Description

BISHOPSGATE, EC2
TQ 3381 SW
East Side)
11/350
Church of St Ethelburga
4.1.50 I

Guild church. Late C14/early C15 with later alterations including work
between 1912 and 1914 by Sir Ninian Comper; built on the site of an
older church and incorporating some of the materials. Rag stone and
brick with stone dressings and quoins to tower; returns rendered. 4
bays with southern aisle plus western tower and having a rear vestry
hall and 5-bay _loggia (c1902-04) forming 2 sides of a small courtyard;
a small church being approximately 56 1/2 feet long and 30 feet high,
surrounded on 3 sides by tall C20 buildings. Western tower with
central pointed arch, moulded doorway having C20 part-glazed doors;
above, a segmental headed 3-light traceried window. Coped parapet
beneath which a clock face. Late C18 2-stage rectangular bell-turret,
each stage with projecting dentil cornice, surmounted by an ogee roof
with weathervane dated 1671. Interior has a tower separated from the
nave by an arch. Aisle piers with 4 shafts and 4 hollows, 2-centred
double-hollowed-chamfered arches. Roof, with gilded cherubim corbels,
renewed 1830s. Two cinquefoil headed piscinas, c1400, on south wall
a chancel (traces of paint) and south aisle wall. Fragments of
incorporated earlier building exposed in north nave wall. Segmental
headed clerestory lights with C20 plain glass glazing. 4 stained glass
windows by Leonard Walker, dedicated between 1928 and 1947, to north
and south aisles, 3 dedicated to Henry Hudson (he and his crew took
communion here in 1607 before they set out on their quest for the
North-West Passage) and a fourth to the Revd. W.F. Geikie-Cobb (rector
1900-41). Unusual eastern aisle window 1936 by Hugh Easton, dedicated
to Harriette Geikie-Cobb (the rector's wife); 3 figures of love, joy
and peace in an idealised landscape.5-light eastern window under
moulded 4-centred arch by Kempe, 1878, replacing an earlier one in a
classical setting. Three pieces of C15 glass in a western window and
4 pieces of C17 heraldic glass in sanctuary and chapel. Reredos in the
form of a painted mural, depicting the crucified and risen Christ, St
Luke with a patient and St Ethelburga with children, by Hans Feibusch,
1962. 5-arch wooden screen by comper, c1912, with fan-vaulted
spandrels supporting a rood loft with openwork balustrade. Also by
Comper, the plain western gallery with spiral stair and other woodwork
including the alter candlesticks and standards. Hexagonal C18 font
with C17 Carved wooden cover from destroyed St Swithen, London stone.
Wall monuments mostly early C19 but one to John Cornelius Linkbeck,
dated 1655; a plain marble architraved tablet with pilaster and coat
of arms. Rear courtyard, on the site of former graveyard; with
octagonal pond, 1923, having central terracotta fountain possibly by
the Potters Arts Guild, Compton. St Ethelburga's is one of eight pre-
1666 churches left in the City. Until 1932 the western tower was
partly obscured by 2 shops of c1570 and c1613 with a tunnel-like porch
giving access to the church doorway and later upper storey
accommodation extending across the facade masking the west window. The
C18 bell turret replaced a steeple from which came the present C17
weathervane. In the latter part of the C19 the church was in the Van
of the Catholic revival; it became a guild church in 1954.

Listing NGR: TQ3318581361

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Church of St Ethelburga, Bishopsgate at Wikipedia
• Church of St Ethelburga, Bishopsgate official website
• Wikidata Q7593042

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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