he granted the revenues of All Saints’ Church, Saint Peter’s, and other nearby churches and land in the Leicester area.

Robet’s son, Robert le Bossu, 2nd Earl of Leicester, transferred all these endowments to the new Augustinian foundation of Leicester Abbey in 1143. The collegiate church retained its dean, six clerks or priests and a chaplain, along with Robert’s grant of 20 shillings for lamps in the church, as well as parish offerings and most of the tithes.

Saint Mary de Castro Church was closed for a time ten years ago as the spire was carefully removed and put into storage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The church has been much altered over the centuries, but some early features survive, including Norman doorways, a 13th century font, a sedilia and a piscina. The tower was built in the 13th century and a spire was added in the 15th century.

The richly carved 13th century font has small heads and winged figures decorating the bowl. There are some exceptional mediaeval carvings on the chancel arcade, and a Roman carved stone is set into the west wall of the church. The timber roof is 16th century and was restored in the Victorian period.

The church exterior has a number of grotesquely carved heads that look out over the large churchyard, said to be the oldest continuously used open space in Leicester city centre.

The richly carved 13th century font has small heads and winged figures decorating the bowl (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The early 12th century church had no aisles, and parts of its walls survive. It had a major expansion in the 1160, with a north aisle, doorways to the north and west, and an extension to the chancel. The two doorways on the north side and at the west end of the north aisle provide striking external Norman zig-zag decoration. The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner describes the sedilia and piscina in the chancel extension as ‘the finest piece of Norman decoration in the county.’

The 13th century alterations culminated in a major reworking of the transepts and the south aisle to create an aisle wider than the nave, providing more space for local parishioners. The mediaeval Saint Mary’s was two churches at once, side by side: one served the castle, the other served the people of the town. This dual-purpose arrangement did not last, though, and eventually the two congregations were combined.

The legacy of the dual-church means the south aisle is extraordinarily wide, because it originally served as a nave. The large east window in the south aisle, with intricate tracery, was created around 1300. The tower was built inside the south aisle, apparently as an afterthought, rising to a quatrefoil frieze, four decorated pinnacles, and with a needle-like spire rising from the battlements.

The chancel at the east end of the north side of the church … note the sedilia and the piscina to the the right, reagrded by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as ‘the finest piece of Norman decoration in the county’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales, is said to have married his second wife Philippa Roet in the church in 1366. She was a lady-in-waiting to Edward III’s queen, Philippa of Hainault, and a sister of Katherine Swynford, later the third wife of Chaucer’s friend and patron, Prince John of Gaunt, who kept Leicester Castle as one of his residences.

The infant king Henry VI, when he was a five-year old, was knighted in the church on the Day of Pentecost 1426 by his uncle, John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford and the Regent of France. The child king then proceeded to dub a further 44 knights that same day, the first being 15-year-old Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, father of Richard III.

At the time, the Parliament of Bats was meeting at the castle. Tensions were high at the time and members of parliament were banned from bringing swords with them, and so brought bats instead.

The east end of the south aisle … some historians suggest Richard III prayed in the church the day before setting off for the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

It is suggested by some historians that Richard III may have prayed in the church the day before setting off for the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.

The collegiate status of the church lasted until the college was abolished in 1548 under the Chantry Act of Edward VI during the Tudor Reformation.

The meeting in which the Town Council of Leicester resolved to hold the town against the forces of Prince Rupert in 1645 was held in Saint Mary’s. Both Crown and Parliament forces stabled their horses in the church during the Civil War.

William Bickerstaffe (1728-1789), a charitable local schoolmaster and antiquarian, was baptised, buried and held a seven-year curacy at the church.

The doorways on the north side (above) and at the west end of the north aisle (below) are striking examples of Norman zig-zag decoration (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The church spire was completely rebuilt in 1783, but retained its crockets and three tiers of lucarnes.

The architect Sir Gilbert Scott designed three Victorian arches in 1852 to replace the unstable large brick arch built in 1800 allowing for a better view of the preacher in the pulpit. The south aisle roof was extensively repaired in the 1930s and is the widest single span timber roof of its kind in England.

The church had to close for a time about 10 years ago when the spire was found to be unsafe. The 14th century octagonal spire, which was rebuilt in 1783, had developed cracks six-metres long in four of its faces in September 2013. Structural engineers who inspected the spire agreed it was at risk of collapse.

While the church was closed in 2014, the spire was carefully removed and put into storage. But current funds are insufficient to rebuild the spire and to repair the tower.

The church has a three manual pipe organ that was originally installed in 1860 by Forster and Andrews in 1860. It was modified and restored by Joshua Porritt in 1880 and by RJ Winn in 1960.

Castle House, a landmark building beside Saint Mary de Castro Church, was sold in recent weeks (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Castle House, a landmark building beside Saint Mary de Castro Church and the site of Leicester Castle, was sold in recent weeks with an asking price of £800,000. It is made up of two principal buildings – a 15th century timber-framed gatehouse and an 18th century two-storey Georgian house.

Both houses are inter-connected, and until recently they were used as a residence for visiting High Court judges. Castle House was described as having a series of reception and dining rooms, 12 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms and seven WCs, as well as a converted coach house with two bedrooms and bathroom.

Local reports say Castle House is expected to be converted into a restaurant or boutique hotel.

• Sung Mass is on Sundays Saint Mary de Castro at 11 am, with a Said Mass (BCP) at 11 on Wednesdays. The church is open on Sundays, 10 am to 1 pm, and Wednesdays, 10:30 to 12 noon; the church is also open on Monday, 11 am to 12:30; Tuesday and Thursday, 12 noon to 2 pm; Friday and Saturday, 12 noon to 4 pm.

Thee east end of Saint Mary de Castro … the church is open during Mass on Sundays and Wednesdays and at other times during the week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Water Eaton Church Centre is a sharedecumenical project for Anglicans and Baptists

Water Eaton Church Centre on Drayton Road, Bletchley … shared by Saint Frideswide’s Church and Spurgeon Baptist Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

I was in Water Eaton in Bletchley earlier this week for a meeting of clergy in the Milton Keynes at the Water Eaton Church Centre on Drayton Road. The Water Eaton Church Centre is shared by Saint Frideswide’s Church, the local Church of England parish church, and Spurgeon Baptist Church.

The first building on this site, Saint Frideswide’s Church, served the local community while remaining within the Parish of Bletchley. Saint Frideswide is the patron saint of the Diocese, City and University of Oxford. She is said to have inspired the foundation of Christ Church College and the cathedral, and died in the year 735.

Saint Frideswide was named by Chaucer in The Miller’s Tale and her miraculous ‘Treacle Well’ also appears in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Saint Frideswide’s Day on 19 October is also known as Oxfordshire Day.

Inside the shared church at Water Eaton on Drayton Road in Bletchley (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Building work on the site began on 12 December 1956, when Bishop Harry Carpenter of Oxford dedicated the building. The church was consecrated by Bishop Carpenter and opened on 9 July 1961.

Soon, the plans for the new city in Milton Keynes were gaining momentum and by 1970, Water Eaton was growing quickly. Questions began to be asked about the size and role of the church in the new situation. At the same time, Spurgeon Memorial Church on Aylesbury Street in Fenny Stratford was considering the future of its aging building, dating back to 1892.

The two congregations found they shared common interests and were asking the same questions, and came together to discuss a possible joint project. The discussions went on for some time, with both congregations conscious of the needs of the local community.

Eventually, the two congregations committed themselves to a shared project, with a building designed to be of service to the community and in the service of God. Buckinghamshire County Council became fully involved in the project when it came to the building catering for the needs of children and local young people in the area.

The cost of the project was met from a variety of sources: the major contributions coming from the sale of Spurgeon’s Baptist Church site on Aylesbury Street, a grant from Buckinghamshire County Council, and from the sale of a Boys’ Brigade property, while Saint Frideswide’s contributed the value of the site.

Thee building is a shared project, designed to be of service to the community and in the service of God (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The building was designed by the architects Hinton Brown Madden and Lingstone of Leamington Spa, and was built by JW Dennis of Bletchley.

The original 1950s/1960s Saint Frideswide’s Church buildings were altered and extended, and a youth hall was added, along with Boys’ Brigade room and ancillary rooms. The car park was a joint one with Sycamore Club and its cost was met by Milton Keynes Borough Council. The Water Eaton Church Centre was opened on the 10 June 1975.

The first phase of the work behind the church centre on the landscaping and play area for the local community and the church was completed in 2003.

Saint Frideswide’s describes itself as a church where ‘we have fun, make friends and grow disciples of Jesus’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Saint Frideswide’s is a resource hub in the Diocese of Oxford for community organising and church growth. It is part of the deanery of Milton Keynes and the Diocese of Oxford. It is also a member of CitizensMK, an alliance of diverse organisations in the city working together for the common good of the local communities.

Saint Frideswide’s describes itself as a church where ‘we have fun, make friends and grow disciples of Jesus,’ and ‘living in the fullness of life which God intends for us, and to help others do the same.’

The Revd Catherine Butt has been the Vicar of Saint Frideswide’s since September 2017 after 14 years as part of the leadership team of Saint Mary’s, Bletchley. The Revd Ayo Audu joined the parish as curate in July 2021 after training at Saint Mellitus College. The Revd Steve Hallett is the Associate Minister, and Nudrat Hopper is the congregational development and community organiser.

The main Sunday service is at 9:15 am, with a 5 pm ‘tea time service.’ ‘Soup for the Soul’ at 1 pm every Tuesday offers time for reflection over lunch.

Saint Frideswide’s is a resource hub in the Diocese of Oxford for community organising and church growth (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Baptist work in Fenny Stratford started in 1797 and by 1805 there was a small meeting house in Aylesbury Street. A new Spurgeon Memorial Church was built in Aylesbury Street in 1892 and new schoolrooms were added in 1905.

The church takes its name from the 19th century Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892), pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London for 38 years. He died the year the memorial church was built in Fenny Stratford.

Spurgeon Baptist Church now shares the Water Eaton Church Centre with Saint Frideswide’s, Church of England. The leadership at Spurgeon Baptist Church is congregational, with every church member having a say in running the church. The church members elect the deacons, currently six in number, the secretary and the treasurer. With the minister, they make up the diaconate which is responsible for spiritual leadership, oversight and day-to-day administration.

The Revd Mung Hatzaw has been the Baptist minister in Water Eaton since the beginning of the month (1 March 2024), although, in the short term, some services are led by members of the lay preaching team. The Baptist Sunday services are at 10:55.

The cross outside Water Eaton Church Centre has become a local landmark (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Searching for the ruins of Osney Abbey, ‘the greatest building Oxford has lost’

All that remains of Osney Abbey, once an important mediaeval monastic house and briefly the cathedral of the Diocese of Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

The Diocese of Oxford has more church buildings than any other diocese in the Church of England and has more paid clergy than any other diocese except London. The diocese includes Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, with another five churches in nearby counties.

The Diocese of Oxford was formed out of part of the Diocese of Lincoln in 1542, and Osney Abbey was designated the original cathedral. This was changed in 1545 to Saint Frideswide’s Priory, which became Christ Church Cathedral.

During my visit to Oxford last week, I went in search of Osney Abbey, later Osney Cathedral. But the site was difficult to find and there few remains of the ruins of the former abbey or cathedral could be sees. The site is south of the Botley Road, down Mill Street and close to Osney Cemetery. I found it a few steps west of the railway line, just south of Oxford Station and 300-400 metres south-west of the Church of Saint Thomas the Martyr – although the two are now separated by the railway line, linked to each other by a lengthy footbridge.

Osney Abbey was one of the four great monastic houses of mediaeval Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Osney Abbey was founded as an Augustinian priory in 1129, and became an abbey in 1154. It was one of the four renowned monastic houses of mediaeval Oxford, along with the Augustinian Saint Frideswide’s Priory (now Christ Church), Rewley Abbey of the Cistercians, on the north side of Osney Island, and the nunnery at Godstow Abbey.

Visiting the few sparse remains of Osney Abbey last week, it is difficult to imagine how this was also one of the great houses of the Augustinian Canons Regular in mediaeval England, alongside Saint Osyth’s Priory in Essex, Cirencester Abbey in Gloucestershire, and Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate, in London, as well as Llanthony Priory in Wales.

At the dissolution of the monastic houses during the Tudor Reformation, Osney Abbey was surrendered and briefly served as the cathedral of the new Diocese of Oxford, and the last Abbot of Osney, Robert King, became the first Bishop of Oxford.

However, little remains of the abbey today, and what is still standing is difficult to find, at the end of a narrow street, between the railway line and the river. The current navigation of the River Thames, replacing the old navigation to the east side of Osney Island, is believed to have been engineered by the canons of the abbey to turn their mill.

Osney Abbey was founded as Saint Mary’s Church on Osney Island, immediately west of Oxford Castle, almost 900 years ago in 1129 by Robert D’Oyly, Governor of Oxford and nephew of Robert D’Oyly, who built Oxford Castle. His wife Edith Forne wanted to atone for her past life as the mistress of Henry I, and encouraged her husband to found the priory.

The foundation of the priory is associated with her story of chattering magpies, interpreted by a chaplain as souls in Purgatory who needed the foundation of a monastery to free them from their sins.

Edith was buried in Osney Abbey in a religious habit. John Leland describes seeing her tomb on the eve of the dissolution: ‘Ther lyeth an image of Edith, of stone, in th’ abbite of a vowess, holding a hart in her right hand, on the north side of the high altaire’. The legendary dream of magpies was painted near the tomb.

Osney Abbey was the venue of the Synod of Oxford in 1222 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

When the Augustinian Priory in Osney was founded 1129, it was a house for 26 canons. After the priory became an abbey in 1154, it became one of the most important monastic houses in England.

The Augustinians of Osney provided six of the canons for Henry II’s re-foundation of the Church of the Holy Cross, Waltham, as an Augustinian house in 1177. When this became Waltham Abbey in 1184, the first abbot was a canon of Osney. The church of Saint George in Oxford Castle was translated and annexed to the abbey in 1199.

By the 13th century, Osney Abbey had 50 canons, and the Synod of Oxford met there in May 1222. The synod was called by Archbishop Stephen Langton, and is notable for a number of decisions. The Synod implemented the anti-Jewish decrees passed by the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215, including laws that banned social relations between Jews and Christians, levied church tithes against Jews, forced English Jews to wear an identifying badge, and banned building new synagogues.

These laws passed at Oxford in 1222 were the precursor to further anti-Jewish statutes, in particular those passed in 1253 and 1275. This increasing intolerance culminated in the expulsion of Jews from England in 1290.

For many centuries, it was thought that the decision that Saint George’s Day should be celebrated on 23 April as a holy day in England was made at this synod, although, since the 1960s, historians have regarded this as an invention. The Synod also established celebration of the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ on 1 January, building on long-established celebrations of the start of the Julian calendar year.

When the papal legate, Cardinal Otto Candidus, visited Osney in July 1237, a brawl broke out between a group of scholars from the university and the cardinal’s men. During the brawl, the legate’s cook was killed, and the cardinal was locked for safety in the abbey tower. When he emerged unscathed, he placed the city under interdict in reprisal.

Osney Abbey was extensively rebuilt and enlarged by Abbot Leech in 1247. In the 13th century, the abbey was engaged in a large banking business, enabling it to invest in property in Oxford. The abbey’s endowments included the Manor of Water Eaton, the Island of Osney, some rents and property in Oxford, churches in Watlington, Kidlington, Hook Norton, Weston-on-the-Green, Chastleton, with Claydon in Buckinghamshire, and Shenstone near Lichfield in Staffordshire.

Eventually the house had property in more than 120 places, scattered across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Northamptonshire, with small possessions in Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent, Middlesex, and Bedfordshire. It also had two churches in Ireland, Kiltevenan (now Kiltinan), near Fethard, Co Tipperary, and Balibrenan, and other lands.

The number of canons was reduced from 50 to 27 after the Black Death in 1377. By 1445, the abbey consisted of the abbot and 26 canons, two of whom were absent, in Bibury and in Ireland.

Osney Island included Osney Abbey and Osney Mill, and the place plays a minor but significant role in the notoriously bawdy ‘Miller’s Tale’ in Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.

Osney plays a minor but significant role in ‘The Miller’s Tale’ in ‘The Canterbury Tales’ by Geoffrey Chaucer (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

In 1481, the Abbot of Osney was granted permission to wear a mitre, and to confer minor orders on the novices.

When the Bishop of Lincoln made a visitation to Osney in 1499, the abbey was in debt and the buildings were out of repair. The abbot was ordered not to spend more than 40 marks a year on clothes, food and fire, until the debts of the house were paid. He was to have but one cook and one butler, and was to have the manor of Medley for his residence. No strangers were to be invited to feasts at the expense of the abbey, no canon was to be allowed to go into Oxford except for study or for reasonable cause, and the prior was not to frequent taverns and disreputable places.

The visitations in 1518 and 1520 show the abbey had an abbot, 19 canons, including one in Ireland, and six novices. One of the canons, named Taunton, was described as utterly irreligious and unwilling to rise to mattins more than once in a month. After he had been corrected many times, he was banished to the property of the monastery in Ireland, but then fled to the Bishop of Lincoln. The abbot excommunicated him for this, and the bishop in return excommunicated the abbot. The canons complained that by excommunicating the abbot the bishop had brought discredit on their house.

Another canon is described as utterly irreligious, a fomenter of strife, one who threatened with a dagger those with whom he disagreed. The debts of the house were estimated by one canon at £500, by another at £800, while the income was estimated at £730.

One of the canons had spoken contumelious words of the bishop in 1520, saying 'that he caryd not a teide for his malice.' By then, Taunton was back at Osney and incarcerated, but the bishop showed that he was not entirely satisfied with the state of things, by adjourning his visitation for nine months instead of dissolving or closing it.

The abbot resigned in 1524, and was allowed a pension of £60. He was succeeded by the Prior of Saint Frideswide’s, which at the time was in the process of suppression.

Sir John Tregonwell and Dean Richard Layton were the principal agents of Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. They visited Osney in September 1535, and issued injunctions that no canon should leave the precincts for any cause.

Against these orders the abbot, John Burton, protested to Cromwell, saying he could not receive his rents nor see to the repairs of his manors. He said Osney stood very low and in a wet situation, ‘and I was brought up in wholesome ground of the King’s College, sometime called the monastery of Saint Frideswide.’ He argued that if he remained continuously at Osney his life would be shortened.

The abbots of Osney and Eynsham were accused in January 1537 of speaking ‘obtrectuous’ words against the king, but this was dismissed as merely the wild invention of a crazy talebearer, John Parkyns.

Great Tom, the ‘loudest thing in Oxford,’ was taken from the tower of Osney Abbey and hangs in Tom Tower at Christ Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Osney Abbey was surrendered to the king in November 1539 and dissolved. The last abbot was Robert King, a suffragan Bishop of Lincoln who subsequently became the first Bishop of Oxford. As he was a Cistercian monk and Abbot of Thame, he must have been temporarily appointed to Osney, with his elevation to bishop in view.

From September 1542 until June 1544, Osney Abbey was the seat of the new Bishops of Oxford. However, Osney was costly to run as a cathedral and in 1545 the bishop moved to the smaller and cheaper cathedral at Christ Church. Later, during the reign of Queen Mary, King was one of the judges at the trial of Thomas Cranmer.

The abbey buildings soon fell into decay and were despoiled for the sake of the new foundation. Much of the stone found its way into local buildings, including Saint Frideswide’s as it was transformed into Christ Church.

Osney Abey has been described as the greatest building Oxford has lost. Great Tom, the bell described as the ‘loudest thing in Oxford,’ now hanging in Tom Tower at Christ Church, was taken from the tower of Osney Abbey at the dissolution. A good deal of the monastic property was also transferred to Christ Church, and the remains of the abbey became a source of building material for the city.

During the Civil War, the former abbey was used to fortify the city and an explosion in a powder house in 1643 caused further damage. The remaining west tower was pulled down a few years later.

The site was leased to a clothier, the iron, glass and woodwork were removed and most of the old buildings were demolished. The much reduced ruins were later drawn by Thomas Hearne of Saint Edmund Hall in 1720.

All the buildings have since been destroyed, apart from a rubble and timber-framed structure that may date from the 15th century. The remnants were Grade II listed in 1954.

Osney has about 200 households today, mainly in 19th-century terraced cottages built on a grid pattern by George Hester to house railway workers. The island also has two public houses, and is part of the Oxford ward of Jericho and Osney.

The long disused Osney Mill has been converted to housing, close to Osney Lock. To the east is Osney Cemetery and the site of the abbey includes Osney Mill Marina, on a 500 metre long island originally formed for the mill. To the north are Oxford railway station and Botley Road, the busy road west out of Oxford.

Last year, the 800th anniversary of the Synod of Oxford at Osney in 1222 was marked at a service in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, in May 2022, attended by Christians and Jews. Archbishop Justin Welby described it as ‘an opportunity to remember, repent and rebuild.’

Osney Marina is beside the ruins of Osney Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

From Geoffrey Chaucer to Graham Greene, finding the literary and cultural legacy of Berkhamsted

From Geoffrey Chaucer to Graham Greene, Berkhamsted has a rich literary and cultural heritage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

There was so much to see in Berkhamsted during my visit earlier this month that I returned again this week. Apart from the castle and Saint Peter’s Church, which I described in a blog posting earlier this week, I was interested to learn more about the town’s many literary and cultural associations, from Geoffrey Chaucer and the ‘Physician’s Tale’ to Maria Edgeworth, William Cowper and Peter Pan, and to Graham Greene, Claud Cockburn and the early days of the BBC.

Geoffrey Chaucer, the author of the Canterbury Tales, is said to have visited Berkhamsted in 1389 to oversee renovations at the castle after he was appointed the clerk of the king’s works. During his time in office, Chaucer organised most of the king's building projects, including repairs to Westminster Palace and Saint George’s Chapel, Windsor, and work on the wharf at the Tower of London.

It is not known whether Chaucer spent much time working at Berkhamsted Castle. It is claimed by some sourves that while Chaucer was at Berkhamsted he got to know – or least know of – John of Gaddesden, who lived nearby in Little Gaddesden and who became the model for the Doctor of Phisick in the Canterbury Tales, written between 1387 and 1400.

Berkhamsted Castle … did Geoffrey Chaucer ever spend any time working there? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

However, Chaucer could never have met John of Gaddesden (1280-1361), who died almost a generation before Chaucer is said to have visited Berkhamsted. Indeed, the ‘Physician’s Tale’ is usually seen as an early work by Chaucer, probably written before much of the rest of the Canterbury Tales. The long digression possibly alludes to an historical event that may date it to 1386, three years before Chaucer is said to have visited Berkhamsted.

John of Gaddesden was a writer in his own right too. He was born near Berkhamsted, but spent most of his academic life in Oxford. He was the author of Rosa Medicinae (‘The Rose of Medicine’), or Rosa Anglica (‘The English Rose’). It was written between 1304 and 1317, and regarded as the first English textbook of medicine.

John of Gaddesden was a theologian, a fellow at Merton College, Oxford, a physician to kings and princes, and the most celebrated medical authorities of his day. It is said his medical works, alongside those of Gilbertus Anglicus, formed part of the core curriculum that underpinned the practice of medicine for the next 400 years.

The hymn writer William Cowper (1731-1800) was born in Berkhamsted Rectory, where his father, the Revd John Cowper, was the Rector, and was baptised in Saint Peter’s Church.

Although William Cowper moved from Berkhamsted when was still a boy, there are frequent references to the town in his poems and letters, and two windows in Saint Peter’s Church commemorate his life and writing. His popular hymns include ‘Oh! for a closer walk with God,’ and he give the English language the phrase ‘God moves in a mysterious way.’

Cowper was an active abolitionist in the anti-slavery movement. In the Victorian era, Cowper became a cult figure and Berkhamsted was a place of pilgrimage. He was quoted by the Revd Martin Luther King in his protest speeches in the 1960s.

Dean Thomas Charles Fry was the headmaster of Berkhamsted School for almost quarter of a century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849), a prolific writer of adults’ and children’s literature, was a significant figure in the evolution of the novel in Europe. She lived in Berkhamsted as a child in the 18th century. She spent her early years with her mother’s family, living at The Limes, now known as Edgeworth House, in Northchurch, Berkhamsted.

Her mother died in 1773 when Maria was five. Later that year, her father, Richard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817) from Lichfield, married his second wife Honora Sneyd, and Maria went with them to live on his Irish estate af Edgeworthstown, Co Longford.

Between 1904 and 1907, the five Llewelyn Davies boys were the inspiration for the author and playwright JM Barrie’s Peter Pan. Their grandfather, the Revd John Llewelyn Davies, was outspoken on social issues like poverty and inequality, and active in Christian socialist groups.

Their parents, Sylvia (1866-1910) and Arthur Llewelyn Davies (1863-1907), moved out of London and went to live in Egerton House, an Elizabethan mansion in Berkhamsted, in 1904, the year when Barrie’s play had its debut. The brothers were first cousins of the writer Daphne du Maurier.

The Revd Dr Thomas Charles Fry (1846-1930), was the headmaster of Berkhamsted School in 1887-1910. He was one of the pioneers in the work of the Christian Social Union, and was the author of Old Testament History for Schools, Social Policy for the Church and Sermons on Social Subjects. Later, as the Dean of Lincoln (1910-1930), Fry worked devotedly to raise funds for the restoration of the cathedral.

Saint John’s House, Berkhamsted … the birthplace of Graham Greene (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

While Fry was headmaster of Berkhamsted, his wife’s cousin, Charles Henry Greene (1865-1942), was second master and the housemaster at Saint John’s House. When Fry became Dean of Lincoln in 1910, Greene succeeded him as headmaster of Berkhamsted.

Greene’s brother, Edward Greene, once a highly successful coffee merchant in Brazil, also moved to Berkhamsted, and lived in some splendour at the Hall or Berkhamsted Hall, near the Rectory. Edward Greene bought the house in 1917 and was the last private resident there. The Hall was used by Berkhamsted School as a prep school from 1928, while the former gardens were sold off for housing development. By then, however, the house was suffering from dry rot, and finally it was demolished in 1937.

Both Charles Greene and Edward Grene each had six children and this influential generation of cousins were key figures in literary and cultural life in 20th century.

Graham Greene (1904-1991), one of the ‘School House’ Greenes, is the best known of these cousins. He was a bestselling novelist by the age of 28 and he was often tipped for the Nobel Prize for Literature. He was also known as a politically contrarian, anti-American, a Catholic convert, a sometime publisher, a spy and a friend of Kim Philby.

In The Human Factor (1978), Graham Greene describes a scene in Saint Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted, when a sonic boom suddenly ‘shook the old glass of the west window and rattled the crusader’s helmet which hung on a pillar.’ The helmet is that of Sir Adolphus Carey – who lived 300 years after the crusades.

Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (1910-1987), Graham Greene’s youngest brother, first made his name as a journalist in pre-war Nazi Germany. During World War II, he was in charge of BBC broadcasting to Germany. He later became the director general of the BBC from 1960 to 1969, modernising the BBC at a time of great social change.

After retiring from the BBC, Greene published several books, including a collaboration with his brother Graham Greene, and made television programmes both for the BBC and ITV.

Their oldest brother, Herbert Greene, is often seen as the ‘black sheep’ in the family, and he became the model for several of Graham Greene’s antiheroes, such as Anthony Farrant in England Made Me.

Another brother, Dr Raymond Greene (1901-1982), was a doctor and mountaineer who took part in two Everest expeditions. He chaired Heinemann Medical Books from 1960 to 1980, and his autobiography, Moments of Being, was published in 1974.

The ‘Hall’ Greene cousins included the journalist Felix Greene (1909-1985), a creative figure in the early history of the BBC who set up its American offices in the 1930s. He first visited China for the BBC in 1957, and he was one of the first Western reporters to visit North Vietnam when he travelled there for the San Francisco Chronicle in the 1960s. He published books on China, Vietnam in 1960s and 1970s.

His brother Ben Greene (1901-1978) was a fellow pacifist, a Quaker and a key figure in the pre-war Labour Party. But he moved to the far-right politically, and during World War II he was imprisoned without trial along with the fascist Oswald Mosley.

The literary contemporaries of the Greene cousins at Berkhamsted School included Claud Cockburn (1904-1981), who lived later at Myrtle Grove in Youghal, Co Cork, from 1947, and in Ardmore, Co Waterford, in 1980. For many years, Claud Cockburn was a columnist with The Irish Times while I worked there, and some of his sons, including Patrick Cockburn, also contributed to The Irish Times.

Other writers and literary figures in school with the Greenes at Berkhamsted include Sir Peter Quennell (1905-1993); the diplomat Humphrey Trevelyan (1905-1985), who wrote a number of books about his career, including The India We Left and The Middle East in Revolution; and the diplomat and writer Sir Cecil Parrott (1909-1984), known for his translation of Jaroslav Hašek’s The Good Soldier Švejk and The Red Commissar, his biography of Hašek, The Bad Bohemian, and his autobiographical books, The Tightrope and The Serpent and the Nightingale.

The children’s authors HE Todd, author of the Bobby Brewster books, and Hilda van Stockum have also lived in Berkhamsted.

Greene's Court … place names are reminders of the literary legacy of Berkhamsted (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (153) 3 November 2023

Southwark Cathedral on the south bank of the River Thames has been the cathedral of the Diocese of Southwark since 1905 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Last Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XXI, 29 October 2023). The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (3 November 2023) remembers Richard Hooker (1600), Priest, Anglican Apologist, Teacher of the Faith, and Martin of Porres (1639), Friar.

I am catching a train to London later this morning. But, before today begins, I am taking some time for prayer and reflection early this morning.

Throughout this week, with the exceptions of All Saints’ Day on Wednesday (1 November) and All Souls’ Day yesterday (2 November), my reflections each morning this week are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on a church or cathedral in Southwark;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

Southwark Cathedral, built between 1220 and 1420, is the first Gothic church in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Southwark Cathedral:

For many visitors to London, there are three main church buildings to see: Saint Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey in the Church of England, and Westminster Cathedral in the Roman Catholic Church.

Although Westminster Abbey is a ‘Royal Peculiar’ rather than a cathedral, all three are seen by many as the cathedrals of London.

However, London has two other cathedrals that are often missed, even by regular visitors. Southwark, on the south bank of the River Thames has two cathedrals, one Anglican and one Roman Catholic.

Southwark Cathedral, or the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of Saint Saviour and Saint Mary Overie, is on the south bank of the river, close to London Bridge. Alongside Westminster Abbey and Saint Bartholomew the Great in Smithfield, it is one of the three remaining great monastic churches of London.

Southwark Cathedral is at the heart of one of the most vibrant and diverse communities in London and has been a constant witness in a place of change. It has been the cathedral of Church of England Diocese of Southwark since 1905, but there has been a church on this site for more than 1,000 years.

Over the course of history, Southwark Cathedral has had links with many famous and influential figures, including Saint Thomas Becket, Geoffrey Chaucer, William Shakespeare, Samuel Johnson and Charles Dickens.

Local tradition says it was founded as a nunnery around the year 606 by a young woman named Mary, on the profits of a ferry across the Thames. Later it was converted into a college of priests by ‘a noble lady’ named Swithen. In time, people s tried to identify Swithen with Saint Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, who died in 863.

However, the earliest reference to the place is in the Domesday Book in 1086, when the minster at Southwark was controlled by William the Conqueror’s half-brother, Bishop Odo of Bayeux.

Southwark Minster became an Augustinian priory in 1106, under the patronage of the Bishops of Winchester, who had a London seat at nearby Winchester Palace from 1149. The Priory was dedicated to the Virgin Mary or Saint Mary, but it had the additional designation of ‘Overie’ or ‘over the river’ to distinguish it from other churches with the same name.

The cathedral retains the basic form of the Gothic structure built between 1220 and 1420, making it the first Gothic church in London.

The earlier church was severely damaged by fire in 1212, and was rebuilt in the 13th century. The rebuilt church was cruciform in plan, with an aisled nave of six bays, a crossing tower, transepts, and a five-bay choir. Beyond the choir stood a lower retro-choir or Lady Chapel, which was a group of four chapels with separate gabled roofs.

The church was damaged by another fire in the 1390s. The Bishop of Winchester, Cardinal Henry Beaufort, helped rebuild the south transept and complete the tower around 1420.

The Chaucer Window depicts 14th century pilgrims found in Georffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The poet John Gower (1330-1420), a friend and contemporary of Chaucer, is buried in the cathedral.

The priory was dissolved at the Tudor Reformation, and in 1540 Saint Mary Overie became a parish church with the new name of Saint Saviour, and it remains the parish church for the people of Bankside.

The High Altar in Southwark Cathedral and the Great Screen above, first erected by Bishop Richard Fox in 1520 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Because Saint Saviour’s was close to the Globe Theatre, it had close connections with the great Elizabethan dramatists. A large stained-glass window dedicated to William Shakespeare depicts scenes from his plays, and an alabaster statue at the base of the window shows Shakespeare reclining, holding a quill. His brother, Edmund Shakespeare, was buried there in 1607, and two dramatists, John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, were buried in the church.

The connection with the Bishops of Winchester continued after the Reformation. Lancelot Andrewes, Bishop of Winchester and one of the translators of the Authorised Version of the Bible, was buried in the ‘Bishop’s Chapel’ in 1626. After the chapel was destroyed in 1830, his tomb was moved to a new position beside the High Altar.

The fabric of the church had fallen into disrepair by the early 19th century, and all the mediaeval furnishings were gone. The tower and choir were restored by George Gwilt in 1818-1830, who sought to return the church to its 13th-century appearance and removed early 16th-century windows. The transepts were restored by Robert Wallace, who removed the Bishop’s Chapel and the parochial chapel dedicated to Saint Mary Magdalen.

The vestry decided to remove the nave roof in 1831, leaving the interior open to the weather, and services were held in the choir and transepts. The roofless nave was demolished in 1839, and a new nave was built to a design by Henry Rose.

The new nave was criticised by Augustus Pugin (1812-1852), the leading architect of the Gothic Revival who said, ‘It is bad enough to see such an erection spring up at all, but when a venerable building is demolished to make way for it, the case is quite intolerable.’

The Harvard Chapel in the north transept commemorates John Harvard, who was born in the parish and was baptised in the church on 29 November 1607. The tabernacle in the Harvard Chapel was designed by Pugin.

The nave was once again rebuilt in 1890-1897 by Sir Arthur Blomfield, who tried to recreate its 13th-century predecessor.

The church remained in the Diocese of Winchester until 1877, when Saint Saviour’s and other parishes in South London were transferred to the Diocese of Rochester. The Diocese of Southwark was formed in 1905, with Edward Stuart Talbot (1844-1934) as the first Bishop of Southwark, and the Collegiate Church of Saint Saviour became the new cathedral. Bishop Talbot is also buried beside the High Altar.

The cathedral and the surrounding area were heavily damaged by German bombing during World War II, and shrapnel damage is still visible on the outside of the building.

Nelson Mandela opened Lancelot’s Link, a new north cloister, in 2001 on the site of the old monastic cloister, with a refectory, shop, conference centre, education centre and museum.

The Right Revd Christopher Chessun has been the Bishop of Southwark since 2011. He is a strong advocate for the parish system as the most effective means of church presence and engagement in the life of local communities.

Under his oversight, the Diocese of Southwark developed the ‘Hearts on Fire initiative’ and the ‘Southwark Vision’. He has used his place in the House of Lords to speak out on matters concerning refugees and people who are suffering because of their faith as well as matters related to poverty and injustice.

The Very Revd Mark Oakley, who has been the Dean of Saint John’s College, Cambridge, since 2018, is being installed as the Dean of Southwark in a month’s time (3 December 2023). Ian Keatley, former Organist and Director of Music at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, has been the Director of Music at Southwark Cathedral since 2019.

Southwark Cathedral was at the heart of the new movement in theology in the 20th century known as ‘South Bank Religion,’ which has asked challenging questions about faith in the modern age. These questions continue to be explored today at Southwark Cathedral, which describes itself as ‘inclusive: faithful: radical.’

The tomb of Lancelot Andrewes beside the High Altar (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Luke 14: 1-6 (NRSVA):

1 On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely. 2 Just then, in front of him, there was a man who had dropsy. 3 And Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees, ‘Is it lawful to cure people on the sabbath, or not?’ 4 But they were silent. So Jesus took him and healed him, and sent him away. 5 Then he said to them, ‘If one of you has a child or an ox that has fallen into a well, will you not immediately pull it out on a sabbath day?’ 6 And they could not reply to this.

An alabaster statue of William Shakespeare, reclining with a quill in his hand (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 3 November 2023):

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is inspired by a Reflection – ‘He restores my soul’ – by Revd Dale R Hanson, introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (3 November 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray for all who need restorative time. May they be given the gift of time, to be able to rest and have the space to be revitalised in the love of God.

A side aisle in Southwark Cathedral … at the Reformation, the priory church became a parish church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

God of peace, the bond of all love,
who in your Son Jesus Christ have made the human race
your inseparable dwelling place:
after the example of your servant Richard Hooker,
give grace to us your servants ever to rejoice
in the true inheritance of your adopted children
and to show forth your praises now and ever;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Post Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with your saints to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

Lancelot’s Link was opened by Nelson Mandela in 2001 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Southwark Cathedral was at the heart of the new movement known as ‘South Bank Religion’ in the late 20th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Daily prayers in Ordinary Time with USPG: (156) 31 October 2023

Saint Thomas’ Church, once part of Saint Thomas’ Hospital … its history is intimately linked with Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Last Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XXI, 29 October 2023). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (31 October 2023) remembers Martin Luther, Reformer, 1546.

Before today begins, I am taking some time for prayer and reflection early this morning.

Throughout this week, with the exceptions of All Saints’ Day (Wednesday 1 November) and All Souls’ Day (Thursday 2 November), my reflections each morning this week follow this pattern:

1, A reflection on a church or cathedral in Southwark;

2, the Gospel reading of the day in the Church of England lectionary;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

A 19th century drawing of Saint Thomas Church, Southwark

Saint Thomas’ Church, Southwark:

Saint Thomas Church, Southwark, which now houses the Amazing Grace bar and restaurant is a stone’s throw away from London Bridge station, nestled right in between the Shard and Borough Market in Southwark. The former church dates back to a church that was part of the original Saint Thomas’ Hospital.

An early hospital for the sick and the poor was founded within the precincts of the Priory of Saint Mary Overy, now Southwark Cathedral, around the time the priory was founded in 1106. It was maintained by a small community of brothers and sisters following a monastic rule. Later, it was said the hospital was founded as an adjunct of the priory by Saint Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1162-1170. It was named in his honour after he was canonised in 1173.

The hospital building was severely damaged during a disastrous fire in the Priory in 1213. Amicius, who was Archdeacon of Surrey in 1189-1215, was the warden of the hospital at the time. The canons immediately erected a temporary building for the poor at a little distance from the priory, and while the priory was being rebuilt they held their own services in the chapel of the new hospital.

Peter des Roches, Bishop of Winchester, added to the endowment of the hospital, and built a new house, moving the hospital from ‘Trenet Lane’ in 1215 to Saint Thomas Street in Southwark, where it was said the water was purer and the air more healthy. The new hospital, also dedicated to Saint Thomas the Martyr, was built by 1215.

The mediaeval pilgrimage to Canterbury honouring Saint Thomas Becket began in Southwark at London Bridge and coaching inns such as the George. It is celebrated in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

The hospital provided shelter and treatment for the poor, sick, and homeless. When Bishop Asserio visited the hospital in 1323, he admonished the master of the hospital for the irregular lives led by the brethren and sisters. They were ordered to follow the rule of Saint Augustine, and the master was to eat with the brethren.

Like many English religious houses, the hospital, suffered at the time of the Black Death. Walter de Marlowe, brother of the hospital, obtained a dispensation from illegitimacy from Pope Clement VI in 1349 so he could be appointed the prior or master. The petition said mortality among the brethren had left no one so fit to rule as Walter.

Richard Whittington, four-times Lord Mayor of London and known in folklore for the tales of Dick Whittington and his cat, endowed a lying-in ward for unmarried mothers in the 15th century.

The hospital or conventual precinct had become a parish by 1496.

A letter from Sir Thomas More dated 16 March 1528 to Cardinal Thomas Wolsey (1473-1530), Bishop of Winchester and Archbishop of York, mentions the hospital of Southwark, then in the Diocese of Winchester, anddescribes the master, Richard Richardson, as old, blind and feeble.

Matters did not improve with a new Master. Richard Layton, the Dean of York and monastic visitor, wrote to Thomas Cromwell on 26 September 1535, saying he was going to visit ‘the bawdy hospital of St Thomas.’ Although Layton’s choice of language was usually coarse and untrustworthy, his reference to the hospital seems justified, and the master Richard Mabbot was both lax in discipline and bad in personal character.

In a complaint to Sir Richard Longe and Robert Acton in July 1536, nine parishioners of Saint Thomas’ accused the master and brethren of the hospital of maintaining improper characters within the precincts, refusing charitable relief to the sick and even to those willing to pay. As examples, they said a poor pregnant woman was denied a place and died at the church door, while rich men’s servants were readily taken in. They children were refused baptism until the master was paid 3s 4d.

The master was accused of quarrelling with the brethren and sisters, even in the quire of the church. Referring to the services in the church, they complained that the usual three or four sermons in Lent had not been preached, there were seldom two masses a day, and at times they had been forced to seek a priest in the Borough to sing High Mass.

They said the master had closed the free school that was part of the hospital, although was £4 a year was provided for its maintenance. They accused him of ‘filthy and indecent’ conduct, said he openly kept a concubine, that he behaved as ‘lord, king and bishop’ within his precincts, and that he sold the church plate, pretending it was stolen.

Despite this, the hospital was the place where one of the first printed English Bibles was printed in 1537. This is commemorated by a plaque on the surviving wing in Borough High Street.

In all, 24 priors, masters, wardens or rectors served from the time of Archdeacon Amicius in 1213-1215 to Thomas Thurleby, who was appointed in 1539 and surrendered in 1540. The monastery was dissolved in 1539 during the Tudor Reformation, the hospital was surrendered by the Master in 1540, and it was closed.

However, the City of London was granted the site with a charter from Edward VI, and the hospital reopened in 1551. The cult of Saint Thomas Becket had been abolished in 1538 during the Reformation, and the hospital was rededicated to Saint Thomas the Apostle. It has remained open ever since.

The present church was built by the Hospital Governors and desiged by Thomas Cartwright in 1703. It had a garret that was called the Herb Garret in 1821. In the same year, the Old Operating Theatre was built in the Herb Garret.

Saint Thomas’ was declared redundant as a church in 1899 and the parish merged with Saint Saviour’s, which became Southwark Cathedral in 1905.

For a time, Saint Thomas’ was used as the Chapter House for Southwark Cathedral. In the late 20th century it was used as an office by the Chapter Group, an insurance company.

When the Jubilee Line extension was built in the mid-1990s, the church was damaged and was declared ‘at risk’ on the English Heritage register. It was renovated in 2008-2009 and it became the headquarters of the Cathedral Group, a property development company, in 2010. It opened in October 2021 as Amazing Grace, a bar, restaurant and music venue.

The renovation of the old church includes the addition of striking lightning, a green tiled bar and 3D visuals. The work included inserting a higher level mezzanine over the galleries, a partially raised floor in the church and subdividing the basement for restrooms and the restaurant kitchen.

Many of the original features in the building have been restored, including four tall, stained glass windows with glazing bars and red rubbed brick dressings; the exterior brown-red brick with stone dressings; the interior panelled galleries with oak mouldings; and the wooden reredos or altarpiece which features fluted columns with Corinthian capitals and a pediment topped with a crown motif flanked by a unicorn and lion.

As for Saint Thomas’ Hospital, it moved from Southwark in 1862, when the site was compulsorily purchased to make way for building Charing Cross railway viaduct from London Bridge Station. The hospital was temporarily housed at Royal Surrey Gardens in Newington (Walworth) until new buildings were completed near Lambeth Palace in 1871.

Today, Saint Thomas’ Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, and administratively it is part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, together with Guy’s Hospital, King’s College Hospital, University Hospital Lewisham and Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The Operating Theatre of Saint Thomas’s Hospital was operational from 1822 to 1862. It was uncovered in the church attic by Raymond Russell in 1957. It is said to be the oldest surviving operating theatre in England, and it is now a museum that is accessed by a narrow tower staircase.

The plaque in Southwark commemorating Saint Thomas Church and an early English Bible (Photograph: Simon Harriyott, CC by 2.0/Wikipedia)

Luke 13: 18-21 (NRSVA):

18 He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’

20 And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

Saint Thomas’ Church stands between the Shard and Southwark Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers: USPG Prayer Diary:

The theme this week in ‘Pray With the World Church,’ the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is inspired by a Reflection – ‘He restores my soul’ – by Revd Dale R Hanson, introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (31 October 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

We pray Lord for any tough decisions we are currently facing. We offer these up to you Oh Lord, grant us your wisdom.

The Collect:

Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of all grace,
your Son Jesus Christ fed the hungry
with the bread of his life
and the word of his kingdom:
renew your people with your heavenly grace,
and in all our weakness
sustain us by your true and living bread;
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued tomorrow

The pilgrimage to Canterbury honouring Saint Thomas began in Southwark inns such as the George (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

The tower of Saint Thomas is dwarfed by the height of the Shard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)