All Hallows Undercroft Museum

Address: | Byward Street, London EC3R 5BJ |
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Phone: | 020-7481 2928 |
Website: | |
Opening times: | Mon–Fri 8:00–17:00, Sat–Sun 10:00–17:00 |
How to get there: | Tube: Tower Hill |
Entry fee: | Free |
This historic church was largely destroyed in the Second World War but the brick tower, the only example of Cromwellian church architecture in London, has survived. It was from here, on 5 September 1666, that Pepys surveyed the destruction of the Great Fire: ‘I up to the top of Barkeing steeple, and there saw the saddest sight of desolation that ever I saw. Everywhere great fires. Oyle-cellars and brimstone and other things burning.’ The tower is now surmounted by a spire in the manner of Wren by Lord Mottistone of Seely & Paget (1958). Mottistone was also responsible for the rest of the church’s post-war reconstruction with, internally, a ribbed perpendicular-style vault of grey concrete. Bomb damage revealed ancient Anglo-Saxon fabric, probably 11th-century. Of particular note is the font cover, an outstandingly beautiful piece of limewood carving by Grinling Gibbons (1682) with cherubs, flowers and delicate ears of wheat. In 1922 All Hallows became the guild church of Toc H, a registered charity which, in the words of its own manifesto, is ‘committed to building a fairer society by working with communities to promote friendship and service, confront prejudice and practise reconciliation’. It was founded in the same year by the church’s new vicar, ‘Tubby’ Clayton. In the sanctuary is the tomb of Alderman John Croke (d. 1477) with a casket, a 1923 Arts and Crafts piece by Alec Smithers, containing the Toc H parent Lamp of Maintenance. | |
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MUSEUMS & GALLERIES OF LONDON
Details below are taken from our Blue Guide Museums and Galleries of London. This is a 2005 title, here generally updated for website address and opening times, with useful comments from some of the museums themselves. More recent information is given in Emily Barber's magisterial new Blue Guide London, "Exceptional update to a classic and useful guide to this amazing city" (Amazon reader review).
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