St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate

St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate stands in the City of London, just outside the line of the old eastern wall. The church lies on the west side of Bishopsgate, a road that follows the Roman Ermine Street. It is one of four medieval London churches dedicated to Saint Botolph, a 7th-century East Anglian saint. The others were near Aldgate, Aldersgate and Billingsgate. Botolph became the patron saint of boundaries, trade and travel in the 11th century. The church has stood on this spot since at least 1212, though worship may have begun in Roman times. It survived the Great Fire of 1666 and was rebuilt between 1724 and 1729 by James Gold. The new building placed the tower at the east end to face Bishopsgate, with stone at the front and brick elsewhere. Inside, Composite columns divide nave from aisles under a barrel vault. Visitors find a quiet churchyard running along the former line of London Wall. The church hall in the yard is a former livery hall of the Worshipful Company of Fan Makers, with restored charity children in niches. Nearby, an entrance kiosk leads to a Victorian Turkish bath designed by Harold Elphick. The church contains memorials to London Regiment battalions and the font used for John Keats’s baptism.