Medieval Churches of East London

The area that is the subject of this talk encompasses nearly fifty square miles served by the London postcode E. This comprises London’s historic East End, together with the localities extending to the north and east, which, now covered by dense suburbs, were, in the Middle Ages, the preserve of forest, marsh, and villages.

The foremost reaction of the visitor to the churches of East London is surprise. Here are a number of the finest still-extant medieval parish churches in Greater London, whose architectural qualities and impressive histories have largely been overlooked, including an apsidal Norman parish church (St Mary Magdalene at East Ham), and three great Gothic churches (at West Ham, Walthamstow, and Stepney Green). Here is also an outstanding piece of Anglo-Saxon sculpture (at St. Dunstan and All Saints Stepney Green), and here is a set of virtuoso choir stalls, the most important pieces of fourteenth-century micro-architecture to be found in London (at The Royal Foundation of St Katharine, Limehouse).

The lecture will examine the forces that brought these medieval chefs-d’oeuvres into being, including the close links between their locations, however seemingly remote, and the City of London.