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London and Environs

Tower of London - All Hallows-by-the-Tower

All Hallows-by-the-Tower lays claim to being the oldest church in London. It was first established in 675, some 400 years before its famous neighbor The Tower of London, and was built over much older Roman buildings, and traces of pavements from a Roman house on the site can still be seen. Originally called All Hallows Berkyngechirche (the builders, Saxon Barking Abbey, the remains of which still be seen, was founded by Erkenwald in the year 666), in time it became All Hallows Barking, and during the 20th century the name was changed to the more practical –by-the-Tower since the original Abbey had been dissolved back in 1536.

While much of All Hallows-by-the-Tower was rebuilt after a World War Two blitz gutted so much of it, a 7th century Saxon doorway still survives from the original church, and it’s outer walls are from the 15th century. Three wooden statues of saints dating from the 15th and 16th centuries are stil in the church, and a beautiful font cover believed to have been carved in 1682 by Grinling Gibbons, is still regarded as one of the finest pieces of carving in London. There are seventeen brasses, the earliest being that of William Tongue of 1389.

During the Great Fire of London in 1666, two items of interest stand out connected to the church. One, Admiral William Penn, the father of of the Pennsylvania founder William Penn, saved the church by having the buildings surrounding it demolished to create a firebreak.

And two, Samuel Pepys the famous diarist, climbed the church tower and recorded, “… there saw the saddest sight of desolation that I ever saw. Everywhere great fires, the fire being spread so far as I could see it.”

In the crypt is an altar believed to have been carried on the Second Crusade by King Richard II. US President John Quincey Adams was married in All Hallows. The Undercroft museum on site holds a lovely collection well worth the stop and you’ll find a very nice gift shop on the premises and a café too.
 

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