St. Olave’s Church
is situated on the east side of Lower Bridge-street, opposite Castle-street. It is a small, oblong structure, in outward appearance much resembling a barn. This church is of great antiquity, having been erected before the Norman Conquest. In the eleventh century it was possessed by the Botelars, by whom it was given, with two houses in the Market-place, to the Abbey of St. Werburgh, in 1101.
After the great civil war, St. Olave’s fell into disuse as a place of public worship, being only employed for baptisms and burials, on which occasions the minister of St. Michael’s officiated. It was, however, re-opened as a parish church about the middle of last century, and continued so until the year 1841, when service in the church was discontinued, and the parish united with that of St. Michael’s.