St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate
Encyclopedia
St Ethelburga-the-Virgin within Bishopsgate is a Church of England
church in the City of London
, located on Bishopsgate
near Liverpool Street station
.
in 1666. It is dedicated to St Ethelburga
, a 7th century abbess of Barking
; she was the sister of Saint Erkenwald, a Bishop of London
. Its foundation date is unknown, but it was first recorded in 1250 as the church of St Adelburga-the-Virgin. The dedication to "-the-Virgin" was dropped in Puritan
times but was later restored.
The church was rebuilt in the 15th century – possibly around 1411 – and a small square bell turret was added in 1775. In order to raise revenue for the church, whose parish covered just three acres (12,000 m²), a wooden porch was built over its exterior in the 16th century to house two shops. It underwent major changes in 1932, when Bishopsgate was controversially widened. The shops were demolished and the porch dismantled, revealing the façade of the church for the first time in centuries.
It suffered modest bomb damage during the London Blitz of the Second World War and was restored in 1953. In 1993, the church was half destroyed when a massive IRA
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
bomb exploded nearby, devastating Bishopsgate and causing an estimated £350M worth of damage. An evangelical faction of the Church of England
proposed to demolish St Ethelburga's in the aftermath but, following a sustained public outcry, it was rebuilt to its original plan, though much changed internally.
s, written in Greek
: NIΨON ANOMHMATA MH MONAN OΨIN, which translates as "Cleanse my transgressions, not only my face".
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950; and its reconstruction retains the listing.
.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
church in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
, located on Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate
Bishopsgate is a road and ward in the northeast part of the City of London, extending north from Gracechurch Street to Norton Folgate. It is named after one of the original seven gates in London Wall...
near Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street station
Liverpool Street railway station, also known as London Liverpool Street or simply Liverpool Street, is both a central London railway terminus and a connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, England...
.
History
This structure is a rare survival of the medieval City churches that were mostly destroyed during the Great Fire of LondonGreat Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666. It is dedicated to St Ethelburga
Æthelburg of Barking
Saint Æthelburh or Ethelburga, founder and first Abbess of the dual monastery of Barking, was the sister of Eorcenwald, Bishop of London....
, a 7th century abbess of Barking
Barking
Barking is a suburban town in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, in East London, England. A retail and commercial centre situated in the west of the borough, it lies east of Charing Cross. Barking was in the historic county of Essex until it was absorbed by Greater London. The area is...
; she was the sister of Saint Erkenwald, a Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
. Its foundation date is unknown, but it was first recorded in 1250 as the church of St Adelburga-the-Virgin. The dedication to "-the-Virgin" was dropped in Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
times but was later restored.
The church was rebuilt in the 15th century – possibly around 1411 – and a small square bell turret was added in 1775. In order to raise revenue for the church, whose parish covered just three acres (12,000 m²), a wooden porch was built over its exterior in the 16th century to house two shops. It underwent major changes in 1932, when Bishopsgate was controversially widened. The shops were demolished and the porch dismantled, revealing the façade of the church for the first time in centuries.
It suffered modest bomb damage during the London Blitz of the Second World War and was restored in 1953. In 1993, the church was half destroyed when a massive IRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army
The Provisional Irish Republican Army is an Irish republican paramilitary organisation whose aim was to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom and bring about a socialist republic within a united Ireland by force of arms and political persuasion...
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
1993 Bishopsgate bombing
The Bishopsgate bombing occurred on 24 April 1993, when the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated a truck bomb in London's financial district in Bishopsgate, City of London, England. One person was killed in the explosion and 44 injured, and damage initially estimated at £1 billion was caused...
bomb exploded nearby, devastating Bishopsgate and causing an estimated £350M worth of damage. An evangelical faction of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
proposed to demolish St Ethelburga's in the aftermath but, following a sustained public outcry, it was rebuilt to its original plan, though much changed internally.
Description
The church's tiny interior comprises a nave and aisle divided by an arcade. Most of the original fittings were destroyed by the 1993 bombing although they were, for the most part, not particularly historic as they dated from the early 20th century, being the work of Ninian Comper. One of the more notable survivals is the curious 19th century font, which is inscribed with one of the longest known palindromePalindrome
A palindrome is a word, phrase, number, or other sequence of units that can be read the same way in either direction, with general allowances for adjustments to punctuation and word dividers....
s, written in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
: NIΨON ANOMHMATA MH MONAN OΨIN, which translates as "Cleanse my transgressions, not only my face".
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950; and its reconstruction retains the listing.
Centre for Reconciliation and Peace
The church now houses the St Ethelburga's Centre for Reconciliation and Peace. The Centre organises a programme of more than 100 public events a year exploring the relationship between faith and conflict, as well as inter-faith dialogue and training; over 2008-09 20,000 people attended its programmes. It is also used for private meetings to reconcile people in conflict. The Centre is associated with the Children of Abraham Institute founded by Jewish theologian Peter OchsPeter Ochs
Peter W. Ochs is the Edgar M. Bronfman Professor of Modern Judaic Studies at the University of Virginia, where he has served since 1997. He is an influential thinker whose interests include Jewish philosophy and theology, modern and postmodern philosophic theology, pragmatism, and semiotics...
.
Notable people associated with the church
- Blessed John Larke, Rector (1504-1544) who was martyred for denying the royal supremacy in matters spiritual,
- Henry HudsonHenry HudsonHenry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
, explorer, took communion with his crew before setting out in search of the Northwest PassageNorthwest PassageThe Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
, 1607 - John Medows RodwellJohn Medows RodwellJohn Medows Rodwell was a friend of Charles Darwin while both matriculated at Cambridge. He became an English clergyman of the Church of England and a Non-Muslim Islamic scholar. He served as Rector of St.Peter's, Saffron Hill, London 1836-43 and Rector of St Ethelburga's, Bishopsgate, London...
, Rector (1843–1900) who made the first reliable rendering of the Qur'anQur'anThe Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
into English (1861) - Dr W F Geikie-Cobb, Rector (1900-1941) who achieved notoriety by marrying many divorced persons in the church.