The present church is built in the Perpendicular style, and contains two side aisles separated from the central portion by clustered columns and pointed arches with a clerestory above. It is one of the smallest of the City churches being a square of only 54 feet.
There are many interesting monuments, the most ancient of which is a brass in memory of Sir Richard Haddon, mercer, twice Lord Mayor (1506 and 1512). On the east wall of the south aisle William Turner is commemorated, Dean of Wells and physician to Protector Somerset; he was the author of a botanical book, Herbal, the first of its kind published in English. Against the north wall there is a monument to Sir Andrew Riccard (d. 1672), one of the greatest merchants of his age. The most interesting person connected with this church is Samuel Pepys, the Diarist, Secretary to the Admiralty in 1673, and President of the Royal Society 1684-85. He was buried here in 1703, and a monument erected to him in 1884 and unveiled by the late James Russell Lowell. His colleague, Admiral Sir John Mennis, is also commemorated by a tablet at the south end of the chancel; he was Comptroller of the Navy and part author of Musarum Deliciae. In the parish register the baptism of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, is entered; he commanded the parliamentary forces at the outbreak of the Civil War.
The most notable of the benefactors to this parish were: Sir John Worstenholm, donor of £100; Andrew Windsores, of £6 : 13 : 4; Sir James Dean, of £5 : 4s.
In Crutched Friars there were fifteen almshouses belonging to the Drapers Company for as many decayed freemen of that Company and their wives, to whom 5s. per month was allowed and one load of coals per annum. In Gunpowder Alley there were ten almshouses (the gift of Lord Banyan in 1631, but surrendered to the parish by 1732), which allowed each of their poor in that place 1s. to 4s. per week and two, three, or four bushels of coals at Christmas.
Pictorial Agency.
PEPYS’ CHURCH (ST. OLAVE, HART STREET)
Dr. Daniel Mills, to whom Samuel Pepys frequently refers in his Diary, was rector here for thirty-two years.
Seething Lane betrays some characteristic features. A pair of similar eighteenth-century houses with porches stand on each side of the entrance to Catherine Court. Opposite them are old grimy warehouses. Succeeding these are huge buildings known as Corn Exchange Chambers. No. 40 on the east is an old stuccoed house, and facing the church are more towering warehouses. The churchyard is a quaint little spot, with many tombstones inclining at every imaginary angle and a few twisted young elm-trees. The gateway is curious, being surmounted by a peculiar chevaux de frise of spikes and ornamented by three stuccoed skulls.
Catherine Court is delightful in its completeness. Every house in the two long sober coloured rows, which face one another across a narrow flagged space, is of the same date. The date is given on an oval slab set in the wall at the east end, “Catherine Court, Anno Dom. 1725.”