apse & high altar, Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great
It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral and an Augustinian canon regular, its establishment recorded as being in gratitude for his recovery from fever. His fabled miraculous return to good health contributed to the priory gaining a reputation for curative powers and with sick people filling its aisles, notably on 24 August (St Bartholomew's Day).
The surviving building had comprised part of a priory adjoining St Bartholomew's Hospital, but while much of the hospital survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries about half of the priory's church was ransacked before being demolished in 1543. Its nave was pulled down up to the last bay but the crossing and choir survive largely intact from the Norman and later Middle Ages, enabling its continued use as a parish church. Part of the main entrance to the church remains at West Smithfield, nowadays most easily recognisable by its half-timbered Tudor frontage, which was erected by the post-Reformation patron of the advowson, Lord Rich, Lord Chancellor of England (1547–51). From there to its west door, the church path leads along roughly where the south aisle of the nave formerly existed. Very little trace of its monastic buildings now survive, although parts of the cloister now house a café.
St Bartholomew the Great is so named to distinguish it from its neighbouring smaller church of St Bartholomew the Less which was founded at the same time within the precincts of St Bartholomew's Hospital to serve as the hospital's parish church and occasional place of worship. The two parish churches were reunited in 2012 under one benefice.
apse & high altar, Priory Church of St Bartholomew the Great
It was founded in 1123 by Rahere, a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral and an Augustinian canon regular, its establishment recorded as being in gratitude for his recovery from fever. His fabled miraculous return to good health contributed to the priory gaining a reputation for curative powers and with sick people filling its aisles, notably on 24 August (St Bartholomew's Day).
The surviving building had comprised part of a priory adjoining St Bartholomew's Hospital, but while much of the hospital survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries about half of the priory's church was ransacked before being demolished in 1543. Its nave was pulled down up to the last bay but the crossing and choir survive largely intact from the Norman and later Middle Ages, enabling its continued use as a parish church. Part of the main entrance to the church remains at West Smithfield, nowadays most easily recognisable by its half-timbered Tudor frontage, which was erected by the post-Reformation patron of the advowson, Lord Rich, Lord Chancellor of England (1547–51). From there to its west door, the church path leads along roughly where the south aisle of the nave formerly existed. Very little trace of its monastic buildings now survive, although parts of the cloister now house a café.
St Bartholomew the Great is so named to distinguish it from its neighbouring smaller church of St Bartholomew the Less which was founded at the same time within the precincts of St Bartholomew's Hospital to serve as the hospital's parish church and occasional place of worship. The two parish churches were reunited in 2012 under one benefice.