Houseling people in 1548 were 148.
The church measures 82 feet in length, 71 feet in breadth, and 39 feet in height. It contains only one aisle, on the north side, separated from the rest of the building by Corinthian columns. Above the columns is a richly worked entablature, which is continued all round the church. The east front has a façade formed by four Corinthian columns with entablature, supporting the pediment. The tower, which is three storied, is surmounted by a square turret, supporting a square pedestal, and above this by an octagonal spirelet with a ball and vane; the vane is in the form of St. Laurence’s emblem, the gridiron. The total height is 160 feet.
Chantries were founded here: For William de Kancia at the Altar of St. John, July 10, 1321; by Thomas Wytton at the Altar of Virgin Mary, the endowment of which fetched £8 : 4 : 8 in 1548, when Thomas Sandlord was chaplain; by William Myldreth at the Altar of St. Michael the Archangel, the endowment of which yielded £7 : 6 : 8 in 1548, when Rowland Robynsonne was chaplain; by Simon Bonyngton, whose endowment fetched £22 : 13 : 4 in 1548 when Thomas Sylvester was chaplain; by Simon Bartlett, whose endowment yielded £5 : 4 : 8 in 1548, when Thomas Ballard was chaplain; by Simon Gosseham, for two chaplains, whose endowment fetched £14 : 6 : 8 in 1548, when Thomas Begley and Henry Whorleston were the priests.
Pictorial Agency.
ST. LAWRENCE, JEWRY
The old church was the burying-place of a considerable number of eminent citizens. Among them were: Richard Rich, ancestor of the Earls of Warwick and Holland, who died in 1469; Sir Geffney Bullen, Lord Mayor in 1459 and great-great-grandfather to Queen Elizabeth; Sir Richard Gresham, Lord Mayor in 1537 and father of Sir Thomas Gresham; Sir Michael Dormer, Lord Mayor in 1541; Roger Thorney, who founded a Fellowship at Jesus College, Cambridge; Dame Alice Avenon, a benefactress to the parish. Against the west wall there is a monument displaying three busts, in memory of Alderman Sir William Halliday, sheriff in 1617; this was erected in 1687 by Dame Margaret Hungerford in place of that destroyed by the Fire. Dr. John Wilkins, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, and vicar here in 1662, was buried under the north wall of the chancel. There are monuments also to John Tillotson, lecturer here for some years, and to Dr. Benjamin Whichcote, the celebrated preacher, who succeeded Wilkins as vicar. On the western part of the south wall a large monument commemorates Mrs. Sarah Scott, who died in 1750, leaving £700 for parish purposes. Sir John Langham was a donor of £250 for the purpose of church repairing, etc., and no gifts or bequests belonging to the parish are recorded by Stow, except two weekly lectures each at £30 per annum, the donors of which are not stated by him. There was one Grammar School, kept over the vestry. William Bell, Master of Balliol College, Oxford, in 1494 was a rector here; also William White, Master of Balliol College, Oxford 1125-39; Edward Reynolds (1629-1698), Bishop of Norwich; Seth Ward (1617-1689), Bishop of Exeter; John Mapletoft (1631-1721), President of Zion College; and Benjamin Morgan Cowie (1816-1900), Dean of Exeter.
Gresham College stands at the end of a row of uniform plaster-faced houses. The College itself is a great yellow-plastered building with disproportionately heavy cornice and rigid balconies.
Drawn by J. Coney.
SS. ANNE AND AGNES
In Guildhall Yard is a fine view of the ornamental gateway of the Guildhall. On the east is the Guildhall Tavern, and on the west, beyond the church, is an open space, formerly the churchyard, with a few plane-trees dotted about, and a fountain of Gothic design, erected in 1866, with statues upon it representing St. Lawrence and the Magdalene.