Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Further along, you can make out shrapnel marks left from a 1916 Zeppelin air raid.
Behind the Henry VIII Gate stands the church of
St Bartholomew-the-Less
(daily
7am-8pm), sole survivor of the priory's four chapels. The tower and vestry are fifteenth
century, the octagonal interior is neo-Gothic, though it does contain a Tudor memorial
to Elizabeth I's surgeon. Beyond the church lies three-quarters of
The Square
created
for the hospital by James Gibbs in the mid-eighteenth century, with the
Great Hall
on
the north side, accessed by the
Grand Staircase
, its walls decorated with biblical murals
that were painted free of charge by Hogarth, who was born and baptized nearby and
served as one of the hospital's governors.
You can get a glimpse of the hospital's Grand Staircase from inside
St Bartholomew's
Museum
, on the left, under the archway into the courtyard. Among the medical
artefacts, there are some fearsome amputation instruments, a pair of leather “lunatic
restrainers”, some great jars with labels such as “poison - for external use only”, and a
cricket bat autographed by W.G. Grace, who was a student at Bart's in the 1870s. To
see the Great Hall join one of the fascinating weekly
guided tours
, which take in the
surrounding area as well; the meeting point is the Henry VIII Gate.
11
St Bartholomew-the-Great
Cloth Fair • Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm, Sat 10.30am-4pm, Sun 8.30am-8pm; mid-Nov to mid-Feb Mon-Sat closes 4pm • £4 •
T
020 7606
5171,
W
greatstbarts.com •
!
Barbican
Hidden in the backstreets north of the hospital,
St Bartholomew-the-Great
is London's
oldest and most atmospheric parish church. Begun in 1123 as the main church of
St Bartholomew's priory and hospice, it was partly demolished in the Reformation, and
gradually fell into ruins: the cloisters were used as a stable, there was a boys' school in
the triforium, a coal and wine cellar in the crypt, a blacksmith's in the north transept
and a printing press (where Benjamin Franklin once worked) in the Lady Chapel.
From 1887, Aston Webb restored what remained, and added the chequered patterning
and flintwork that now characterizes the exterior. Much beloved of film companies, it is
one of the few parish churches in the country to charge an entrance fee.
To get an idea of the scale of the original church, approach it through the half-
timbered Tudor
gatehouse
, on Little Britain Street. A wooden statue of St
Bartholomew stands in a niche; below is the thirteenth-century arch that once
formed the entrance to the nave. The churchyard now stands where the nave itself
would have been, and one side of the
cloisters
survives to the south, now housing the
delightful
Cloister Café
(closed Sat). The rest of the church is a confusion of elements,
including portions of the transepts and, most impressively, the
chancel
, where thick
Norman pillars separate the main body from the ambulatory. There are various
pre-Fire monuments, the most prominent being the tomb of Rahere (see opposite),
which shelters under a fifteenth-century canopy north of the altar, with an angel at
his feet and two canons kneeling beside him reading from the prophets. Beyond the
ambulatory lies the large Lady Chapel, mostly nineteenth century, though with
original stonework here and there.
Barbican
Silk St • Arts Centre Mon-Sat 9am-11pm, Sun noon-11pm • Free •
T
020 7638 8891,
W
barbican.org.uk •
!
Barbican
The City's only large residential complex is the concrete brutalist ghetto of the
Barbican
, built on the heavily bombed Cripplegate area. It's a classic 1970s urban
dystopia, a maze of pedestrian walkways and underground car parks, pinioned by three
400ft tower blocks. At the centre of the complex is the
Barbican Arts Centre
, home to
the London Symphony Orchestra, two performance spaces, a three-screen cinema, a
rooftop garden, a public library and an art gallery. Sadly, the arts centre's obtusely
confusing layout continues to prove user-repellent; just finding the main entrance on
Silk Street is quite a feat, even for Londoners.
