Читать книгу Old London Town - Will Owen - Страница 9
ОглавлениеSt. Ethelburga's Church
It is not easy to see the church for shops. They seem to grudge even the narrow entrance opening on to Bishopsgate. Several pairs of spectacles of gigantic proportions adorn the front of this famous old church, and I presume smaller sizes are to be obtained in the shops below.
As long ago as 1754 a writer issuing a pamphlet, urging certain improvements in the city, calls attention to the sheds for shops built against the walls of certain churches, and it is interesting to find this state of affairs still in existence.
St. Ethelburga was the wife of Sebert the first Christian king, traditional founder of Westminster Abbey, and the church now standing is one that escaped the Great Fire. Some of its early English masonry is still retained.
According to tradition the church was much frequented by sailors setting out or returning from their voyages. Hudson and many of his crew came here to receive the Holy Sacrament before they left their native shores in 1610.
The western arch of the church is said to have formed part of the gateway of St. Helen's Priory. In St. Helen's Church adjoining may be seen the tomb of Julius Cæsar. This is not, as might be imagined, a Roman relic, but of one Sir Julius Cæsar, Master of the Rolls to James I.
