The present church is divided into a nave and side aisles by Corinthian columns, and contains galleries on the north, south, and west sides respectively. The building is of brick. The tower rises at the west, crowned by a turret. There is a façade of four Ionic columns on the east side, constructed in 1831. The churchyard is of considerable size and extends to the south and west of the church; it is open to the public and is well laid out.
Chantries were founded here: For Thomas de Lilsington and Lucy his wife; by John Bothe. Here was the Brotherhood of Holy Trinity at that altar in the south part of the which, and for which the King granted a licence to Lady Johanna Asteley, Robert Cawode, and Thomas Smythe, sen., July 9, 1446.
The oldest monument remaining is that of Dame Anne Packington, a benefactress to the parish, who died in 1563. There are also monuments to Sir John Micklethwait, President of the College of Physicians, and Dr. Bernard, also a medical practitioner of the seventeenth century; to Richard Chiswell, principal bookseller of his time, who died in 1711; and to Daniel Wray, F.R.S., F.S.A., one of the original Trustees of the British Museum and friend of the poets Dyer and Akenside.
The charitable gifts belonging to this parish recorded by Stow are very numerous. Richard Chiswell, bookseller, was the donor of £50 to the schools at his death; Mrs. Hannah Jones of £60 in all during her life and at her death.
Fifty boys and fifty girls were clothed and educated by subscription.
The churchyard has been converted into a pleasant garden with smooth grass plots and irregularly growing trees, and is locally known as the Postmen’s Park. In the Daily Chronicle of April 16, 1896, a condensation of a speech by Mr. Norman, senior, churchwarden of St. Botolph Without, appeared, part of which was as follows:
“The land in question had been let by the Charity Commissioners for building in spite of the protests of the parishioners. It was in digging for foundations that an enormous quantity of human remains came to light, and the workmen at last became disgusted and refused to remove any more the masses of bones disturbed. The building lessees, however, determined to go on and legal proceedings were taken. The result was a declaration by the judge that although about one half of the site was a portion of the churchyard, technically, the whole site had now been dealt with in such a way as to enable the central governing body to build upon it.
“Many tons of human remains were still unexcavated, while a vast quantity piled pell-mell against the church tower—preparatory to the intended removal—had been covered with a few inches of earth. It seemed impossible that the central governing body should now treat the ground as a building site, especially as one of their principal duties was the preservation of open spaces where they were most wanted, viz. in the heart of the City, besides which they had now vested in them the whole of the parish property of the value of about £100,000. He had every hope that they would see their way to foregoing the small profit derivable from letting the site for building purposes, and he believed there was now a probability of the ground being secured for the public, in which event the churchyard garden would not only be preserved, but enlarged and greatly improved.”
On the west side of St. Martin’s Lane, Aldersgate, near Blowbladder Street stood a great house called Northumberland House, which at one time belonged to the Percies. Henry IV. gave it to the Queen and it was called her wardrobe; in Stow’s time it was a printing house.
In Bull and Mouth Street stood the Bull and Mouth Inn. It became one of the famous coaching inns of London.