This important book presents a comprehensive history of St Bartholomewthe Great, the oldest parish church in London. In 2023, the Priory Church andHospital will celebrate the 900th anniversary of their foundation.At the heart of the Smithfield area, with its hospital, pubs, restaurants and market,is a church built when Henry I, son of William the Conqueror, was King of England.Overlooking the fields where kings confronted rebellions, knights jousted andheretics were burnt, St Bartholomew’s Priory and Hospital played a central role inthe history of medieval London.Partially torn down by order of Henry VIII during the Dissolution of theMonasteries, the Priory was reborn as a parish church. It served the City of Londonthrough the tumultuous years of the Reformation and the Civil War and has playedhost to many of London’s most famous residents. William Hogarth was baptizedin its font. Charles Wesley preached in its pulpit. Benjamin Franklin served as aprinter’s apprentice in its former Lady Chapel. John Betjeman lived across the streetand memorialized it in his poetry.The history of St Bartholomew’s is a tale of miraculous survival and continualrenewal. It came out unscathed from the Great Fire of 1666 and the bombs droppedin Zeppelin raids in World War I and during the Blitz in World War II. Its splendidRomanesque core has been added to by each successive generation.This volume – the first comprehensive history of the Church since 1921 – willsurvey the art, architecture and historical significance of the City of London’s oldestparish church in a scholarly, yet accessible tone. Richly illustrated, this book willappeal to those interested in the history of the City of London, in medieval andVictorian church architecture, in funerary monuments, and in the history of theChurch of England.