St Bartholomew-The Great, London

St Bartholomew-The Great is a medieval Church of England church, and its surviving fabric carries Romanesque and Norman work. The church began in 1123 as an Augustinian priory in Smithfield, and it stands beside St Bartholomew’s Hospital, founded through the same institution. Its dedication honours Bartholomew the Apostle.

Look towards the high altar, where Rahere’s tomb monument rises beneath an elaborate canopy. Rahere founded the priory after a vision sent him to establish a church here; the land was then a small cemetery, and Henry I granted it to him. That vision is documented as part of the foundation story, while the message from heaven belongs to the account of his dream rather than to established history.

The monument’s painted effigy rests above the tomb, but the precise status of Rahere’s remains is uncertain: the memorial was made about 250 years after his death in 1144. The brick clock tower occupies the truncated church’s south-west corner. It was built in 1628 and contains bells cast between 1500 and 1514.

Inside, an oriel window made for Prior William Bolton carries a rebus: a crossbow bolt passing through a tun, turning his name into an image. This church is a Grade I listed building, and its story remains unusually visible in stone, timber, painted plaster, and surviving medieval space.