All Hallows By The Tower looks lonely. A dual carriageway cuts her off from the City, and behind her, the Tower of London looms aggressively in the distance. But the church’s name belies its history. The builders of the Tower would have looked across from the ramparts in 1078, and seen a parish building, All Hallows Barking, which was already over 400 years old.
Inside, there is, remarkably, London’s only intact Saxon Arch, and a museum in the crypt that dates to the 8th century.
In the nave, the walls are scorched black – the result of a WW2 incendiary bomb that gutted the whole of the interior. Its destruction also revealed, for the first time in centuries, a Saxon arch, hidden until then behind a brick porch.
Most of the spire survived. A good thing, as it is the tower from which Samuel Pepys watched the Great Fire of 1666. Pepys created a firebreak to save the old church, so we have him to thank for our medieval walls.
The last column on the North aisle also survived, as did the second window from the left on the north wall. In the 1950s, the parishioners were able to copy the medieval Gothic arches you see, as well as the stained-glass windows.
Go down now to the crypt. On your left, a small section of a Roman road, which used to run down to the Thames. And on your right, you are about to walk on the floor of an old Roman house. The deep red tiles are the polished work of a Roman London family.
The museum in the crypt is also worth a visit. Americans are drawn to the original birth certificate of one William Penn, founder of Philadelphia, who was baptised upstairs in 1644. His font is still beside the arch.
Here you can find the wedding certificate of former President John Quincy Adams, who married Louisa Adams in the Lady Chapel. Until Melania Trump, she was the only non-American First Lady. A 12th Century Templar altar from the Holy Land, war memorials and two impossibly beautiful medieval chapels dedicated to St Francis of Assisi and St Clare are other highlights.
You ascend from the museum into the Mariners’ Chapel. This is a living church and this part is dedicated to people lost at sea. Shackleton’s crow’s nest and the models of lost ships remind us of people struggling now in the seas. Former vicar Tubby Clayton, a forerunner in the British Legion, completes the feeling of remembrance and reflection.
Leave via the door opposite the Saxon arch, and before you do, look up and count three bricks down. There you’ll find a consecration cross for a church rebuilt from a Roman house.
This Lunchtime Tourist visit is one for the ages. You will have seen All Hallows hundreds of times, all alone across that road. Next time, go and keep her company.
• For more info go to the Guide Concierge website here