ST. STEPHEN, COLEMAN STREET
The Church of St. Stephen, Coleman Street, was “at first a Jews’ synagogue, then a parish church, then a chapel to St. Olave’s in the Jewry, now (7 Edward IV.) incorporated as a parish church” (Stow). It is situated on the west side of Coleman Street, near to the south end. It was consumed by the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1311.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, who granted it to the Prior and Convent of Butley; Henry VIII. seized it, and in the Crown it continued till Queen Elizabeth granted it, about 1597, to the parishioners, in whose successors it continued.
Houseling people in 1548 were 880.
The church is plain, long and narrow, without any aisles, measuring 75 feet in length and 35 feet in breadth. The steeple, which rises at the north-west, consists of a stone tower, a lantern, and small spire, the total height being about 65 feet.
Chantries were founded here by: William Grapefig, for which the King granted a licence, August 6, 1321, and to which John de Maderfield was admitted chaplain, June 23, 1324; Rodger le Bourser, for which the King granted his licence, August 1, 1321; Stephen Fraunford and John Essex, both citizens of London, of which John de Bulklegh was chaplain, who died in 1391: founded July 1361; Edward IV., who endowed it with lands, etc., which fetched £50 : 5 : 4 in 1548.
Anthony Munday, the dramatist, arranger of the City pageants and the continuation of Stow’s Survey, who died in 1633, was buried here.
A very large number of legacies and charitable gifts are recorded by Stow, amongst which are: £640, the gift of Christopher Eyre, for the building and maintenance of six almshouses; £100, the gift of Sir Richard Smith, for coals for the poor; £100, the gift of Hugh Capp, for lands for the poor; £400, the gift of Barnard Hyde, to purchase land for six poor people for ever.
In White Alley there were six almshouses built by Christopher Eyre for six poor couples, each of whom were allowed £4 per annum.
Richard Lucas (1648-1715), author of several theological works, was a rector here; also John Davenport (1597-1670), he was one of the leaders of a party who went over to America in 1637, and founded Newhaven in Connecticut. He had a design of founding a university (Yale), but this was not carried into effect until sixty years later.
Over the stuccoed gateway of the churchyard is a skull and cross-bones, with an elaborate panel in relief below, representing the Last Judgment; this is a replica in oak of the original panel, which was removed, for its better preservation, to the Vestry.
As for the present street the most notable building is the Armourers’ Hall.