XI. ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM, CLERKENWELL.

Of the numerous and varied by-products of the Crusading spirit, none possess a greater fascination and interest than those extraordinary associations known as the Military Orders. The combined influences of fanaticism and military ardour succeeded in uniting in them the ascetic and the soldier, with so marked a success that their vital force was not finally extinguished until ages after the whole fabric of mediævalism had crumbled away and the Knights of Malta were one of those hoary anachronisms which, like the Holy Roman Empire, were swept ruthlessly away by the new broom of the Napoleonic wars. Of the two great orders the Templars, largely, perhaps, owing to their early and tragic end, have always attracted a greater proportion of attention, and in London their name and memory are kept green by the church and precinct which are still with us. The Hospitallers, on the other hand, are in great measure neglected, as comparatively little is left of their London house to show the extent and magnificence of the great dwelling in Clerkenwell of the Grand Prior of England, who took precedence of all the temporal members of the House of Peers.

The loss that English architecture suffered by the destruction of this building can only be appreciated when one considers that the Priory of St. John of Jerusalem stood alone and unique. The requirements of the order demanded a building equally apart from the usual monastic plan and from the purely secular establishment, and the direct and continuous connection of the order with the East would argue the existence of ideas and arrangements more foreign and less insular than are observable in contemporary English work.

Up to the present the information available as to the buildings of the Hospitallers has been practically nil, a couple of drawings by the indefatigable Hollar being the only record of their appearance.

Amongst the MSS. of Loseley Hall, that collection which has already supplied so much information on London topography, is a short document giving a complete list of the buildings with their approximate dimensions. The survey is one of a numerous class taken at the time of the general suppression in order to arrive at a valuation of the lead from the roofs of the dissolved monasteries. That the surveyor did his work with great care and accuracy is evident from the minute nature of some of the entries, and even the gutters and down-pipes are all included in the estimate. The survey, of course, fails us in regard to the arrangement of the various buildings, and so little is known of structures of this class that it is impossible to argue by analogy. The buildings of the order at Rhodes have been the subject of a recent monograph, but here the “auberge” of the English “langue” is amongst the most fragmentary and ruinous, while the palatial dwellings and gorgeous church at Malta have little bearing on the subject, as they are of late construction and the English “language” was then extinct. Schloss Marienburg in Prussia, the headquarters of the Teutonic order, is perhaps the best preserved of these structures: and here the main building follows the ordinary monastic plan, with such modifications as were necessary to secure also a fortress of no mean strength.

The London church of the Hospitallers has passed through more vicissitudes than almost any other building in the city. Founded during the reign of Stephen, the first building had a circular nave 65 ft. in diameter and a short choir, with a crypt under, probably terminating in an apse.⁠[25]

Fig. 72.—PLANS SHOWING DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH.

1. c. 1150 2. c. 1185 3. c. 1540

Drawn by

A. W. Clapham.

Fig. 73.—THE CRYPT, LOOKING EAST.

Photograph by

H. W. Fincham.

Towards the close of the century the proportions of the choir proved insufficient, and a large aisled structure, four bays long, was raised in its place, being duly consecrated by Heraclius, Patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1185. The church remained in this form until the rising of the commons under Wat Tyler in 1381, when the rebels, besides murdering the prior, set the house on fire, “causing it to burn by the space of seven days together, not suffering any to quench it.” The round nave was never rebuilt, its successor being a rectangular three-aisled building with a magnificent tower at the north-west corner. At the dissolution in 1540 the house was not touched, but a few years later the nave with the great tower fell a victim to Protector Somerset. The choir was walled in and again applied to its original purpose during Queen Mary’s reign, but once more desecrated under her successor. It served in turn as a private chapel and a dissenting meeting-house until 1721, when the remains, patched and repaired, became the parish church of St. John’s, Clerkenwell.

The crypt under the present church is the finest of these structures still standing in London. It is of two dates, the western portion of the central aisle being contemporary with the foundation. The quadripartite ribbed vaulting with broad responds and transverse bands between the bays belongs to the simpler type of Norman work. The two eastern bays with the flanking chapels were added when the aisled choir was built above (1185). The pointed vaulting springs from clustered shafts, and the whole is an elegant example of transitional work of the same date and character as the still existing “Round” of the Temple Church. Of the aisled choir above, the outer walls and the bases of the columns remain, but this part of the building underwent extensive alteration under Prior Thomas Docwra (1501–27), who inserted the windows and constructed two buildings against the south wall. Both of these can be identified from the Loseley Survey as the vestry on the east and “My lord Dockerys chappell.” The latter was entered by two wide brick arches piercing the side wall, the earlier buttresses between being pared away at the angles to form semi-octagonal piers.

The nave of the church was also of three aisles, the length of the leads being respectively thirty, twenty-nine, and twenty yards. The discrepancy of the north aisle is accounted for by the presence, at its western end, of the great tower, described by Stow as “a most curious piece of work graven, gilt, and enamelled, to the great beautifying of the city.” The tower was evidently about ten yards square, and its position is still marked by a set-back in the existing building line; the lead from the steeple was about the same in quantity (five fothers) as that covering one of the side aisles.

The later work in the church all dates from the foundation of the parish in 1721. The massive carved hood over the west door is an admirable piece of woodwork of that date, the carved panel of the three Saints John in the door-head being a modern addition.

The simple and unpretentious reredos is a no less satisfactory example of early eighteenth-century work, but the remainder of the building calls for little remark, the plain west front and galleried interior presenting no features of special interest.

Turning now to the domestic portion of the “hospital,” we find an extensive range of embattled buildings, with a pleasantly diversified outline, depicted in Hollar’s view on the north side of the church, and there is little doubt that the principal apartments occupied this side.

Fig. 74.—EAST END OF CRYPT.

Photograph by

H. W. Fincham.

Fig. 75.—SOUTH CHAPEL, CRYPT.

Photograph by

H. W. Fincham.

Fig. 76.—WEST FRONT OF CHURCH.

Photograph by

H. W. Fincham.

Fig. 77.—WEST DOOR OF CHURCH.

Photograph by

H. W. Fincham.

Fig. 78.—FIREPLACE, ST. JOHN’S GATE.

Photograph by

H. W. Fincham.

Remains of vaulted substructures, on the opposite side of St. John’s Square, prove, however, that the buildings extended far beyond the destroyed nave in this direction. The Loseley Survey apparently starts with the buildings shown by Hollar and passes westward. The first building mentioned is a house called the Priests’ Dorter, 120 ft. long, and evidently the dormitory of the knights; next follows the “Armoury,” 54 ft. long, and very narrow, as the roof measures only 9 ft. on either side of the ridge. The great chamber with other apartments formed a block 120 ft. long, with the great staircase, 24 ft. by 18 ft., at one end of it. Connected with these buildings were numerous smaller chambers, the use of which is generally unspecified, but evidently offices, as they include a “stillitorne,” or distillery, a “comptyng house,” and the wardrobe. The Prior’s Lodging contained a parlour and “my lordes chamber,” and the great hall was a magnificent apartment 105 ft. in length.

Towards the end of the list mention is made of “a tyled rooffe which was called the Yeoman’s Dorter,” so that the house at Clerkenwell contained definite accommodation not only for the knights but also for a lower grade, the yeomen, who were perhaps body servants and attendants.

The great gate of the precinct which still spans St. John’s Lane was built by Prior Docwra, and though drastically restored is still in outward appearance largely as he left it. The finely ribbed vault to the gate itself is untouched, and the interior contains many remains of ancient work. Chief among these is the handsome carved fireplace originally in the “Baptist’s Head” tavern, and bearing the arms of Sir Thomas Forster, who died in 1612. The carving on the frieze is of considerable delicacy, and the design is quite unusual.

It is a singular fact that only two representations of members of the order have survived in English monumental art, namely, an emaciated figure to Prior Weston in St. James’s, Clerkenwell, and the effigy of Prior Fresham at Rushton (Northants). The former died within a few months after the suppression of his house, and the remainder of his monument was removed when St. James’s Church was rebuilt.

The smaller establishments of the Knights Hospitallers in England have suffered even more than the mother house, and their remains are few and inconspicuous. The circular church of Little Maplestead, Essex, is, however, an exception, and the building has suffered far more from restoration than decay. The three “Early English” chapels at Moor Hall (Middlesex), Swingfield, and Sutton-at-Hone, Kent, are also relics of the order, and the little establishment at Chibburn, Northumberland, is still almost complete; but though not lacking in individual interest, they were at best but granges of the great dwelling at Clerkenwell, which was the combined recruiting and receiving house of the order in England.

—A. W. C.

NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE, STRAND

Fig. 79.—NORTH FRONT (BEFORE 1874).

Photograph by

London Stereoscopic Co.