The ‘Emperor Heads’ in Oxford are in their third generation, but who do they depict or represent?

The ‘Emperor Heads’ decorate the railings at the Sheldonian Theatre, looking down on Broad Street in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

When I was in Oxford a few days ago, checking out the peculiar Greek inscription above the Wren Door in the Divinity School, I found myself looking once again looking at the ‘Emperor Heads’ at the Sheldonian Theatre and trying, fruitlessly, to figure out which emperors or philosophers they are supposed to depict or represent, and that are certainly more impressive than any Hallowe’en masks you may see this evening.

These heads are imposing figures at the east end of Broad Street, where the cluster of and they are one of the imposing or eye-catching features at a cluster of buildings in the heart of the city that includes the Sheldonian Theatre (1669), the Old Ashmolean Building (1683), now the History of Science Museum, the Clarendon Building (1715), originally home to Oxford University Press, and the Weston Library, redeveloped in 2015.

The so-called ‘Emperor Heads’ are 17 large stone herm busts or sculpted heads and as a collection they form one of Oxford’s most peculiar historic attractions. Each head shows a different type of beard, and they gaze down on tourists and students alike from the top of pillars that are part of the wall and fence surrounding the Sheldonian Theatre and the adjacent Museum of the History of Science or Old Ashmolean.

For 360 years or so, these characterful heads have featured in poetry, literature and art, and they remain one of the most photographed and well-recognised cultural landmarks in the city. The busts are more precisely called ‘herms’, as they depict the head and shoulders of each man.

Despite being known popularly as the ‘Emperors’, they do not represent any emperors, nor, indeed, anyone in particular. It has been suggest they represent bearded philosophers or sages, and they are bedecked with ivy wreaths, symbolising wisdom, rather than imperial laurel wreaths. It has even been suggested they were designed to compose a history of beards.

Sir Christopher Wren commissioned the bearded stone busts when the Sheldonian Theatre was completed in 1669 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Sheldonian Theatre was designed by Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) and was built between 1664 and 1669. The building is named after the project’s principal financial backer, Gilbert Sheldon (1598-1677), twice Warden of All Souls College (1636-1648, 1660-1661), Bishop of London (1660-1663), Chancellor of Oxford University (1667-1669) and Archbishop of Canterbury (1663-1677).

Wren was educated at Wadham College, had been a Fellow of All Souls College (1653-1657) – Monday is All Souls’ Day – and he was based in Oxford from 1661 to 1668 when he was Savilian Professor of Astronomy. His design of the Sheldonian was based on Serlio’s 16th century engraving of the Theatre of Marcellus built in Rome in the first century BCE.

When Wren completed Sheldonian Theatre in 1669, he commissioned 14 bearded stone busts to be placed around the perimeter. He asked the sculptor William Byrd ( (1624-1691) to create 13 busts for the northern boundary, where the theatre jutted out into Broad Street. Though at first glance they appear similar, each bust is unique, and each ‘emperor’ has a completely different expression and a different type of beard.

Wren is said to have asked Byrd to carve each bust with a wide-eyed expression of shock as a not-too-subtle dig at his patron, Gilbert Sheldon, whose penny-pinching budget made Wren’s task in designing the theatre very difficult. Byrd carved the busts from Clipsham stone, an oolite limestone quarried near the village of Clipsham in Rutland. The stone is coarsely grained and hard-wearing, and remains a popular stone for building and sculpture to this day.

When the Old Ashmolean building, now the Museum of the History of Science, was built beside the Sheldonian Theatre in 1679-1683, four more heads were added to the building frontage, bringing the total number of busts to 17. In time, one was removed around 1713 to make way for the Clarendon Building.

The bearded heads in place today are the third generation of bearded heads outside the Sheldonian Theatre and the Old Ashmolean (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

But the heads we see today are not the original ones – nor are they even the original replacements. The heads in place today are, in fact, the third generation of bearded heads to sit there.

The first, original figures were carved in local Taynton limestone and they lasted for almost 200 years before Victorian replacements were put in their place in 1869.

The second set of heads was made from softer Milton limestone, and suffered miserably as a result. The heads soon became blackened by soot and disfigured by acid rain, worsened by the coal fires that burned in students’ college rooms. As Oxford’s air filled with thick smoke, its buildings and the heads were becoming more dirty and were decaying.

These 17 busts of men became known as the Emperor Heads, the Oxford Emperors, the philosophers, or, sometimes the Twelve Apostles. The first reference to them as ‘Emperor Heads’ is found in 1911 in the novel Zuleika Dobson, by Max Beerbohm.

But this second generation did not use the same hard-wearing stone as the first set. They were so badly weathered only 57 years after their installation that when the poet John Betjeman came up to Oxford in 1925, he saw them as ‘the mouldering busts round the Sheldonian’ and ‘unknown bearded guards’. In his verse autobiography Summoned by Bells (1960), Betjeman compared them to ‘illustrations of skin diseases in a medical textbook’.

The Victorian busts also became a focal point for undergraduate pranks so that they were often painted, given lipstick smiles and had traffic cones placed on their heads like hats. They were worn away by the combination of weathering, the polluted air of Victorian Oxford, harsh cleaning and vandalism, and were left in a poor state of repair.

Michael Black modelled the third generation of Emperor Heads on the originals by Wren and Byrd, including their shocked expressions (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

With the help of the Historic Buildings Fund, a widespread effort was made to clean-up, repair and replace the stone fabric of Oxford. After fruitless conservation attempts of three heads of the second generation, Michael Black, a local sculptor, was commissioned to make the new set that still stand today. The heads now looking down on on Broad Street are the third set of Emperor Heads.

But, despite their historical and cultural value, the first two sets of heads were never fully recorded and the whereabouts of many of them remains largely unknown. Black tracked down seven of the original heads, five scattered around Oxford as garden ornaments and two in a house in Herefordshire. One original head is in the Fellows Garden at Wadham College, which Wren had attended.

From 1970 to 1972, Black and his two assistants carved 13 new heads for the Sheldonian from Lincolnshire Clipsham stone. They later carved four more heads for the Museum of the History of Science. Each head took a minimum of 30 hours to complete.

Black modelled his heads on the originals by Wren and Byrd, including their shocked expressions, and also drew on 17th century engravings by David Loggan as templates to make the heads relatively true to the originals. Black made each beard different and added amusing touches, such as the small figure of a bird in the hair of one head, an allusion to the fact that the originals were designed by a man named Wren and carved by a man called Byrd.

The small figure of a bird in the hair of one head is an allusion to the surnames of Christopher Wren and William Byrd (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A recent project investigated the heads from the perspective of heritage science, seeking to unravel their history and mysteries and looking at any implications they may have for the sustainable management of built heritage, collective memory and identity. An exhibition on the heads at the Weston Library in 2019 was the culmination of over five years of research by the School of Geography and the Environment team. The display reconstructed the history of the heads and first, second, and third generation heads came face-to-face for the first time.

The 17 carved heads at the Sheldonian Theatre and the Old Ashmolean are now the third generation of Emperor Heads. As a collection, they have become an iconic feature of Oxford, almost like a 360-year record of urban architectural decay, conservation, environmental change and changing attitudes and perceptions.

The Clarendon Building beside the Sheldonian Theatre was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and built in 1711-1715 to house the Oxford University Press. It was known as the Printing House or the Clarendon Printing House until the University Press moved to Walton Street in 1832.

Lead figures of the nine Muses were placed on top of the building in 1717 and a lead statue of Lord Clarendon was placed in a clamshell niche on the first floor of the south side in 1721 and moved to the west side of the building in 1947.

All ten statues at the Clarendon Building are undergoing extensive renovation, with Lord Clarendon and four of the original muses temporarily removed and the two fibreglass ones being replaced. They will all be painted in the stone colour they would have had originally. Part of the Clarendon Building is now covered in cladding and scaffolding, but I hope to see the renovated statues in time and to blog about them then.

The heads at the Sheldonian Theatre now looking down on on Broad Street are the third set of Emperor Heads, and date from 1970-1972 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Divinity School in Oxford, built in 1427-1483, is now part of the Bodleian Library, with an unusual Greek inscription

A glimpse of the Divinity School beyond from the entrance to the Bodleian Library in Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

I have been blogging about the cathedral, churches and chapels in Oxford since I moved to this part of England almost five years. But no accounts of Church life in Oxford would be complete without taking account of the academic theology in Oxford, of the theological colleges that are found in Oxford, and of the Divinity School, which is integral to the story of the teaching of theology in Oxford over the past nine centuries or more, and which I have visited twice in recent weeks.

Tourists crowding into the Bodleian probably want to visit the Divinity School because it has been a location in many Harry Potter films, rather that its role in theological education and church history. But the study of theology and religion has been part and parcel of academic life in the University of Oxford since its origins in the 12th century, or even as early as 1096, which makes it the oldest university in the English-speaking world.

The Ashmolean Museum is the world’s oldest university museum, Oxford University Press is the largest university press in the world, and Oxford has the largest academic library system nationwide. Early teaching was conducted by priests, the early curriculum focused on theology and canon law, reflecting its ecclesiastical roots, and most scholars were members of the clergy until the Reformation.

The entrance to the Divinity School … today it is part of the Bodleian Library and schools complex in the heart of Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Regius Professorships of Divinity are among the oldest professorships at Oxford and Cambridge, and for a time there was third chair at Trinity College Dublin. The Oxford and Cambridge chairs were founded by Henry VIII, but the Divinity School is even older than those chairs. It is the oldest purpose-built teaching and examination room in the University of Oxford, and it was built in the Perpendicular Gothic style between 1427 and 1483. It was first built for lectures, oral exams and theological debates and later served as a meeting place for Parliament and the House of Commons.

Today the Divinity School is part of the Bodleian Library and schools complex on Broad Street and Radcliffe Square in Oxford, sitting directly beneath Duke Humfrey’s Library and linked to Convocation House.

When the Divinity School was being built in 1424-1490, the master-masons were Richard Winchcombe in 1429 and Thomas Elkyn in 1439. The upper storey was added by 1489 as Duke Humphrey’s Library. The elaborate stone-vaulted ceiling was designed by William Orchard in the 1480s. The ceiling has very elaborate lierne vaulting and is adorned with 455 carved bosses.

Duke Humfrey’s Library is on the first floor above the Divinity School … the upper storey was added by 1489 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The building is physically attached to the Bodleian Library, with Duke Humfrey’s Library on the first floor above, and it is opposite the Sheldonian Theatre where students matriculate and graduate. At the far end from the Bodleian Library entrance, a door leads to Convocation House, built in 1634-1637.

The building was restored and altered in 1598-1602. The whole building was partially restored, again using Headington stone, in 1660. William Byrd was paid for the insertion in 1669 of the north doorway designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The building was also repaired in 1701-1702.

All the buildings in Radcliffe Square form a group of the highest architectural importance at the heart of the University of Oxford. The west range of the complex, built in 1610-1612, contains the Arts End of the library on the upper storey and the Proscholium on the ground floor. The other three ranges were built in Headington freestone in 1613-1624, with John Akroyd and John and Michael Bently, being master-masons. The west cross-wing was built in 1634-1636 and its west window was rebuilt in 1877.

The tower at the Eastern Entrance has columns on each level representing the five orders of classical architecture (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Extensive restorations were made in Clipsham stone in 1878-1885 to the upper storey, pinnacles and the whole tower of the Five Orders.

The Magnificent Tower forms the Eastern Entrance to the Schools Quadrangle and was built in 1613-1619. The columns on each level represent the five orders of classical architecture (from bottom): Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian and Composite.

Further refacing of the interior and of the quadrangle on the south were made in 1949. The upper storey forms the Sheldonoian Theatre end of the library and the lower storey contains the Convocation House and the Chancellor’s Court.

The Greek text in the arch above Sir Christopher Wren’s 1669 doorway … ‘they found him [in the temple], sitting among the teachers’ (Photograph: Hybrid Magazine/Greek City Times)

A Greek text carved onto a stone ‘open book’ on the soffit of the arch above Sir Christopher Wren’s 1669 doorway on the north side of the Divinity School, facing the Sheldonian Theatre, is said by some sources to be the only Greek inscription in Oxford, although there is a Greek insciption abover the west door of the chapel in Somerville College. The inscription at the Wren door in the Divinity School reads: εὗρον αὐτὸν καθεζόμενον ἐν μέσῳ τῶν διδασκάλων, an abbreviated form of: εὗρον αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ καθεζόμενον ἐν μέσῳ τῶν διδασκάλων, ‘they found him in the Temple, sitting among the teachers’ (Luke 2: 46), a reference to Jesus at the age of 12 debating with the doctors or teachers in the Temple in Jerusalem.

I went back to the Divinity School yesterday to see that Greek quotation. Despite its abbreviated form and with idiosyncratic lettering, is apposite given the building’s original function in teaching theology. The words were added during structural renovations in 1669, when a beautiful window was removed from the Divinity School amid controversy to build a new doorway designed by Christopher Wren, intended for academic processions.

The Vice-Chancellor’s accounts for 1666-1697 document renovations that included Wren’s doorway in 1669. However, despite detailed records of the doorway’s construction, there is no record of who requested the Greek inscription, who provided it or why it was placed there.

The Sir Thomas Bodley plaque above the doors leading into the Divinity School and Bodleian complex has a plaque with the Latin inscription: Quod feliciter vortat (‘May it turn out happily’), a wish for good fortune for the library.

The bronze statue of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, is often mistakenly identified as King Charles I (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Above the middle doorway on the north face is a panel with an elaborate coat-of-arms for the Earl of Pembroke, including a colourful shield, garter, helm, mantling, motto and two leopards as heraldic supporters. A second panel above has the painted inscription: Guil. Herbert Pembrochiæ comes, Regii hospitii Camerarius, honoratissimus Academiæ Cancellarius.

The prominent bronze statue standing in the Old Schools Quadrangle facing the Divinity School and the entrance of the Bodleian Library is often mistaken for King Charles I, but is actually a statue of William Herbert (1580-1630), 3rd Earl of Pembroke and Chancellor of the University of Oxford from 1617 until he died.

The sculptor Hubert Le Sueur also sculpted the equestrian statue of Charles I in London. The statue is cast in bronze, and weighs about 1,600 lb. It was originally placed at Wilton House, the family seat of the Earls of Pembroke, until it was moved to the Bodleian Library in 1723. It was moved to its current outdoor position in 1950.

Despite this mistaken identity, Charles I had links with this part of Oxford: he used the Convocation House and the Divinity School as a meeting place for his parliament during the English Civil War, and there are busts of him in Saint John’s College.

The elaborate coat-of-arms of William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Chancellor of Oxford University (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Divinity School is no longer used for its original purposes, but Oxford continues to offer degrees in Theology and Religion taught by the Faculty of Theology and Religion. The Faculty of Theology and Religion is housed in the state-of-the-art Schwarzman Centre at the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter on Woodstock Road and spans Oxford’s many colleges and private halls. The faculty brings together more than 120 members with expertise in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and other world religions, as well as in comparative, interdisciplinary and cross-cultural approaches to the study of religion.

The statutory professorships in theology in Oxford are held in conjunction with a canonry of Christ Church. The professor must be an ordained priest in the Church of England or in an Anglican church in communion with the Church of England, or eligible for and accept ordination. These positions are: Regius Professor of Divinity (Andrew Davison), Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity (Carol Harrison), Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology (vacant, previously Nigel Biggar), and Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History (vacant).

The other professors of theology include the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, the Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, Dean Ireland’s Professor of the Exegesis of Holy Scripture, Nolloth Professor of the Philosophy of the Christian Religion; Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, Professor of the Study of the Abrahamic Religions, Professor of Systematic Theology and Professor of Jewish Studies.

The Revd Dr Francis Babington, who was Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity from 1561, was a first cousin once removed Henry Comberford, Precentor of Lichfield Cathedral, and Richard Comberford, often said, confusingly, to be the direct ancestor of the Comerford family of Kilkenny and Wexford. Babington was also Proctor of Oxford University (1557), a Fellow of All Souls College, Rector of Milton Keynes, Master of Balliol College (1559-1560), Rector of Lincoln College (1560-1563), and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University (1560-1562). He survived much of the Tudor Reformation and Marian turmoils, but who was finally forced out of office and into exile in 1565, during the reign of Elizabeth I.

The Divinity School appeared as the Hogwarts Infirmary in several Harry Potter films. It is open for self-guided visitor tours, special exhibitions, university events and for weddings.

As for the Greek inscription above the chapel door in Somerville College, that, hopefully, is a story for another day.

All the buildings in Radcliffe Square form a group of the highest architectural importance at the heart of the University of Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

For my guide to churches, chapels and religious buildings and sites in Oxford, visit here

The oldest coffee house from 17th century London survives at the Jamaica Wine House in Cornhill

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Over the years, I have tried to search for the oldest coffee house in England. The story of these early coffee houses is told in the cafés on Queen Street in Oxford and the street names on the Coffee Hall estate in Milton Keynes.

While I was London last week, I went in search of the oldest coffee shops in London. But they are long predated by two coffee shops in Oxford that vie for the title of the oldest coffeehouse in England.

Gianfrancesco Morosini – whose family gave their name to the Morosini Fountain in Lion Square in Iraklion, Crete – first brought coffee to the attention of Venetians in 1585. He reported how the Turks had developed a taste for drinking ‘a black water, boiled up as hot as they could bear it, which is distilled from a seed called kahvé and which they say has the property of making a man stay awake.’

By the mid-17th century, coffee was being sold in Venice as a medicine, and the first coffeehouse beyond the Levant opened in Venice in 1647. However, although Caffé Florian on Saint Mark’s Square claims to be ‘the first real café in Europe’, it did not open until 29 December 1720. The Café Procope on the Rue de l’Ancienne Comédie, which claims to be the oldest café in Paris in continuous operation, opened in 1686.

‘Jacob the Jew’ from Lebanon is said to have opened the very first coffeehouse in England at the Angel Inn on the High Street in Oxford in 1650. Jacob’s coffeehouse in Oxford is believed to have been the first European coffeehouse after Venice, and the Grand Café now stands on the same site on the High.

According to the diarist Samuel Pepys and others, Jacob opened his coffeehouse in Oxford in 1650. Anthony à Wood, the Oxford antiquarian, records that ‘Jacob the Jew opened a coffey house at the Angel’ in Oxford in 1651, ‘and there it was by some, who delighted in noveltie, drank.’

Some years later, across the street, Cirques Jobson, a Jewish merchant from the Levant or Syria, opened the Queen’s Lane Coffee House in 1654. Anthony à Wood records Cirques Jobson sold coffee ‘in a house between Edmund Hall and Queen College Corner’ – the site of today’s Queen’s Lane Coffee House. It claims to be the oldest coffeehouse to continually serve coffee in Europe.

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Both cafés in Oxford opened around the same time as the Jamaica Wine House first opened as a coffeehouse in the City of London. I found this Grade II listed building last week behind Saint Michael’s Church, Cornhill, hidden away in St Michael’s Alley, amid a labyrinth of mediaeval courts and backstreets just off Cornhill and near the Royal Exchange.

Today it is one of the Square Mile’s most popular pubs and wine bars, known to many as ‘The Jampot’. It is a traditional London pub, with a wood-panelled bar and high ceilings. But it claims to be the birthplace of London’s coffee house scene and a history stretching back hundreds of years.

The Jamaica Wine House stands on the site of on the site of what is widely regarded as London’s first coffee house. It was opened by Pasqua Rosée in 1652 and counted Samuel Pepys amongst its earliest patrons.

Pasqua Rosée was born in the early 17th century into the ethnic Greek community in Ragusa, now southern Croatia, and by 1651 he was living in Smyrna (İzmir) in the Ottoman Empire, where he became the servant of Daniel Edwards, an English merchant of the Levant Company.

Edwards brought Pasqua Rosée to London in 1651 to prepare coffee for him and his household. A year later, Edwards helped his former servant to open his own coffee house, where some claim coffee was made and sold to the public for the first time in England. The coffee house quickly became a meeting place for merchants and traders, and is known in some accounts as the Turk’s Head.

Rosée’s own profile was depicted in the sign at his coffeehouse sign. He was shown resplendent in a turban, with a twirly moustache. The image of the head of a man of Turkish origin became the default sign for all coffee houses, and may explain why the ‘Turk’s Head’ became a popular name for pubs.

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

After the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the surrounding area, a new Jamaica coffee house was established on the same site between 1674 and 1680. Rosée’s coffee house was probably destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, but its replacement escaped the fire of 1748, which began nearby in Exchange Alley or Change Alley.

Coffeehouses in England became melting pots of independent thinking and political debate from the mid-17th century, and were known as ‘penny universities’ – a penny was the price of a coffee, with unlimited refills and a newspaper to read.

But the coffeehouses were soon identified with egalitarian and republican politics. Charles II considered banning them in 1675, claiming that ‘by occasion of the meetings of such persons therein, diverse False, Malitious and Scandalous Reports are devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majesties Government, and to the Disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm.’ In the face of a public outcry, the king relented after two weeks.

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

By the 18th century, the Jamaica had become closely associated with trade between London and Jamaica and the wider British West Indies. The Jamaica Coffee House was to the West India trade what the Jerusalem Coffee House was to the East India trade. Merchants, ship owners, insurance brokers and traders used it for business meeting. By the mid-18th century, the Jamaica, London, was recognised as a reliable address for receiving letters and documents destined for Jamaica.

Most of the coffee houses in 17th and 18th century London were involved in the slave trade in some way. The Jamaica Coffee House accommodated all sorts of individuals buying and selling cargo from Jamaica, including people bought and sold as slaves. London newspapers often printed appeals for information regarding enslaved and bonded runaways that gave the Jamaica coffee house as their point of contact.

The popularity of coffeehouses began to decline in the 18th century, as tea became more popular and as exclusive gentlemen’s clubs began to develop. As tastes changed and tea became increasingly popular, the traditional coffee house evolved into a tavern, and it began trading as the Jamaica Wine House in 1869. The building now on the site, a Victorian public house, dates from 1885. A plaque on the wall reads, ‘Here stood the first London Coffee house at the sign of the Pasqua Rosee’s Head 1652.’

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

There were several coffee houses close to the Royal Exchange and Lloyds. The Jerusalem and East India Coffee house was in Cowper’s Court, Lloyd’s Subscription Coffee house was at the west end of the Royal Exchange, and Jonathan’s Coffee House was a significant meeting place in London in the 17th and 18th centuries, famous as the original site of the London Stock Exchange.

Jonathan’s coffee house was opened around 1680 by Jonathan Miles in Change Alley, or Exchange Alley, in the City of London. By 1694, Jonathan’s was one of a few coffee houses where clients could meet stockbrokers and obtain prices. But in 1696, several patrons were implicated in a plot to assassinate William III, and it was thought to be associated with the ‘Popish’ Plots.

One broker, John Castaing, used the coffee house to post the prices of stocks and commodities in a list titled ‘The Course of the Exchange and Other Things’ in 1698. That year, dealers expelled from the Royal Exchange for rowdiness migrated to Jonathan’s and Garraway’s.

Jonathan’s was described in The Anatomy of Exchange Alley’, a pamphlet by Daniel Defoe in 1719. It was the scene of a number of critical events in the history of share trading, including the South Sea Bubble and the panic of 1745, and the London securities market was working from Jonathan’s by 1748.

Jonathan’s was destroyed by fire that year but was rebuilt. A club of 150 brokers and jobbers was formed in 1761 to trade stocks. The club built its own building In 1773 in Sweeting’s Alley, which was dubbed the New Jonathan’s. It was later renamed the Stock Exchange, and is now the London Stock Exchange.

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

While I was in Change Alley, I failed to find the site of Garraway’s Coffee House. Its original proprietor, Thomas Garraway, was said to be the first person in England to sell tea before he opened his coffeehouse. The Hudson’s Bay Company held its first sale of furs at the coffee house in 1671.

Daniel Defoe wrote of it being frequented by wealthy traders from the City, and Charles Dickens makes many references to Garraway’s in his writings. Garraway’s was also famous as a sandwich and drinking room, and it was said the sandwich-maker spent two hours preparing each day’s food.

All three coffeehouses that I went in search of last week – Jamaica, Jonathan’s and Garraway’s – and many more have given their names to streets on the Coffee Hall estate in Milton Keynes: Jamaica is a laneway or passage off Jonathans, but with no street sign; there is Jonathans [sic] and Jonathans Court that provides sheltered housing; while Garraway’s is an appropriate name in Milton Keynes as Robert Hooke (1635-1703), who was in Garraway’s almost every day while he worked as Wren’s surveyor in London after the Great Fire, was also the architect of Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Willen.

I was also in Change Alley looking for some 19th century connections with the Comerford family. But that’s another story from London for another day, hopefully.

xxx (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

A photograph is my part in a Heritage Open Day library talk next week on Hooke’s church in Willen

The poster for Jacky Scott’s talk on Willen Church in Stony Library next Monday afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

There is something satisfying about one of my photographs being used for a poster for an event next week that brings together church history, local history, architecture and my local library.

Jacky Scott is going to talk to the Friends of Stony Stratford Library (FoSSL) in the library next Monday (14 September 2026) at lunchtime as part of the National Heritage Open Days, and one of my photographs has been used for the poster.

She will be celebrating Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Willen, when she speaks on ‘Robert Hooke and his Willen Church – As if he didn’t have enough to do!’

Jacky Scott is known to many from her time as CEO of The Stables. She is now immersed in the history and potential of her local church, Saint Mary Magdalene in Willen, which was designed by the great scientist Robert Hooke – hence the talk’s title!

The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene, Willen, is the only surviving church designed by Robert Hooke (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Church of Saint Mary Magdalene is the only surviving church among the buildings designed by the scientist, inventor, and architect Robert Hooke (1635-1703). The church is a classic of early English baroque architecture and one of the finest churches in Milton Keynes, in a beautiful setting close to Willen Lake and beside the Hospice in Willen.

Sir Simon Jenkins lists the church as one of the ‘1,000 Best Churches in England.’ It was designated a Grade I listed building in 1966.

Jacky Scott is offering an inquisitive exploration of Robert Hooke’s life and science, and on Monday she will ask whether genius, timing and context may have converged to create Willen church, one of the most significant historic gems in Milton Keynes.

The baroque interior of Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Willen, facing east (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Willen is a small village on the north edge of Milton Keynes, on the west bank of the River Ouze. It appears there was a Romano-British industrial settlement just to the north of the village, near Caldecote Farm. The settlement was abandoned in the late Roman period, and the area seems to have remained largely unsettled until the 11th century.

By 1292, Willen was large enough to have a church served by a vicar.Between 1150 and 1524, the advowson was held by Tickford Priory, near Newport Pagnell. It then formed part of the foundation of Cardinal College, Oxford, and its refoundation as Henry VIII’s College. The advowson reverted to the crown in 1545.

The advowson was granted in 1676 to the Revd Dr Richard Busby (1606-1695), the long-serving headmaster of Westminster School (1638-1695). He bought the manor in 1672, and as lord of the manor oversaw rebuilding the parish church.

When Busby died in 1695, he left the manor and the advowson to the trustees of Dr Richard Busby’s Charity. The trustees were to use the annual income from the manor for the relief and support of poor clergy in Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, and Buckinghamshire. The Vicar of Willen was to deliver 30 lectures a year by the vicar of Willen in the parish church, and Busby stipulated that the vicar was always to be a student of Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford.

Inside Saint Mary Magdalene Church, facing the west end (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Busby commissioned and paid for building Saint Mary Magdalene Church, designed and built in 1678-1680 by his former pupil, Robert Hooke. The project cost almost £5,000, not including the materials taken from the former church on the site. George Lipscomb observes that ‘with good management the church might have been built for a third part of the money.’

Busby is said to have funded the cost of the church by asking for a silver spoon from each of his pupils. Among his more illustrious pupils were Sir Christopher Wren, Robert South, John Dryden, John Locke, Matthew Prior, Henry Purcell, Thomas Millington, Francis Atterbury and Robert Hooke, who designed the church and supervised its construction.

While Hooke was studying at Christ Church College, Oxford, he worked as an assistant to Robert Boyle. He met Wren at Oxford ca 1655 at a meeting of the club that later formed the core of the Royal Society. He was the Gresham Professor of Geometry, and the secretary and curator of Experiments at the Royal Society.

As the City Surveyor after the Great Fire of London in 1666, Hooke helped Wren rebuild London. Their collaboration included Saint Paul’s Cathedral, where the dome uses a method of construction that Hooke had conceived.

Details in the plaster work on the ceiling of Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Willen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

When London was being rebuilt after the Great Fire, Hooke proposed redesigning the streets on a grid pattern with wide boulevards and arteries, a pattern later used in the renovation of Paris, Liverpool, and many cities in the US. However, his proposal was thwarted by arguments over property.

Hooke also worked on the design of London’s Monument to the fire, the Royal Greenwich Observatory, Montagu House in Bloomsbury, and the Bethlem Royal Hospital (‘Bedlam’). He was also involved in designing the Pepys Library in Magdalene College, Cambridge, where the diaries of Samuel Pepys offer the most frequently cited eyewitness account of the Great Fire of London.

Other buildings designed by Hooke include the Royal College of Physicians (1679), Ragley Hall, Warwickshire, and Ramsbury Manor, Wiltshire.

Saint Mary Magdalene Church has a three-stage west tower topped with four pineapple finials (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Mary Magdalene is the only known church entirely of Hooke’s design. The building replaced a mediaeval church, and demolition rubble from the old church may be present on the north side of the churchyard. The church is similar in style to several of the 52 churches rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire of London.

This unique restoration church retains an almost complete interior of 1680. It is a plain structure in the Italian style, built of brick with stone dressings, and it consists of a simple rectangular nave with a chancel, a west tower, and an apse added in 1862.

The church is entered through a three-stage west tower topped with four pineapple finials. It originally had a cupola, but this was removed in 1814. There is a vestry on the north side of the tower, and on the south side is a room erected for a library, chiefly for theology, founded by Busby for the use of the vicar.

The architectural historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner notes how the west door, set in a limestone apsidal recess, matches the south doorway by Wren at Saint Mary-le-Bow in London. The oak door is in oak in a classical style, with a gilded beading and fixed tympanum.

The inside two-leaf oak door also dates from 1680. At eye height is a pierced ornamental ironwork panel, in a fretwork style, with a glass panel fitted at a later date.

The original box pews from 1680 … an extremely rare survival in an English church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Inside the church, the original features from 1680 include an elaborate baroque plaster ceiling, box pews, a pulpit and clerk’s desk, and a fine font. The addition of an apse at the east end in 1862 reversed Hooke’s original plan for a simple nave and a decorative tower.

The nave has three bays, and the eastern-most bay is functionally the choir. The trusses and bands of foliate plasterwork create a barrelled and coffered ceiling, and the motifs include gilded foliate bosses, plaster cherubs, gilded scallop shells and open books. The date 1680 also is divided across two gilded shields.

The ornamental baroque font with cherub heads, swags and foliate detail, and a cover with cherub heads and swags of fruits and flowers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The ornamental baroque font has a white marble bowl on a black marble stem and base, and an oak cover. The marble bowl has cherub heads, swags and foliate detail, the cover has characterful cherub heads and swags of fruits and flowers and is topped by an urn shaped finial. The carved oak cover has been attributed to Bates, one of the carpenters identified in Hooke’s diary as working for him in Willen.

The pulpit against the south wall of the nave, between the choir and nave seating, dates from 1680. It was originally a three-decker pulpit, but alterations mean it has lost its sounding board and the whole structure has been lowered.

The two western-most bays of the nave retain the majority of the 1680 seating, though with some alterations in the form of the pew platforms and the replacement of seat boards. The seats are box pews of oak with scrolly tops to the ends. This largely complete set of seats from the 17th century is an extremely rare survival in an English church.

The small apse was added in 1862 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The small apse was added in 1862, possibly by TH Lewis. It has three slender round-headed windows, in which the glass is plain and leaded. The floor is of diamond set limestone flags with darts of black quarry tiles, probably dating from 1862.

The baroque plaster ceiling in the apse roughly follows the precedent of the coffered ceiling over the nave, although the foliate plaster detail and cherubs are less well executed.

The open framed oak altar has baluster legs and a tacked on moulding. Some sources date the altar to the late 17th century. A small credence table fixed to the north face of the chancel arch may have been made from the sounding board of the pulpit.

The easternmost bay of the nave has fixed collegiate-style stalls from 1680 that were altered ca1862. Two rows of benches on each side of the choir give seating for 20-24 people. The Communion rail may have formed part of a semicircular railed enclosure around the altar and was relocated in 1862 when the apse was formed.

The pulpit dates from 1680 and was originally a three-decker pulpit (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A new organ was installed in 1985. The original organ dated from 1680, and the case and the original low gates were adapted to house the new organ in the 20th century.

A plaque east of the doorway refers to a Benthall family vault. It is unlikely that this is in its original position, but it proves there is burial vault somewhere in the church.

The tower has three bells, each inscribed: ‘Richard Chandler made me 1683’. The ring of three bells was converted from full circle to level chiming in 1991. The bells were hung dead in 2023 and provided with electromagnetic hammers.

Restoration work began in 1956 and continued until 1970. During that time, copper roofs were replaced with lead, electric heating was installed under the pews, and stonework repairs were carried out. The interior was redecorated in 1970 and 1988, the plasterwork was repaired and in 1972 the 19th century stained glass was replaced with clear modern glass.

To the west of the church, a long avenue lined with lime trees leads to the west gate. To the east of the church is the former village school, now a private house, and a small green with the village war memorial and a carriage circle.

The east apse, added to the church in 1862, faces a small green with the village war memorial (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Manor Farm, formerly the manor house, was bought in 1978 to establish a hospice, and Willen Hospice continues there today.

The 18th century vicarage was rebuilt in 1930. It was part of Saint Michael’s Priory when the Society of the Sacred Mission or the ‘Kelham Fathers’ were responsible for the parish from 1974 to 1985.

A new ecumenical lay community, the Well, was established in the priory in 1997 and the SSM brothers moved to a smaller house nearby. The name refers to the story of Christ meeting the Samaritan woman at the well (see John 4: 5-30). The Well ran a conference and retreat centre, and worked with homeless and distressed people.

The SSM priory and the Well merged in 2007, and was known again as Saint Michael’s Priory from 2016. The priory closed in 2019, and the remaining members moved to Saint Antony’s Priory, Durham.

The former village school is now a private house (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today, Saint Mary Magdalene, Willen, is part of the Stantonbury Ecumenical Partnership, involving six churches from four denominations in north-east Milton Keynes: Saint Lawrence, Bradwell; Saint James’s, New Bradwell; Saint Andrew’s, Great Linford; Saint Mary Magdalene, Willen; Cross and Stable Church, Downs Barn; and Christ Church, Stantonbury.

Sunday services at 9:30 are led regularly by the Revd Dr Sam Muthuveloe. Stephen Fletcher and Margaret Moakes are the Licensed Lay Ministers.

Saint Mary Magdalene Church is open for private prayer or quiet reflection on Mondays from 10 am until evening.

The long avenue to the west of the church is lined with lime trees (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Margaret of Antioch: exploring the legends and looking at some churches that remember her name

Saint Margaret of Antioch Church overlooking the harbour of Vernazza in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera … she is remembered on 20 July (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

The Church Calendar today (20 July) remembers Saint Margaret of Antioch, a martyr in the fourth century, and Saint Bartolomé de las Casas (1566), Apostle to the Indies.

I have written about Saint Bartolomé de las Casas and in his role as a founding figure of our modern concepts of human rights, an important figure to remember as international law and agreed principles of human rights come under growing threats, particularly from the US, which once saw itself as a defender of international law and human rights.

But as I was searching for images of Saint Margaret of Antioch to illustrate my prayer diary on my blog this morning, I came across memories of a visit back in 2012 to Vernazza in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera and the church that is said to hold a relic of her finger.

Saint Margaret of Antioch Church at the harbour of Vernazza in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera is said to hold a relic of the saint’s finger (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Margaret of Antioch, also called Marina, was martyred during the Diocletian persecutions at the beginning of the fourth century. Her preaching before her death is said to have converted many to the Christian faith.

According to the legend, she was the daughter of a third or fourth century pagan priest in Antioch. She was either thrown out of the house by her father when she converted to Christianity or was converted by her nursemaid. She was noticed by the local prefect who wanted to marry her, but she spurned him and vowed to keep her virginity for Christ.

He handed her over to the Roman authorities. In prison she was swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon. But the cross she was carrying irritated his throat, and he spat her out unharmed.

Her persecutors tried to kill her by fire and by drowning, but each time she survived, converting the growing crowd of onlookers. Finally, she was beheaded, along with her many converts, by Emperor Diocletian (245-313 AD). She was buried at Antioch, but her remains were taken later to Italy where they were divided between shrines in Montefiascone and Venice.

Vernazza is one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre region in north-west Italy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Vernazza, in the province of La Spezia in Liguria, in north-west Italy, is one of the five towns that make up the Cinque Terre region. Vernazza is the fourth town heading north, has no car traffic, and remains one of the truest ‘fishing villages’ on the Italian Riviera. It is the only natural port of Cinque Terre and is famous for its elegant houses.

Legend has it that in ancient times, a small wooden box was found along the coast of Vernazza, containing the bones of a finger of Santa Margaret’s hand. After finding the relic, the residents decided to build a church in her honour in the area of the town known as Isolotto.

However, the relic was lost sight of during a strong storm and it appeared only some time later, precisely where it was first found. The people of Vernazza then built a church there, overlooking the sea, where it stands to this day.

Inside the church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia in Vernazza (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The church of Santa Margherita d’Antiochia was built in the 13th century in the Gothic-Ligurian style by the Antelami masters on a pre-existing Romanesque building. The church is mentioned for the first time in 1318. It stands next to the main square of Vernazza on a rock overlooking the sea. The octagonal tower, 40 meters high, is crowned by small arches and ends with a dome.

The church was enlarged and extended in 1500-1600, when the original mediaeval façade which was destroyed. During new works in 1750, the Romanesque interior was covered with Baroque-style decoration, the wooden roof was replaced with vaults, and the bell tower was raised.

The church was partially restored in 1964-1970, when the original internal structure was recovered, including the wooden roof. The church has two entrances: the main one is more hidden and less easy to reach, and a more comfortable one, in one of the apses overlooking the tree-lined square in front of the marina, opened in the 19th century. The interior with three naves is raised above the level of the square. The church has two 17th century canvases, the Baroque high altar dates from 1750, and there is an 18th century processional chest and a wooden crucifix attributed to Anton Maria Maragliano.

The people of Vernazza celebrate Saint Margaret of Antioch as their patron every year on 20 July.

Saint Margaret’s, Westminster Abbey … the parish church of the House of Commons (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Council of Oxford added her to the list of feast days in 1222, and so her cult grew in popularity in England. More than 250 churches in England are dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch, including Saint Margaret’s, Westminster, the parish church of the House of Commons.

Saint Margaret’s was built in the late 11th century, and a grant from Pope Clement III to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster in 1189 confirmed that Saint Margaret’s was outside the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. In 1222, the abbey and its properties, including Saint Margaret’s, were declared to be outside the Diocese of London and also exempt from the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Robert Stowell began to rebuild the church in 1482, and it was consecrated on 9 April 1523. Until the dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, the church was served by the monks of the abbey, and the close relationship between Saint Margaret’s and Westminster Abbey has continued ever since.

When Queen Elizabeth I re-founded Westminster Abbey as a collegiate church in 1560, she maintained its exemption from episcopal authority and made the new foundation a royal peculiar, subject only to the authority of the monarch as Visitor.

Saint Margaret’s became the parish church of the Palace of Westminster in 1614. The north-west tower of the church was rebuilt by John James in 1734-1738 and the interior was restored in 1877 by Sir George Gilbert Scott, who retained many of its Tudor features.

In 1972, the church and its churchyard were placed once more under the governance of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey, with one of the canons of Westminster Abbey serving as Rector of Saint Margaret’s. MPs and staff members of the House of Lords and House of Commons are permitted to marry in the church, and those who were married there include the diarist Samuel Pepys, and prime ministers Sir Winston Churchill and Harold Macmillan.

Saint Margaret Pattens, a guild church on Eastcheap, seen from Saint Mary-at-Hill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Margaret Pattens, a guild church on Eastcheap, is dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch. The first church on the site dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch was recorded in 1067, when the church was probably built from wood.

The church was rebuilt in stone at a later date but fell into disrepair and was demolished in 1530 and rebuilt in 1538. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The present church was built by Sir Christopher Wren between 1684 and 1687.

The church exterior is notable for its 200-ft high spire, Wren’s third highest and the only one that he designed in a mediaeval style. It is sometimes referred to as Wren’s only ‘true spire.’

Saint Margaret Pattens is one of only a few City churches to have escaped significant damage in World War II. It ceased to be a parish church in 1953 and became one of the City’s guild churches. The church is the Guild Church of the Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers and the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers, two of the City livery companies.

Saint Margaret Lothbury, known as the Bankers’ Church, is one of the 51 Wren churches in the City of London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Margaret Lothbury is also dedicated to Saint Margaret of Antioch. It is known as the Bankers’ Church, because of its proximity to the back door of the Bank of England. Lothbury is a short street that runs east-west with traffic flow in both directions, from the junction of Gresham Street with Moorgate to the west, and the junction of Bartholomew Lane with Throgmorton Street to the east.

There has been a church on the site since the 12th century, and the earliest mention of Saint Margaret Lothbury is in 1185. It was rebuilt over the Walbrook in 1440, when a stone arch was erected over the brook in 1440 so that the church could be extended. The work was completed mostly at the expense of Robert Large, then the Lord Mayor of London. He is remembered as the Master to whom William Caxton, the printer, served his apprenticeship.

Like so many London churches, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren between 1686 and 1690. It is one of the 51 churches in London rebuilt by Wren after the fire. However, the tower may be the work of Robert Hooke.

The church has exceptionally fine 17th-century woodwork from other now-demolished Wren churches. This woodwork includes the reredos, the Communion rails and the baptismal font, which are thought to be by Wren’s carver, Grinling Gibbons. The pulpit is the original pulpit of the Wren church and the Baptismal Font is thought to come from the workshop of Grinling Gibbons.

Saint Margaret Lothbury still serves as a parish church in the Square Mile. It is also the official church of five Livery Companies, two Ward Clubs and two professional institutes. It also has connections with many local finance houses, all of which hold special services there each year.

The west end of Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, with Durham Castle (left) and Durham Cathedral (right) in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

In Durham, Saint Margaret of Antioch Church at the bottom of Crossgate is a parish church in the Liberal Catholic tradition, with a diversity inherited from recent history – charismatic, catholic, contemplative – that is reflected in the congregations.

Crossgate is the ancient route west from the city, on a bluff overlooking Framwellgate Bridge. It connects the city centre with Neville’s Cross, where the remains of a stone cross are a reminder that Crossgate was once a pilgrim route for those travelling to Durham and the relics of Saint Cuthbert.

Saint Margaret’s was established in the 12th century as a chapel of ease in the Parish of Saint Oswald to serve the people of the Borough of Crossgate or the ‘Old Borough’. Saint Margaret’s was under the jurisdiction of the Priors of Durham, and their successors, the Dean and Chapter of Durham, remain the patrons of the living to this day.

The earliest surviving parts of the church date from ca 1150. After their own chapel was built, the people of Crossgate resented still having to attend the parish church at certain times and to pay certain dues. During one dispute, the prior removed the font from Saint Margaret’s in 1343. It was returned by the bishop, but he insisted, however, that the parishioners had no right to use it.

Eventually, the residents of Crossgate won the right to be baptised and married in Saint Margaret’s, and burials were allowed there from 1431. The church was restored in the second half of the 19th century, when the north aisle was largely rebuilt, and a full set of stained glass windows was added. The organ dates from 1917 and is by Harrison & Harrison. Their factory until recently was within the parish, and Arthur Harrison was the churchwarden of Saint Margaret’s at the time.

Saint Margaret of Antioch depicted in a statue above the north porch of Saint Margaret of Antioch Church, Crossgate, Durham (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Saint Etheldreda’s Church, a hidden church close to Hatton Garden, was once the chapel of the Bishops of Ely

Saint Etheldreda’s Church on Ely Place, once the chapel of the Bishops of Ely, is one of the oldest churches in England in use by the Catholic Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

On previous visits to the Holborn area in London, I have visited Hatton Garden and Ye Olde Mitre, which is one of the oldest, most hidden and discrete pubs in London. I found it down a narrow alleyway off Hatton Garden that is easy to walk by without noticing, yet it has a fascinating history.

Ye Olde Mitre was originally built in 1546 for the servants of nearby Ely Palace, although it was rebuilt in 1773. It is known for a cherry tree that Elizabeth I and Sir Christopher Hatton – who gave his name to Hatton Garden – are said to have danced around. A stone bishop’s mitre on one wall may be from either the old palace or the gatehouse.

But each time I visited Hatton Garden and Ye Olde Mitre in the past, I had neglected to continue on down the narrow alley to Ely Place. When I did so on my most recent visit to Holborn, I was rewarded not only with finding myself on Ely Place but also with a visit to Saint Etheldreda’s Church, once the chapel of the Bishops of Ely, who had their London residence at Ely Palace or Ely House. Today, it is one of the oldest churches in England in use by the Catholic Church.

Ye Olde Mitre in a hidden alley between Hatton Garden and Ely Place, is a reminder of the presence of the Bishops of Ely (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Ely Place is a gated cul-de-sac of terraced houses near Holborn Circus in the London Borough of Camden. The street is just a minute’s walk from the bustle of Holborn and the busy diamond and jewellery shops of Hatton Garden. The street is a quiet enclave and is privately managed by its own body of commissioners and beadles.

Ely Place sits on the site of Ely Palace or Ely House, the London residence of the Bishops of Ely from 1290 and 1772. The bishop’s palace and surrounding land was later sold and redeveloped into Ely Place, and only the bishop’s mediaeval chapel was preserved, which today is Saint Etheldreda’s Church.

John de Kirkby bought the land in this part of Holborn in 1280. He became Bishop of Ely in 1286 and he left the estate to the Diocese of Ely when he died in 1290. The mediaeval Bishops of Ely often held high offices of state requiring them to live in London and Ely Palace was their official residence.

The cloister steps leading to the upper chapel in Saint Etheldreda’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Shakespeare refers to Ely Palace or its grounds in two plays, Richard II and Richard III. John of Gaunt moved to the palace in 1381 after the Savoy Palace was destroyed during the Peasants’ Revolt. In King Richard II, this where he delivers the speech in which he refers to England as ‘this royal throne of Kings, this sceptre’d isle’.

Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon attended a feast given in 1531 by the Bishop of Ely, Nicholas West, which is said to have lasted for five days. The sumptuous feast is rumoured to have been one of the first public signs of trouble in their marriage as Henry VIII and Queen Catherine dined in separate rooms.

James Butler (1496-1546), 9th Earl of Ormond, was visiting London with his household on 17 October 1546, when they were invited to dine at Ely Palace as guests of the Bishop of Ely. Butler, who had served in the household of Cardinal Wolsey in his youth, had crossed Sir Anthony St Leger, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, and was poisoned along with his steward, James Whyte, and 16 of his household, probably on St Leger’s instructions.

John Lesley, Bishop of Ross, was acting on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots when he was held at Ely House under house arrest from 14 May until 17 August 1571.

The crypt or lower chapel in Saint Etheldreda’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The estate was granted to Sir Christopher Hatton in 1577 and a new lease gave Hatton control of the freehold. He gave his name to Hatton Garden which now occupies part of the site.

The estate was sold to the Crown in 1772, and the cul-de-sac that is now Ely Place was built by Robert Taylor. Edmund Keene, Bishop of Ely, commissioned a new Ely House, built by Taylor on Dover Street, Mayfair.

Ely Place retained its anomalous status into 1920s, supposedly remaining under the jurisdiction of Ely in Cambridgeshire and not part of London. Beadles guarded the entrance and closed the gates to all strangers. Even the police had to ask permission to enter, and beadles’ voices could be heard calling out throughout the night.

Saint Etheldreda’s Church is dedicated to Æthelthryth or Etheldreda, the Anglo-Saxon saint who founded the monastery at Ely in 673 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Saint Etheldreda’s Church was the chapel of Ely Palace or Ely House, the London residence of the Bishops of Ely. It is dedicated to Æthelthryth or Etheldreda, the Anglo-Saxon saint who founded the monastery at Ely in 673. The building dates from between 1250 and 1290 and is one of only two surviving in London from the reign of Edward I.

After the Tudor Reformations, the Bishops of Ely continued to oversee the chapel. Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, leased part of the house and lands surrounding the chapel to Sir Christopher Hatton, a favourite of Elizabeth I, in 1576. Hatton borrowed extensively from the crown to pay for the refurbishment and upkeep of the property, and while he was the tenant the crypt was used as a tavern.

In the early 17th century, the chapel briefly became a haven for English Catholics when the upper church was granted to the Spanish ambassador, Diego Sarmiento de Acuña (1567-1626), Count of Gondomar, in 1620 to use as his private chapel. It was regarded as Spanish soil and so Catholics were allowed to use the church. But in the midst a diplomatic dispute between England and Spain, Gondomar was recalled to Spain two years later and his successor was not given use of the chapel.

Inside Saint Etheldreda’s Church, restored by Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) to its 13th century designs (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

In an incident known as the ‘Fatal Vespers’, 95 people were killed on 26 October 1623 when the upper floor of Hunsdon House, the residence of the French ambassador in Blackfriars, collapsed when 300 people were gathered to hear a clandestine Catholic sermon; 19 of the victims were buried in the crypt of Saint Etheldreda’s.

Matthew Wren (1585-1667), Bishop of Ely (1638-1646, 1660-1667) and uncle of the architect Sir Christopher Wren, worshipped at Saint Etheldreda’s before he was imprisoned in 1641. The palace and the church were requisitioned by Parliament in 1642 for use as a prison and hospital during the English Civil War. During the Cromwellian era (1649-1660), most of the palace was demolished and the gardens were destroyed.

Legislation in 1772 allowed the Bishops of Ely to sell the property to the Crown. The site, including the chapel, was sold on to Charles Cole, a surveyor and architect. He demolished all the buildings on the site apart from the chapel and built Ely Place. The chapel was extensively refurbished in the Georgian style and was reopened in 1786. It was taken over in 1836 by the National Society for the Education of the Poor, which hoped to convert the Irish Catholic immigrants then moving into the area, but the church closed again a short time later.

The East Window by JE ‘Eddie’ Nuttgens is generally regarded as his finest work (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The Revd Alexander D’Arblay of Camden Town Chapel, a son of the novelist and diarist Fanny Burney, reopened Ely Chapel as a place of Anglican worship in 1836, but died within a year on 19 January 1837. The church was leased in 1843 to Welsh Anglicans, who held services there in the Welsh language.

When the chapel was put up for sale by auction in 1874, it was bought by Father William Lockhart, a former Anglican and a priest in the Rosminian order. The Institute of Charity or Rosminians had worked in Nottingham and Leicester and later in North London, and Cardinal Henry Manning wanted them to work in the slum areas of Holborn.

Lockhart, who was the Rector of the North London Mission, was chosen for the task. He had been a friend in Oxford of Cardinal John Henry Newman, and it is said that Lockhart’s decision had finally convinced Newman that he too should become a Roman Catholic.

Lockhart learned in December 1873 that Saint Etheldreda’s was about to be sold at auction. He faced competition from the Welsh Episcopalians, who had the backing of a Welsh steel magnate. But at the sale, the Welsh made a mistake: they thought Lockhart’s agent was theirs, they stopped bidding, and Saint Etheldreda’s was sold to the Rosminians for £5,400.

John Francis Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral, designed the choir screen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Under Lockhart’s direction, the crypt and upper church were restored by the prolific Gothic Revival architect Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878) to their original 13th century designs. John Francis Bentley (1839-1902), the architect of Westminster Cathedral, designed a choir screen incorporating a confessional, an organ and a choir gallery; his other works include Holy Rood Church, Watford. The royal coat of arms, added during the reign of Charles I, was moved to the cloister. A relic donated by the Duke of Norfolk was said to be a piece of Saint Etheldreda’s hand, and is kept in a jewel cask to the right of the high altar.

The restoration was completed in 1878, the year Scott died, and a Catholic Mass was celebrated in Saint Ethelreda’s for the first time in over 200 years. The upper church was reopened on the Feast of Saint Etheldreda, 23 June 1879.

Saint Etheldreda’s includes a chapel or upper church, and a crypt or undercroft, and is used for Masses, Baptisms, weddings and funerals. Because Saint Etheldreda was traditionally invoked for help with throat infections, the Blessing of the Throats is held annually in the chapel.

The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments scheduled the chapel as an ancient monument in 1925. But during the Blitz, the church was hit in May 1941 by a bomb that tore a hole in the roof and destroyed the Victorian stained glass windows. It took seven years to repair the structural damage.

The West Window by Charles Blakeman (1964) depicts Catholic martyrs during the Reformation era (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

The interior of Saint Etheldreda’s is said to have the largest expanse of stained glass in London. The east window by JE ‘Eddie’ Nuttgens, generally regarded as his finest work, one of the few in which he ‘let his imagination take command and soar’, was installed in 1952. It depicts the Trinity (centre), the four evangelists Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (top row), as well as the Virgin Mary (left) and Saint Joseph (right), with Saint Etheldreda of Ely (far left) and Saint Bridget of Kildare (far right). At the base, Nuttgens has placed a sturdy version of the Last Supper mostly in bright golds and reds whose clearly articulated composition surely reveals the influence of his friend and neighbour Eric Gill.

Later, his pupil and friend Charles Blakeman created stained glass for the nave, west window and crypt. The West Window by Blakeman was added in 1964, depicting Catholic suffering during the Reformation. Three Carthusian monks and two other priests were put to death for refusing to acknowledge Henry Vlll as head of the Church are shown in the centre of the window, while Christ triumphant hangs on the Cross above the Tyburn Gallows.

The windows in the south wall depict scenes from the Old Testament, and the windows in the north wall show scenes from the New Testament.

Two groups of four statues of English Catholic martyrs from the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I were installed along the north and south walls In the 1960s. They include Saint Edmund Gennings, Saint Swithun Wells, Saint Margaret Ward, Blessed John Forest, Blessed Edward Jones, Blessed John Roche, Saint Anne Line and Saint John Houghton.

For many years, Saint Etheldreda’s was the oldest Catholic church building in England, but since 1971 that place has been taken by the 12th-century church of Saint Leonard and Saint Mary in Malton, North Yorkshire. Saint Etheldreda’s has been fully restored and is an active church today. The crypt, also used as a chapel, is a popular, atmospheric venue for baptisms.

The steps leading down to the crypt in Saint Etheldreda’s Church (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Pilgrims visit the church as a stopping point on the London Martyrs’ Way, a pilgrimage route developed by the British Pilgrimage Trust and to venerate the hand relic of Saint Etheldreda.

Saint Etheldreda’s Church is open Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 5 pm, and Sunday 8 am to 12:30 pm. The nearest tube stations are Chancery Lane (Central Line) and Farringdon (Circle, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan Lines). Ye Old Mitre is only open Monday to Friday.

Sunday Masses in Saint Etheldreda’s Church are at 9 am (English) and 11 am (Sung Latin); Weekday Masses are at 1 pm, Monday to Friday; Masses on holy days are at 1 pm and 6 pm.

Ely Court, a narrow alley running between Ely Place and Hatton Garden (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)