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)

The Venetian-style mosaics by Antonio Salviati have survived changes at Apple’s flagship store on Regent Street in London

The Apple Store at 235 Regent Street is Apple’s flagship store in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Patrick Comerford

The Apple Store at 235 Regent Street is Apple’s flagship store in London, and when the shop opened in 2004, it was Apple’s first store in Europe. It was redesigned by Foster + Partners who removed the shop’s original U-shaped mezzanine floor and glass stair, and pushed back the back of the store to create a large open space that they claim is designed to have the feeling of a town square.

The 7.2m-tall space allows the building’s full-height Portland stone-clad arches to form the front façade while flooding the store with natural light.

I stepped inside the building earlier this week to see the forum with seating for up to 75 people, and the ‘avenues’ along the perimeter walls that display Apple’s products. There are terrazzo floors, a grove of 12 Ficus Ali trees set in planters that double up as seating, and the walls are clad in sandblasted Italian limestone.

But none of these explain why I wanted to visit this building on Regent Street and its enduring façade and arches a few days ago.

Beautiful, colourful mosaics adorn the façade of the former studio of the business eastablisged by Antonio Salviati of Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Regent Street is named after the Prince Regent, later George IV, and was designed by John Nash ca 1813 as one of the first planned developments in London. The architectural historian Sir Niklaus Pevsner calls it ‘quite simply the greatest piece of town planning London has ever seen.’

Regent Street was completely redeveloped in a unified style under the control of the Crown Estate in 1895-1927, and none of the original Nash buildings remain.

The central domed building at 235-241 Regent Street was designed in 1898 by the architect George Dennis Martin (1847-1915) and was built on by Sir Thomas Henry Brooke-Hitching (1858-1926) on the site of the former Hanover Chapel.

People walking along Regent Street should look up to see the façade, which is Grade II-listed. Beautiful, colourful mosaics adorn the façade, for this was originally the studio of the business esablished by the Victorian mosaicist Antonio Salviati (1816-1890) from Venice.

Antonio Salviati revived glass making on the island of Murano in Venice (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Salviati family were glass makers and makers of mosaics based on the island of Murano in Venice and in London. They worked first as Salviati and Co and later, after 1866, as the Venice and Murano Glass and Mosaic Company.

The founder of the business, Antonio Salviati, was born in Vicenza, 60 km west of Venice, on 18 March 1816. He began in life as a lawyer. However, at an early age he became interested in glasswork after taking part in restoration work by Lorenzo Radi on the mosaics in Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

When Venice was at a low point in the early 19th century, John Ruskin visited and drew attention to its plight. He published his The Stones of Venice in three volumes between 1851 and 1853, and revised it after he had witnessed the demolition of important parts of Saint Mark’s Basilica.

Ruskin warned then that Venice ‘is still left for our beholding in the final period of her decline: a ghost upon the sands of the sea, so weak – so quiet, – so bereft of all but her loveliness, that we might well doubt, as we watched her faint reflection in the mirage of the lagoon, which was the City, and which the Shadow. I would endeavour to trace the lines of this image before it be for ever lost, and to record, as far as I may, the warning which seems to me to be uttered by every one of the fast-gaining waves, that beat, like passing bells, against the Stones of Venice.’

Ruskin is credited with preventing the destruction of Venice. The momentum he created inspired the revival of several Venetian crafts, including glass and mosaics, and with the backing of British banks backing them they produced works for export to Britain.

The lion of Victoria and the lion of Venice are complementary figures on the Regent Street façade (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Against this background, Antonio Salviati founded Compagnia Venezia Murano in 1866 with the British diplomat and archaeologist Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), who lived in Ca Cappello, a 16th century palazzo on the Grand Canal just behind Campo San Polo.

Murano had been a centre of fine glasswork since the Middle Ages. Murano Glass was lavish and at the time only the wealthy could afford the expensive specialty pieces. Salviati transformed the reputation of Murano glass, opening the first glass factory to employ a large number of skilled workers to mass-produce glass for export. He produced ornamental pieces that could be bought by millions, and so he re-established Murano as a centre of glass-making.

Salviati’s fame and work spread to England and France, where his work was usually in association with architectural designs. His mosaics can be seen in many European churches.

The decorative façade tells the story of Salviati’s move from Venice and Murano to London and Westminster (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

By 1867, the firm had premises on Oxford Street, and Salviati opened showrooms in other fashionable parts of London, including St James’s, Piccadilly, Regent Street and, for a time, New Bond Street. The most impressive showroom was that at 235 Regent Street, which was built in 1898.

The mosaics above the windows have been preserved, and so, like those of the Palazzo Salviati on the Grand Canal in Venice, can still be seen today. The names of the great world cities of the world, ranged above the spandrels, suggest its global standing.

Salviati produced the reredos above the high altar in Westminster Abbey, erected between 1867 and 1873 to Sir George Gilbert Scott’s designs. He produced several mosaics for the grand dome in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London. Five mosaics by Salviati are behind the altar in the east apse in the chapel in Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. In Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth, his iridescent mosaic glass panels in the reredos were completed in 1887 and form a striking backdrop to the High Altar.

Salviati died in Venice on 25 January 1890. His work can be seen in churches throughout England, and he also worked in Saint David’s Cathedral, Wales, Saint Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral, Dundee, and Aachen Cathedral. Mosaics by Salviati and his companies are also in the Central Lobby in the Palace of Westminster, the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, the Council House and the Chamberlain Memorial Fountain in Birmingham, and the Paris Opera House.

The heraldic symbols of British royalty and London and Westminster (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Regent House on Regent Street was built in 1898, eight years after Antonio Salviati’s death. The façade displays a series of mosaics produced by the Salviati firm, with the lions of Britain and Venice, civic coats of arms and reminders of the international appeal of Salviati’s work.

On the left are the coats of arms of the City of London and the City Westminster: the red cross of Saint George, with the smaller sword of Saint Paul; and the golden portcullis. Between them stands the British lion, holding up the shield of the royal coat of arms, the initials VR of Queen Victoria, the royal motto, and the red rose of England. The starry sky comes from Saint Mark’s Basilica, Venice.


Four golden spaces once intended to bear the names of cities where Salviati’s work was sold and can be seen were never filled with the planned lettering.

The symbols of Venice, Murano and Burano, and the names of international cities (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

On the right, the dominant figure is the winged lion of Saint Mark, the symbol of Venice. The lion rests his paw on an open book with the words: ‘Pax Tibi Marce Evangelista Meus’ (‘Peace unto you, Mark, my Evangelist’). these words, according to a legend, were uttered by an angel who identified Saint Mark’s body when it was moved from Alexandria to Venice, and became the motto of Venice.

The starry sky behind the lion reflects, once again, Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Streamers on either side read ‘Dandolo’ and ‘Loredano’, the names of two powerful patrician families in Venice: the House of Dandolo produced four Doges of Venice, and the Palazzo Dandolo is now part of Hotel Danieli; the House of Loredan produced three doges.

On either side of the lion of Venice are two more heraldic representations of two islands in the Lagoon of Venice known for their glassmaking traditions: a black cockerel biting a snake for Murano; and a mounted white knight for Burano.

The lettering above displays the some of the cities where Salviati’s wares were found: Paris, New York, St Petersburg and Berlin. Below is the crown of the Doges of Venice.

But the façade also hides tells the tragic story of the Salviati family. In 1898, the very year the Salviati studio and shop opened on Regent Street, Salviati’s middle-aged son Guilio shot himself at his desk. According to the inquests, his death was brought about by ‘temporary insanity’. He left a suicide note claiming he had no money left and was in despair, although his lack of funds was a complete delusion. Guilio Salviati was buried in Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, where his grave is marked by a decorated headstone.

The Palazzo Salviati on the Grand Canal in Venice was built as a shop and the furnace of the Salviati family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

I have often admired the Palazzo Salviati on the Grand Canal, between the Palazzo Barbaro Wolkoff and the Palazzo Orio Semitecolo. It was built as a shop and the furnace of the Salviati family in Venice, and was designed by the architect Giacomo Dell’Olivo. The building underwent a major renovation in 1924, with the addition of an extra floor and the placement of large mosaics on the façade.

As for Salviati’s Compagnia Venezia Murano, it continued as an important producer of Venetian art glass. Today, the company is Pauly & C – Compagnia Venezia Murano, and remains an important producer of Venetian art glass.

Glassmaking remains the main industry of Murano, where the artisans continue to employ centuries-old techniques, crafting items from contemporary art glass and glass jewellery to Murano glass chandeliers and wine stoppers.

The interior of the Apple Store on Regent Street was reshaped by Foster + Partners (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

The Brooke legacy in Kuching survives in old palaces and fortresses and the Old Court House

The Astana at night … the palace was built in 1870 by the second Rajah Charles Brooke as a wedding gift for his wife Margaret (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

The Brooke era in Sarawak lasted for more than a century, from 1841 to 1946. Almost 80 years after the Brookes ceded Sarawak to Britain, Brooke-era buildings continue as an important part of the architectural legacy of Kuching.

These Brooke buildings in Kuching include Fort Margherita and the Astana or former Brooke palace, both on the north side of the river; the Old Court House facing them on the south side of the river and once the seat of Sarawak’s government; the Round Tower and the Square Tower, which I wrote about last week; the Brooke obelisk; and the Brooke Dockyard.

In addition, the story of the Brooke family is told in museums in Fort Margherita and at the Old Court House run by the Brooke Foundation.

Fort Margherita is a monumental landmark on a hill on the north side of the Sarawak River (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Fort Margherita stands out as a monumental landmark on a hill on the north side of the river. It was built in 1879 by Charles Brooke, the second Rajah of Sarawak, in the style of an English castle and designed to protect Kuching from pirates and invaders.

Brooke named Fort Margherita after his wife, Margaret Alice Lili de Windt (1849-1936). When they were married at Highworth, near Swindon, Wiltshire, on 28 October 1869, she was given the title of Ranee of Sarawak and the style of Her Highness.

The fort was built facing the then fast-expanding town centre of Kuching. The three-storey tower block has battlements with a watchpoint on top. Set into the wall itself are wooden windows from which the cannons were fired.

The courtyard is surrounded by a high wall inlaid with sharp glass shards for protection. Prisoners continued to be executed in this courtyard, up until the Japanese occupation and World War II.

The three-storey tower block of Fort Margherita has battlements and a watchpoint (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The fort was used as a police museum from 1971 before being handed over to the Government of Sarawak. Today, it is a tourist attraction housing the Brooke Gallery, an exhibition showcasing the history of Sarawak under the Brooke dynasty.

The Brooke Gallery opened in Fort Margherita on 24 September 2016, the 175th anniversary of the founding of the State of Sarawak. The gallery is an initiative by Jason Brooke, a grandson of the last Rajah Muda of Sarawak, Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke. Jason Brooke grew up in Dublin, went to the High School, studied at UCD and has an MPhil from Trinity College Dublin.

The Brooke Gallery runs the Aspire Programme as part of a community outreach to schools, giving pupils an opportunity to learn more about the history of Sarawak, the Brooke administration and the heritage of Sarawak.

The Astana, a former Brooke palace, is now the official residence of the Governor of Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Fort Margherita is separated by the New Sarawak State Legislative Assembly Building from the Astana, a former Brooke palace that is now the official residence of the Governor of Sarawak.

The name Astana is a variation of istana, meaning palace. It was built in 1870 by the second Rajah, Charles Brooke, as a wedding gift for his wife Margaret. She arrived in Sarawak in 1870, and the royal couple then lived in the Astana as their main home. She later reminisced about life in the Astana and colonial Borneo in her memoir My Life in Sarawak (1913).

The Astana was originally three separate buildings that were interconnected by short and narrow passageways. It has undergone major renovations and alterations to make it the official residence of the Governor of Sarawak. The palace is not normally open to the public, although the landscaped gardens are, and they can be reached by a boat across the Sarawak River.

The Old Court House was built in 1871 as the seat of government in Sarawak (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

On the facing, south bank of the river, the Old Court House was built in 1871 as the seat of Sarawak’s government, and replaced an earlier wooden court house built in 1847. The first building on the site was a two-storey wooden building erected in 1847 as a church and day school by a Lutheran Missionary named Rupe. However, Rupe returned to Germany and his church and school did not survive.

When Dr Francis Thomas McDougall, who later became the first Anglican Bishop of Borneo, arrived in June 1848, he and his family stayed at the upper portion of the building until the Bishop’s House was completed in 1849. The building was then taken over by the Rajah, James Brooke, who converted the classrooms into a court.

There are no further records of the original court building until the Insurrection of the Bau Gold Mine Chinese Kongsi between 18 and 21 February 1857. Liu Shanbang, the leader of the Chinese Kongsi, captured Kuching, proclaimed himself king for the day on the Rajah’s seat in the court, and ordered Brooke’s men to appear before him and report on Brooke’s position.

That first court building was demolished in 1858 on the instructions of Charles Brooke, who later succeeded as the Second Rajah in 1868. He commissioned a new building to house the courts and other government offices under the same roof, but it took seven years to complete the building.

The Court House was one of the most majestic buildings built in Kuching during the Brooke era (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Court House was officially opened 150 years ago by Major William Henry Rodway (1836-1924), the Acting Resident of Sarawak, on 3 June 1874, with parades and guards of honour also marking Charles Brooke’s birthday.

The Court House was one of the most majestic buildings built in Kuching during the Brooke era. It is symmetrically arranged, with four main buildings surrounding an internal courtyard, with two smaller annexes protruding towards the Sarawak River.

This is a superb collection of buildings, possibly influenced by Roman courthouse design, with magnificent belian or ironwood roofs, massive columns enclosing outer galleries and beautiful detailing inside and out, reflecting local art forms.

The paneling of the courtroom ceiling bore Dayak motifs depicting the tradition of the people from Baram who helped to design and complete it in 1951. Huge tapering columns support the roof along the corridors.

The clock in the court house clock tower was added in 1883 … it is to have been installed and maintained for generations by the Mok family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The main entrance has a colonial-baroque clock tower that was added in 1883. The clock is said to have been installed and maintained by the Mok family of clockmakers of Carpenter Street.

The clock is supported by twin columns at each corner of the square corridor below it. The unique carvings on the railings of its balcony are believed to be of Roman influence. There used to be a small room in the tower where the Kuching Municipal Council often held its meetings. However, it was closed after World War II.

Beside the building were the Resident’s office, the Surveyor’s office and the Government Printer’s Office. The Treasury Office, Post Office, Audit Office and Shipping Office were at the far end of the building towards Tun Haji Openg Road.

The General Council met in the court house from 1878. It was known as the Council Negeri from 1903, and continued to meet in the court house until 1973. The building was later used as the Administrative Centre of the High Court of Borneo, now the High Court in Sabah and Sarawak.

The Court House is arranged symmetrically, with four main buildings surrounding an internal courtyard (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Old Courthouse has recently been transformed into a cultural and art space, with frequent exhibitions, concerts and other activities. One wing of the building is home to the Commons restaurant and the Den bar.

The complex also houses the Ranee Museum with a unique collection of artefacts telling the story of the life, legend and legacy of Ranee Margaret Brooke, wife of the second Rajah, Charles Brooke.

The other buildings in the court complex include the Japanese Building separating Carpenter Street and Kuching’s China town from India Street and built by the Japanese when they occupied Sarawak in 1941-1945.

Three other Brooke-era buildings in the vicinity are the Round Tower and the Square Tower, and the Brooke Dockyard.

The Brooke Memorial or obelisk in front of the Old Court House was designed by the Irish-born architect Denis Santry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

The Brooke Memorial or obelisk in front of the Old Court House was designed by the Irish-born architect Denis Santry (1879-1960) of Swan and Maclaren Architects Singapore, the same architectural practice that designed Saint Thomas’s Anglican Cathedral in Kuching. Santry’s principal work in Kuching is the General Post Office (1931), with the Brooke coat-of-arms crowning the pediment.

The obelisk was unveiled 100 years ago on 13 October 1924 by Charles Vyner Brooke (1874-1963), the third and last Rajah of Sarawak in memory of his father, Charles Brooke, who had ruled as the second Rajah from 1868 to 1917.

The granite obelisk is about 24 ft with a base measuring 18 ft in diameter. On each of the four supporting pilasters are bronze tablets designed by FJ Wilkinson, showing four different ethnic groups in Sarawak, the Dayak, Malay, Chinese and Kayan, and bronze tablets with descriptive inscriptions in various languages.

On the front is a profile of Charles Brooke in marble, a replica of the bust of Brooke by Baroness von Gleichen, and the heraldic arms of the Brooke family.

Charles Brooke depicted on the Brooke Memorial, with the heraldic arms of the Brooke family above (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Almost 80 years after the rule of the Brooke Rajahs came to an end in Sarawak, the family’s legacy continues in the many fine buildings erected in Kuching during the Brooke era.

The Brooke coat-of-arms continues to be seen throughout Kuching, sometimes cropping up in the most unexpected of places, including shopfronts and on street corners.

The Brooke coat-of-arms continues to be seen throughout Kuching … images from Carpenter Street (above) and a street corner, below (Photographs: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Daily prayers in the Kingdom Season with USPG: (3) 7 November 2023

The Cattedrale di San Zeno, or Cathedral of Saint John, in Pistoia with its Pisan-Romanesque façade (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

In this time between All Saints’ Day and Advent Sunday, we are in the Kingdom Season in the Calendar of the Church of England, and the week began with the Fourth Sunday before Advent (5 November 2023).

The Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today (7 November) remembers Saint Willibrord of York (739), Bishop, Apostle of Frisia.

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

In recent prayer diaries on this blog, my reflections have already looked at a number of Italian cathedrals, including the cathedrals in Amalfi, Florence, Lucca, Noto, Pisa, Ravenna, Saint Peter’s Basilica and Saint John Lateran, Rome, Siena, Sorrento, Syracuse, Taormina, Torcello and Venice.

So, this week, my reflections look at some more Italian cathedrals, basilicas and churches in Bologna, San Marino, Pistoia, San Gimignano, Mestre, Sorrento and Ravello.

Throughout this week, my reflections each morning are following this pattern:

1, A reflection on an Italian cathedral or basilica;

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

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary.

The Piazza del Duomo or Cathedral Square in Pistoia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Cattedrale di San Zeno or Cathedral of Saint John, Pistoia:

One day, when I insisted in using my poor and limited Italian to buy train tickets in Tuscany, I ended up in Pistoia instead of Viareggio. But for this mistake, I might not have visited Pistoia and the Cattedrale di San Zeno, or Cathedral of Saint John, with its beautiful Pisan-Romanesque façade that is crowned with a lunette by Andrea della Robbia.

Pistoia is about 30 km west and north of Florence. In the centre of the city, the Duomo di Pistoia in the Piazza del Duomo is dedicated to Saint Zeno of Verona and is the seat of the Bishop of Pistoia.

There may have been a smaller cathedral in Pistoia as early as the fifth century, when Pistoia already had a bishop. A cathedral is first mentioned in the year 923. A document in the reign of Emperor Otto III refers in 998 to an old Christian building, so the cathedral was probably first built in the 10th century. The Pisan-Romanesque façade was inspired by other churches in Pistoia, including San Bartolomeo and San Jacopo.

The cathedral was damaged by fire in 1108 and was probably rebuilt over the next few decades, as an altar in the cathedral was dedicated to Saint James the Great by the bishop, Saint Atto, in 1145.

Another fire damaged the cathedral again in 1202. The aisles were covered with vaults in 1274-1275 and a new altar was begun in 1287. An earthquake in 1298 caused further damage. A statue of Saint Zeno by Jacopo di Mazzeo was placed in the west front in 1336.

The façade was rebuilt in 1379-1440 with the addition of three tiers of loggias and a portico. Andrea della Robbia, who was commissioned in 1504 to decorate the archivolt of the portico, created a festoon with plant themes and the coat of arms of the Opera di San Jacopo, as well as of the lunette with bas-reliefs over the central portal, depicting the Madonna with the Christ Child and Angels. He finished the works in 1505.

Inside, the cathedral has a nave and two side aisles, with a presbytery and crypt. Restoration work in 1952-1999 returned the church to its original lines. The mediaeval choir was demolished in 1598-1614, the side chapels were modified and the original apse was replaced by a Baroque tribune surmounted by a dome designed by Jacopo Lafri, while the main aisle was covered by new cross vaults. The ceiling was also decorated, and paintings were added there and in the main chapel.

A statue of Saint James the Great by Andrea Vaccà was added to the façade in 1721. The mediaeval mullioned windows, replaced by Baroque windows, were restored in 1952-1966, and the vaults over the aisle were removed.

The nave and the aisles are separated by columns, and have vaults and wooden truss covers respectively. The right aisle was once occupied by the Chapel of Saint James (San Jacopo), built by Bishop Atto in the mid-12th century to house the relics of Saint James brought from Santiago de Compostela.

The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament is also known as the Chapel of San Donato from a painting of the Madonna enthroned between Saint John the Baptist and Saint Donatus (ca 1475-1486). The painting was commissioned from Andrea del Verrocchio by the heirs of Donato de’ Medici, but was completed by Lorenzo di Credi. The bishop next to the Madonna has been identified as Saint Zeno. In the middle is the Assumption of the Virgin by Giovan Battista Paggi (1590-1600). The tomb of Donato de’ Medici (1475), Bishop of Pistoia, is attributed to Antonio Rossellino.

The Crucifix Chapel has the silver altarpiece of Saint James. It was begun in 1287, took two centuries to erect, was completed by Brunelleschi, and was moved to its present place in 1953. Pace di Valentino, a Sienese goldsmith, created some of the figures surrounding Saint James. Giglio Pisano executed the large silver statue depicting Saint James Enthroned (1349-1353), commissioned as a thanksgiving after the Black Death in 1348.

The two side antependia, made by Leonardo di Ser Giovanni and Francesco Niccolai in 1361-1371, depict Old Testament stories and stories of Saint James,. Other works include the Apostles, Saint Eulalia, Bishop Atto, Saint John the Baptist and Salome by Piero d’Arrigo Tedesco (1380-1390), another Christ in Majesty with Saint Anthony the Abbot, Saint Stephen and the cusp by Nofri di Buto and Atto di Piero Braccini (1394-1398).

There are innumerable important works of art in the south and north aisles, the presbytery, apse and nave. The pulpit was designed by Giorgio Vasari (1560). The Chapel of the Last Judgment houses fragments of a fresco by Giovanni da Ponte (1420-1425), recently identified as a depiction of Dante’s Inferno. The counter-façade houses the Arch of Saint Atto. The baptismal font was designed by Benedetto da Maiano (1497).

The crypt holds the tombs of many past Bishops of Pistoia, and the side walls are decorated with monuments to many more past bishops, including Alessandro di Medici who became Pope Leo XI but had a short reign of only 26 days.

The former bishops’ palace beside the cathedral is now a museum. The 14th century octagonal Baptistry, facing the west door of the cathedral, has distinctive green-and-white marble stripes.

The 14th century octagonal Baptistry in Pistoia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 28: 16-20 (NRSVA):

16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

The bell tower beside the west front of the cathedral in Pistoia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Tuesday 7 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 ‘Community Health Programmes’. This theme was introduced on Sunday.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (7 November 2023) invites us to pray in these words:

Let us pray for the Church of Bangladesh, comprised of the Dioceses of Dhaka, Kushtia and Barisal.

The Palazzo dei Vescovi or Bishops’ Palace in Pistoia is now a museum (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Collect:

God, the Saviour of all,
you sent your bishop Willibrord from this land
to proclaim the good news to many peoples
and confirm them in their faith:
help us also to witness to your steadfast love
by word and deed
so that your Church may increase
and grow strong in holiness;
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.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

Holy Father,
who gathered us here around the table of your Son
to share this meal with the whole household of God:
in that new world where you reveal
the fullness of your peace,
gather people of every race and language
to share with Willibrord and all your saints
in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflection

Continued Tomorrow

The façade of the cathedral was rebuilt in 1379-1440 (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 Church of San Giovanni Fuoricivitas or San Giovanni Evangelista Fuorcivitas in Pistoia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Bishopthorpe Palace near York: home of the Archbishops of York for almost 800 years

Bishopthorpe Palace on the banks of the River Ouse is the official residence of the Archbishop of York (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

One afternoon last week, we took the 3 or 4 km journey from York, where we were staying off Bishopthorpe Road, south to the suburban village of Bishopthorpe, to see Bishopthorpe Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of York, to see the village churches and pubs, and to walk along the banks of the River Ouse.

Bishopthorpe Palace has been the official residence of the Archbishops of York since 1241, apart from 10 years during the Cromwellian era from 1650 until the Restoration in 1660. The Palace is set in a wooded, rural area, 5 km south of York, on the bank of the River Ouse. It is a Grade I listed building and has a gatehouse, stables, brewhouse and brewster’s cottage.

The village is named in the Domesday Book and referred to as Torp, Thorpe or Badetorps in various translations. It was known as Thorp-super-Usam or Thorpe-on-Ouse in 1194.

The Prior and Gilbertine monks of Saint Andrew’s at Fishergate, York, built the first church there in 1202 and dedicated it to their patron saint. The name Thorp-super-Usam therefore gradually superseded by Andrewthorpe or Thorpe St Andrew.

Bishopthorpe Palace was first built in 1241-1250 by Archbishop Walter de Gray (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Bishopthorpe Palace was originally built in 1241-1250 by Archbishop Walter de Gray after he bought the then village of Thorpe St Andrew (St Andrewthorpe) in 1226. He demolished the old manor house and used some of its local stone in the undercroft of the new palace and chapel he built by the river.

The archbishop conveyed this property to the Dean and Chapter of York, ensuring it remained with successive Archbishops and did not fall into the king's hands during a vacancy.

The house became known as Bishopthorpe Palace, and the village became known as Bishopthorpe. The earliest written record of the name Bishopthorpe, spelt ‘Biscupthorpe,’ appears by 1275.

Bishopthorpe was the site of great council in 1323 to agree a truce between Edward II and Robert the Bruce, whose forces had been harrying Yorkshire after the Battle of Bannockburn.

Over the years, the Palace has seen many changes. Archbishop John Thoresby extended his private rooms in 1365, and Archbishop Thomas Rotherham doubled the size of the living quarters in 1480-1500 when he added a red brick north wing and upgraded the kitchens.

The Enclosure Act in 1757 saw common land enclosed, placing restrictions on where local people could graze their animals and affected Bishopthorpe.

The Palace was remodelled in the Gothic Revival style by Thomas Atkinson of York in 1763-1769 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Archbishop Robert Hay Drummond transformed the Palace in the 1760s by building the now familiar ‘Strawberry Gothick’ west front and gatehouse. The architect John Carr designed the Gothic stable block and gatehouse in 1761-1769.

Around the same time, the Palace was remodelled in the Gothic Revival style by the architect Thomas Atkinson of York in 1763-1769. The front of Bishopthorpe Palace was rebuilt with a new entrance hall and drawing room, and the drawing room has several portraits of previous archbishops.

Controversy surrounding the 1832 Reform Bill saw rioters from York attempt to invade the Palace, angered by initial lack of support from Archbishop Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt. Archbishop Harcourt made further additions to the north wing in 1835 and also had rooms built above the chapel. He built a new village school and the Almshouses in 1846.

Since 1900, successive Archbishops of York have made more effective use of the space in Bishopthorpe Palace, designating separate areas for personal apartments, public rooms and offices for the archbishop’s staff.

The clock on the Gatehouse was made for Archbishop Cosmo Lang in 1913 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The clock on the Gatehouse at the entrance to Bishopthorpe Palace, was made for Archbishop Cosmo Lang by W Potts & Sons in 1913. It has gilded numerals and hands painted in blue. The clock was restored by Smiths of Derby in 2013.

The first ‘Bishopthorpe Play’ or Bishopthorpe Pageant was staged in June 1928 in the grounds of the Bishopthorpe Palace in 1928. Further productions were held in 1930, 1954, 1956, 1965 and 1970.

Bishopthorpe Palace is a multi-functional place today. It is, primarily, the Archbishop’s home and office, and there are also working offices, meeting rooms, worship areas and living quarters. The Palace and its grounds are also used for charity days, retreats, receptions, village fetes, and dinners.

Parts of the village, including the Palace were designated a conservation area in 1989.

Many of the street names in the village recall past Archbishops of York, including: Ramsey Avenue (Michael Ramsey, 1956-1961), Maclagan Road (William Maclagan, 1891-1908), Lamplugh Crescent (Thomas Lamplugh, 1688-1691), Coggan Way (Donald Coggan, 1961-1974), Garbett Way (Cyril Garbett, 1942-1955), Temple Road (William Temple, 1929-1942), Lang Road (Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1909-1928), Vernon Close (Edward Venables-Vernon-Harcourt, 1808-1847), Drummond Way (Robert Hay Drummond, 1761-1776), Wolsey Drive (Thomas Wolsey, 1514-1530) and De Grey Place (Walter de Gray, 1216-1255).

The palace at Bishopthrope seen through the arch of the gatehouse (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

In addition to the palace at Bishopthorpe, the Archbishop’s Palace, north of York Minster in what is now Dean’s Park, was the residence of the mediaeval Archbishops of York.

Roger de Pont L’Évêque, Archbishop of York in 1154-1181, rebuilt York Minster, after a fire in 1137 began building the palace. The college and chapel of Saint Mary and All Angels, also known as Saint Sepulchre, was built next to the palace in 1179. The palace grounds were extended up to the city walls in 1268.

While the archbishops lived mainly at Bishopthorpe, the palace in York served a wide variety of functions. Courts sat there in 1275, while Edward III based his court at the palace in 1327-1328 while he was leading a campaign against the Scots. The palace also housed the archbishop’s prison by 1385. A new chamber was added in 1400 so that Henry IV could watch a tournament held in the palace grounds. Richard III stayed at the palace in 1483, as did Henry VII in 1487, and Margaret Tudor in 1503.

During the Tudor Reformation, Saint Sepulchre’ s College was dissolved in 1547 at the Dissolution of the monastic houses. Thomas Young removed the lead from the palace roof in 1560 to pay for Grays Court, which he bought for his son George.

The palace in York was in ruins by 1616, and the grounds were sold to Arthur Ingram. He rebuilt part of the palace as his own house, and laid out gardens, including a fishpond, tennis court and bowling green. Charles I stayed in the house in 1642, but after Ingram’s death, his descendants divided the property into small tenements and let them out.

A theatre was built on the site of the tennis court in 1734. The former great hall of the palace was rebuilt as a riding school in 1780, and in 1785 it was the site of an early balloon ascent.

The former palace chapel in York has become the minster library and is known as the Old Palace (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Ingram’s house was largely in ruins by 1799. York Minster bought the whole site in 1814, demolished Ingram’s house and the riding school, and used the site for its stone yard. The palace’s former chapel was restored for use as the minster library, and is now known as the Old Palace.

The remainder of the site was laid out as the Deanery Gardens in 1823, when the demolition of some sheds revealed a 12th-century arcade from the original palace.

More recently, the grounds have become known as Dean’s Park, and the stone yard has moved to Deangate. The surviving arcade from the palace was rededicated in 1987 as a war memorial, and it has been Grade I listed since 1997.

A former Dean of Cork, William Connor Magee (1821-1891), a key figure in the debates about the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, was Bishop of Peterborough when he was appointed Archbishop of York, but he died only four months after his appointment. The present Archbishop of York, the Most Revd Stephen Cottrell, is visiting Cork this week, and is the speaker at the annual Cork, Cloyne and Ross Clergy Away Days.

A surviving arcade from the palace at York Minster has been rededicated as a war memorial (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Friars Entry and Gloucester Green are reminders of monastic life in mediaeval Oxford

Friars’ Entry … the only direct route from Gloucester Green into the centre of Oxford until Beaumont Street was laid out in 1822 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Patrick Comerford

As I make my way regularly from Gloucester Green bus station along Friars’ Entry to the centre of Oxford, the name of Friars’ Entry and the area around Gloucester Green and Gloucester Street remind me each time of the mediaeval Carmelite Friary in Oxford and of mediaeval Gloucester College, founded by the Benedictine monks of Gloucester Abbey.

The first building of significance in this part of Oxford was Beaumont Palace, at the end of Beaumont Street. It was built as a royal residence ca 1130 for Henry I to use as a stopping point on his visits to the royal hunting-grounds at Woodstock.

Beaumont Palace was the birthplace of two kings: Richard the Lion-Heart and King John. The palace was a royal residence until 1275, but nothing remains of the building, although some of its stones are said to have been used to build Saint John’s College.

People were living near Beaumont Palace in the 12th and 13th centuries, and George Street was first recorded as Irishman’s Street in 1251. But it was abandoned after the Black Death killed about a quarter of Oxford’s population in 1348, and fell into a derelict state.

Nicholas de Meules or de Molis, formerly custodian of Oxford Castle, granted the Carmelite friars a place near the hospital in Stockwell Street, in the parish of Saint George, in 1256. The provincial prior sent a friar John of Rochester to take possession of the site and make arrangements for the new friary. Nicholas de Stockwell, sometime mayor of Oxford, gave the Carmelites an adjacent plot towards the highway.

The Bishop of Lincoln and the Abbot of Osney permitted the Carmelites to build an oratory. In return, the friars agreed not to admit the parishioners of the abbey and to any sacraments without his consent. However, the Carmelites did not refrain from hearing confessions, and paid no attention to Archbishop Peckham when he prohibited them from doing this in 1280.

The Carmelites continued to expand their property holdings in the area, and built their church and houses with gifts of oaks from Henry III and Edward I.

At the junction of Gloucester Green, Gloucester Street and Friars Entry, looking towards Beaumont Street (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The Benedictine monks of Saint Peter’s Abbey, Gloucester (now Gloucester Cathedral), founded Gloucester College in Oxford in 1283 on land claimed by the Carmelites. That year, the Carmelite friary was attacked, its doors were broken down and the friars, beaten were wounded and ill-treated crimes. The two events may have been connected.

The Chapter of the Carmelite Province in England met in Oxford in 1264 and 1289. Although the early history of the Carmelite school in Oxford is obscure, Peter de Swaynton is said to have been the first Carmelite to receive the doctor’s degree at Oxford, and perhaps John Chelmeston, William of Littlington and William de Paul or Pagham studied there too before the end of the 13th century.

A meeting of the general chapter of the order in London in 1312 passed many statutes referring to the stadium at Oxford. At the king’s request, the canons of Osney, as patrons of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalen, gave the Carmelites permission to celebrate divine service and the right of free burial in 1312.

When Edward II was put to flight at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314, he invoked the Virgin Mary and vowed to found a monastery for the poor Carmelites if he escaped in safety. In fulfilment of his vow, he granted Beaumont Palace to the Carmelites of Oxford. The gift was confirmed by Pope John XXII and by Parliament in 1318. The king also gave a further grant a land at Stockwell Street.

Edward III confirmed the friars in their possession of the royal palace in 1327. However, the neighbourhood was not suitable for a religious house. The mayor and bailiffs of Oxford and other officials were commanded in 1328 to remove harlots and other women of bad character from the neighbourhood of the house of the Carmelite Friars, and to prevent houses being let to such women. It was said the friars were hindered in performing divine service by the clamour, night and day, caused by the men visiting the prostitutes and brothels.

The students of Robert of Walsingham, master of the Whitefriars, included John Baconthorpe, ‘the resolute doctor’ and ‘prince of the Averroists,’ who became the doctor of the Carmelite order as Thomas Aquinas was the doctor of the Dominicans and Duns Scotus of the Franciscans.

Baconthorpe studied in Paris and returned to Oxford, where he influenced Richard FitzRalph (1300-1360) of Dundalk, later Vice-Chancellor of Oxford (1333-1336), Dean of Lichfield (1335-1346) and Archbishop of Armagh (1346-1360). Baconthorpe was the Carmelite provincial prior in 1329-1333, and died in 1346.

The name of Friars’ Entry keeps alive the memory of the presence of the Carmelites in mediaeval Oxford (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

It was decreed in 1336 that no friar of the English province should be sent to Oxford or Cambridge unless six brethren, some of whom must be priors, testified from personal knowledge to his good character. In the late 14th century the province was divided into four ‘distinctions’ or sections, based at London, York, Norwich, and Oxford. To avoid local rivalries, it was arranged a friar should be chosen from each of these sections in turn to proceed to the degrees of bachelor and master in theology.

John de Norton, a Carmelite, was summoned before the chancellor’s court in 1360 for breaches of the peace, and when he refused to appear he was punished. With the support of his order, he appealed to the Pope. Edward III then came to the help of the university and ordered the provincial prior to stop all appeals against the chancellor’s jurisdiction.

The mendicant friars were accused of stirring up the Peasant Revolt in 1381, and the prior of the Oxford Carmelites joined with the heads of the other mendicant convents in Oxford in an appeal for protection to John of Gaunt.

The Carmelites in Oxford had a prominent part in opposing John Wycliffe and his followers. Peter Stokes was commissioned to publish the condemnation of Wycliffe’s doctrine at Oxford in 1382. Stephen Patrington, who became provincial prior in 1399, was a commissary at Oxford against the Lollards in 1414. Thomas Netter of Walden, who was engaged in controversies with the Lollards, was confessor to both Henry V and Henry VI, and succeeded as provincial prior in 1417.

Walter Hunt is said to have been one of the chief exponents of the Latin view in the negotiations with the Greek Church at the Council of Florence in 1439. He returned to Oxford and there he spent the remaining 40 years of his life.

Henry VI would stay in the Carmelite house at Oxford ‘as in his own palace.’ The future Cardinal Reginald Pole, a member of the royal family, lodged at the White Friars when he was a student at Oxford.

On the eve of the dissolution of the monastic houses, however, the moral, intellectual and material condition of the White Friars came under public scrutiny. A Carmelite friar was jailed for ‘incontinence’ in 1502. A girl of 13 disguised as a boy was found at the White Friars in 1533 ‘in the cubicle of one Browne scholar,’ perhaps a secular student having rooms in the friary. The long-standing hostility between the White Friars and the Benedictine monks of Gloucester College broke out 1534-1535, and both were bound over to keep the peace.

The 24 Carmelite friars whose names are in the university register from 1505 to 1538 include three who were DDs of Cambridge and who requested incorporation at Oxford. The friar who last who proceeded to a degree was John Hurlyston, BD, of Cologne, who applied for the degree of DD in 1534. After that, no Carmelite appears in the university register.

When John London visited the Oxford friaries in 1538, he reported that the Carmelite and Augustinian friars were living in such poverty that ‘if they do not forsake their houses, their houses will forsake them.’

The White Friars’ house was in ruins, they were selling off property and sources of income, the elms that grew about their house, almost all the jewels and plate, and copes and vestments. They petitioned Thomas Cromwell for permission to change their habits and to surrender their house ‘in consideration of their poverty, which compels them to sell their jewels, plate, and wood; and will, if they continue, compel them to sell the stones and slates of their house.’ The plate sent to London included three chalices, a silver ship, two silver cruets, a silver-gilt pax, and a silver-gilt censer. There was little or no lead.

Worcester College was built on the site of Gloucester College and Gloucester Hall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Edmund Powell of Sandford, Oxfordshire, was granted the site of the White Friars in 1541. It included the house itself, tenements and gardens, a stable, a timber yard, 3½ acres of land called Gloucester College Close, and a passageway called the Entry that led from Saint Mary Magdalen Church to the friary.

The greater part of the buildings was pulled down by Powell and his children, and much of the stone was carried to Saint Frideswide’s in 1546. The refectory remained standing until 1596, and was used as a poor-house for the parish of Saint Mary Magdalen. It was then demolished and the materials were used to enlarge the library of Saint John’s College.

As for Gloucester College, the Benedictine house in Oxford, after the dissolution it became Gloucester Hall, an academic hall and annexe of St John’s College. It was re-founded as Worcester College by Sir Thomas Cookes in 1714. Gloucester Green, which was opposite the old college, and the Gloucester House building within Worcester College preserve the name of Gloucester College.

Because Friars’ Entry was once the most direct route to Worcester College, it contributed to the idea that the college was ‘out of Oxford.’ Until modern times, the footway was lined with houses, and solemn processions ran the risk of ‘stumbling over buckets, knocking over children, catching the rinsings of basins, and ducking under linen-lines.’

the White Rabbit on the corner of Friars’ Entry and Gloucester Street … a reminder of the White Rabbit in the stories of Alice and of the White Friars (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

The name of Friars’ Entry has survived through the centuries and keeps alive the memory of the presence of the Carmelites in mediaeval Oxford. Perhaps the name of the White Rabbit on the corner of Friars’ Entry and Gloucester Street is a play not only on the White Rabbit in Lewis Carroll’s stories of Alice but also on the name of the White Friars.

Gloucester Green was laid out as a bowling green in 1631, and later became a public square. A plaque on a modern building facing onto Gloucester Green is ‘to the memory of Private Biggs and Private Piggen, executed like their Leveller colleagues at Burford by forces loyal to Cromwell. They were shot near this place for their part in the second mutiny of the Oxford garrison on 18th September 1649.’

Gloucester Green became the site of the City Gaol in 1786. Although Friars’ Entry was still a mere footway, it remained the only direct route from Gloucester Green into the city centre until Beaumont Street was laid out in 1822. Beaumont Street provided a grander approach to Worcester College and a new site for the Ashmolean Museum, the oldest public museum in Britain, which was founded in Broad Street in 1683.

Gloucester Green was the location for Oxford’s cattle market from 1835 until 1932 before the area was converted into a bus station. More recently, there were proposals to build a multi-storey car park there. But, with public support, the council chose instead to create today’s exuberant market place, opened in 1990. I have enjoyed the food market there on Wednesdays and the antiques market on Thursdays.

Gloucester Green now has colourful food and antiques markets (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)