Crown Shrine
The vow of Rahere
According to medieval legend, the courtier Rahere fell ill while on pilgrimage to Rome and vowed that, if he recovered, he would found a hospital and a priory in London for the poor. He returned to a vision of St Bartholomew, who told him to build them at Smithfield. The hospital — St Bartholomew's, or Barts — still stands across the road, the oldest in Britain still on its original site.
What survived the Reformation
The Augustinian priory was suppressed in 1539. The nave was demolished, but the choir and crossing were preserved as a parish church, and the cloister and Lady Chapel — for a time used as a printing house, where a young Benjamin Franklin worked as a journeyman compositor in 1725, and even later as a blacksmith's forge — were eventually restored in the late nineteenth century. The result is a Norman survivor of extraordinary atmosphere, with massive cylindrical piers and round-headed arches.
What to see
- The Norman crossing and choir, the heart of the original priory.
- The tomb of the founder Rahere, with its painted canopy.
- The 13th-century Lady Chapel, restored in 1896.
- The half-timbered Tudor gatehouse on West Smithfield, exposed by a Zeppelin bomb in 1916.
Visiting
A modest admission charge applies on weekdays and Saturdays; the church is free for those attending services. The location has featured in dozens of films — its filtered, dust-lit interior is unmistakable. Combine with a wander around Smithfield Market and the historic Charterhouse five minutes north.
