The Church of St Botolph's without Aldgate = Part 1. See description.

Part 1 = Church Tuesday = I usually share churches on Sundays! But, its always good to have a change + clears a little more off of the phone "ready for whatever is filmed & photographed, tomorrow."

The Church of St Botolph's without Aldgate
A church in change! Nice to see actually "as when I first visited this one = you could clearly see that, it needed = more than a little TLC.
Known as "The most Jewish Church in London." & filmed in two parts = As there's a lot to this beautiful old East End Church. Filmed on Monday 12th June 2023.
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(History of the Church)

The full name of the church is St Botolph without Aldgate and Holy Trinity Minories and it is sometimes known simply as Aldgate Church. The ecclesiastical parish was united with that of the Church of Holy Trinity, Minories, in 1899.

The current 18th-century church building is made of brick with stone quoins and window casings. The tower is square with an obelisk spire.

(Medieval Church)

The earliest known written record of the church dates from 1115, when it was received by the Holy Trinity Priory (recently founded by Matilda, wife of Henry I) but the parochial foundations may very well date from before 1066.

The church was rebuilt in the 16th century at the cost of the priors of the Holy Trinity, and renovated in 1621. It escaped the Great Fire of London, and was described at the beginning of the 18th century as "an old church, built of Brick, Rubble and Stone, rendered over, and ... of the Gothick order". The building, as it stood at that time, was 78-foot long (24 m) and 53-foot wide (16 m). There was a tower, about 100-foot tall (30 m), with six bells.

(18th century St Botolph's)

St Botolph's was completely rebuilt between 1741 and 1744, to a design by George Dance the Elder. The exterior is of brick with projecting quoins, stone windows surrounds and a stone cornice. The tower, also of brick, has rusticated quoins, and a stone spire. The interior of the building is divided into nave and aisles by four widely spaced piers supporting a flat ceiling. There are galleries along three sides. The church is lit by two rows of windows in each side wall, one above and one below the gallery. The monuments from the old building were preserved, and reinstalled in the new church.

(19th century St Botolph's)

The interior was redecorated by John Francis Bentley, the architect of Westminster Cathedral in the late 19th century.

St Botolph's was often referred to as the "Church of Prostitutes" in the late Victorian period. The church is sited on an island surrounded by roadways and it was usual in these times to be suspicious of women standing on street corners. They were easy targets for the police, and to escape arrest the prostitutes would parade around the island, now occupied by the church and Aldgate tube station.

The earliest record of the churchyard is in 1230; by 1875 it was being used as a public open space. The landscape gardener Fanny Wilkinson laid it out as a public garden in 1892. A drinking fountain, still extant, was installed in 1906 to the memory of the philanthropist Frederic Mocatta.

The parish was united with that of Holy Trinity, Minories when it closed in 1899. St Botolph's inherited from that church a preserved head, reputed to be that of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who had been executed for treason by Queen Mary I in 1554. During an archaeological investigation of the crypt in 1990, a preserved head, reputed to be Grey's, was rediscovered and buried in the churchyard.

(Twentieth century St Botolph's)

The church was severely bombed at intervals during the Blitz in the Second World War. The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.

Following its restoration by Rodney Tatchell, the church was much damaged by an unexplained fire in 1965, necessitating further restoration.

St Botolph's was rehallowed on 8 November 1966 by the Bishop of London, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and Sir Robert Bellinger, the Lord Mayor of London, who attended in state.

In the early 1970s, the crypt of the church served as a homeless shelter at night and by day a youth club for Asian boys.