The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-26 00:00:00

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Restovation of St. Bartholomew Church,

Smithfield

A decided step has at length been taken towards
the restoration of the church of St. Bartholomew

the Great in Smithfield, and yesterday a number

, -
of architects and other persons interested in the
important and interesting work, which has just been
commenced, availed themselves of the opportunity

now afforded of inspecting all that remains of
the old edifice. Some time since a committee was

formed for the purpose of rescuing this fine old
church from the disgraceful condition into which it
had been suffered to fall, for making it in some re-

spects worthy of the memory of its founder, as well
as a safe and appropriate place of public worship.

.... _
There is certainly no church in the metropolis which

has more interesting associations. All that now re-

mains of the fine old priory church of St. Barthole-
mew is a choir of imposing appearance, and in a

style of which but few specimens at present exist in
this country, viz., the Romanesque. Now that the
interior is stripped of pews and pulpit, and nothing
but the ruinous-looking walls remain, the visitor
has an opportunity of minutely examining the de-
tails and noticing the general effect of the noble
choir. The history of the church is interesting. Its
founder was Rahere, the Court minstrel; also the
founder of the Hospital of St. Bartholemew. Dug-

dale's " MonasticonTh gives the following account of
the origin of the noble church, priory, and hospital :

"In the reign of Henry I. there was a man named Ra-
here, sprung and born from low lineage, and who, when
he attained the flower of youth, began to haunt the house-

- holds of noblemen and the palaces Of princes ; where, under
every elbow of them, he spread their cushions with japes
and flatterings, delicately anointing their eyes by this
manner to draw to him their friendships. Such was the

youthful life of Rahere. But with years came wisdom and
repentance. He would go to Rome, and there seek remis-

sion of his sins.

He did so. At the foot of the shrine of

the Apostles Peter and Paul he poured out his lamentations,
but, to his inexpressible pain, God, he thought, refused to
hear him. He fell sick, and then he• shed out, as water,
his heart in the sight of God ; the fountains of his nature,
to the very depths, were broken up ; he wept bitter tears.
At last dawned a new life upon the penitent man. He
vowed, if God would grant him health to return to his

own country, he would make an hospital in recreation of
poor men, and minister to their necessities to the best of
his power. With returning health to the mind not unna-

turally came health to the body. And now more and more
grew upon him the love of the great work he had deter-

mined to perform. Visions, as he believed, were vouchsafed
to him for his guidance. On a certain night he saw one

full of dread and sweetness. He fancied himself to be borne

up on high by a certain winged beast, and when from his
great elevation he sought to look down he beheld a horri-
ble pit, deeper than any man might attain to see the bottom
of, opening as it seemed to receive him. He trembled, and
great cries proceeded from his month. Then to his comfort
there appeared a certain man, having all the majesty of a
king of great beauty, and ' 0 man,' said he, ' what and how

much service shouldst thou give to him that in so great a
peril hath brought help to thee ?' Rahere answered,
' Whatever be of heart, and right diligently, should I give
in recompense to my deliverer.' Then said the celestial,

visitant, ' I am Bartholomew, the apostle of Jesus Christ,

that come to succour thee in thine anguish, and,to open to
thee the sweet mysteries of heaven. Know me surely by
the will and commandment of the Holy Trinity, and the

common favour of the celestial court and council, to have

chosen a place in the suburbs of London, at Smithfield,
where, in my name, thou shalt form a church."'

How zealously Rahere set to work to build the
hospital and found the priory is a tale that has oft-

times been told ; how he feigned idiocy, and at-
tracted to the spottherabble of London, who helped
to clear the ground, and who brought wood and
stone from all parts ; and how, when all was ready
to his hand he made known his real purpose, are
told in the monkish legends of the time. The lo-

cality in the time of the First Henry was by no
means a favoured one, and the old historian tells
that " The place before its clearing pretended to
no hope of goodness. Right unclean it was, and
in a marsh, dungy and fenny, with water at most
time abounding, while the only dry portion was occu-

pied by the gallows for the execution of criminals."
When the great work was completed Rahere was the
first prior ; and a charter was given, which recites
_....." Know ye that I have granted, and by my char-
ter confirmed, to the church of Bartholomew, and
to Rahere the prior, and to the poor of the hospital
of the same church, that they be free from all
earthly servitude, power, and subjection. As any
church in all England is free, so shall this be free,
and with all lands acquired or to be acquired. I
will maintain and defend it as free as my Crown
against all men. I also deliver Prior Rahere from
all charges and claims whatsoever, and let none
presume to usurp any dominion in the place." The
poor jester thus built himself an everlasting name,
and his monument still stands in the church which
he founded amid a chaos of ruin caused by the
neglect of those who had benefited so much by his
zealous labours. _ .

It is scarcely possible to imagine a state of things
more disgraceful than that which has allowed the
church to become the ruin which it now presents.
There is a beautiful early English gateway leading

to the church from Smithfield. It was in all proba-
bility the entrance to the cloister, or inner close.
Above the arched gateway there is a wretched-look-
ing brick house, and built into the side of the arch
is a miserable little shop, which has the imposing
title of " The City Halfpenny Shaving Saloon."
The entrance to the church itself is by steep de-
scending stairs; the external level has been raised
nearly 12 feet by the mass of decaying human re-
mains. Inside the church, as well as outside, dead
bodies were crowded together without any pretence
of decency, until the -whole was a mass of corrup-
tion. The pauper burial ground was on the north
side of the church, where a wretched Golgotha of a
few square yards was built, and encroached upon
by a number of wretched-looking buildings, upon
which the dirty and dilapidated windows of the
houses in Cloth-fair opened. The whole interior
was miserably damp and cold ; dry rot and
mildew bore uninterrupted sway over the
place. The triforium of the church has
been taken possessiOn of as private property,
the chambers which were built out of it were
destroyed by fire in 1830, and have not since been
restored. The eastern part has been converted into
a fringe warehouse and manufactory ; a schoolroom
has been formed out of a part of the north side.
Across the semi-circular end of the choir, or apse, of
the church, a straight wall was introduced in the 15th
century, against which the wooden reredos is now
placed. A few feet eastward of this is a brick wall,
with two arches recessed in the outer face, and a
moulding introduced over them in imitation of early
English work, but executed in brick and plaster, and
now sadly dilapidated. The dark space betweenthese
two walls has long been called Purgatory, because it
was used as a " bone house." The wall above has
been rebuilt in the vilest modern brickwork. The
portions of the cloister which remained until 1834
had long been used as a stable, and the gallery over it
was converted into a wretchedly unwholesome dwel-
ling. The transepts of the church were destroyed
by fire in 1830. The tower of the church is of brick
of the most hideous description. One bay of the nave
alone remains, but this is valuable as affording evi-
dence that it was built in the Norman period, and
in
fine order support the central tower. There is a
mura:.nt in the church to its founder, Rahere.
It is in the early English style, beautifully executed;
its fretted
monk
canopy,
aopythit niches, and finials are manipu-
lated with
rare
on the tonL The figure of Rahere is re-
cumbenthe is attended by saints and
angels, a kneelingathis side, and the Bible
in his hand lies opened at the 51st
Ilst chapter of Isaiah;
a shield an angel at his feet bears
and coronet, and
on the edge of the slab is the inscriptionln to the me-
mory of Rahere, the first canon
looking
osn a firsti
prior of
the church. Another imr Walterctoinb
stands on the opposite side—it is that of s
Mildmay, founder of Emmanuel College,
Cam-
bridge, and Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen
am-
Elizabeth. Another of the tombs is one to the
memory of Roger Walton, Bishop of London,
the prelate of whom Fuller said that " he was so
jaw-fallen by over-fasting that he could not eat
much when brought unto him." Dr. Francis
Anthony, " the discoverer and user of a medi-
cine drawn from gold aurum potabile," also
lies here. And there is a modest tablet to the
memory of Capt. John Nnllett, mariner, 1600—
" Desirous hither to resort,
Because this parish was his port."
The crypt of the church is a very interesting feature
in connexion with the building, and there is a tradi-

tion that the excavation once extended from the
church to Prior Bolton's house at Canonbury, near
to the spot where the Canonbury Tower AM stands.
The architecture of so much of the crypt as now re-
mains is of transition Norman character, and be-
longs to the latter part of the 12th c€ ntury. The
church consists only of the choir and aisles of what,
in its time, was a most extensive pile of buildings.
In a lecture delivered by Mr. Parker, and printed
for the restoration committee, the chief features of
interest in the present church are thus summed up :
—" Ecclesiastically, as one of the earliest churches
of the austere canons in England ; architecturally,
as showing the construction and plan of a church in
the time of Henry 1., before the usual English
fashion of a square east end had been introduced, or
possibly just at the time when that change was
taking place ; and historically, as a building of well
ascertained date, and therefore one of the landmarks
of a most important but much neglected part of our
history—our architecture." The restoration com-
mittee have placed the building in the hands of Mr.
Hayter Lewis and Mr. Slater, the architects, but
the sum which they have in hand at present does
not exceed £4,ooo—a sum wholly insufficient to
effect such a complete restoration as couldbe desired.
The first step which was necessary was the clearing
of the interior and removing the heaped up soil and
the human remains from the outer walls. This has
been done, and the exterior now stands free, with
an open brick trench all round it, and adequate
measures have been taken for the thorough drainage
of the ground. The church will of course be closed
for public worship while the works are going on,
and for a short time only this most interestingmonu-
ment of mediaeval architecture may be inspected by all
who feel an interest in the preservation of the church.
We may only add that the committee, of which Mr.
Tite, M.P., is the chairman, will be most happy to
receive any contributions towards the cost of the
restoration.