The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, who, June 1113, appropriated it to Elsing Spital, with certain restrictions. The living is now in the gift of the parishioners.
Houseling people in 1548 were 371.
The church measures 72 feet in length, 45 feet in breadth, and 38 feet in height, and includes two aisles separated by six Corinthian columns from the nave. Externally, the church is rather imposing. The east front has a handsome cornice and pediment, with carved scrolls and figures. The steeple, which rises at the west, consists of a tower completed by a cornice and parapet. This is surmounted by a square turret in two stages, and a concave roof tapering to a point, with a finial and vane; the total height is about 90 feet. There is a churchyard on the south side, open to the public for several hours daily.
Chantries were founded here: By William Estfelde, augmented by Stephen Bockerell, at the Altar of St. George, for Stephen, Isabella his wife, and William his son, before 1363; by Henry Bedeyk—the advowson thereof was released to Sir John de Beauchamp by John de Bovenden and Katherine his wife, in 1359; by Adam de Bassyng.
A considerable number of citizens of repute were buried in the old church, amongst whom the two most interesting to posterity are Henry Condell (d. 1627) and John Heminge (d. 1630), the fellow-actors of Shakespeare and editors of the folio of 1623. The celebrated divine Edmund Calamy (the elder) was rector here for some years, and was buried in 1666 beneath the ruined building with which he had been so long connected. In the register of the church the marriage of Milton with his second wife Katherine Woodcock, 1656, is entered. The remains of Judge Jeffreys, interred in the Tower after his death there in 1689, were removed here and deposited in a vault beneath the communion table in 1693.
According to Stow, there were no legacies or bequests to the church, but a legacy to the poor, by the Lady Gresham, of £3 per annum, paid by the Mercers Company.
Among other celebrated rectors are Edmund Calamy the younger, and Dr. Kennett (d. 1728), author of Kennett’s Register, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough.
ST. ALPHAGE
At the north end of Aldermanbury at the corner of London Wall, is the Church of St. Alphage. This parish church originally stood on the other side, against the Wall. It is dedicated to St. Alphage, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was canonised in 1012. Its old churchyard may still be seen. It is built on part of the site of the hospital and priory founded by William Elsing in 1329 and 1332. The priory harboured one hundred poor blind men, and suffered suppression along with the rest at the Dissolution. Under Henry VIII. a remnant of the priory church became parochial and was extensively repaired and rebuilt in 1624, 1628, and 1649. It escaped the Great Fire, but was taken down in 1774 and the present building erected by Sir William Staines and opened in 1777. Part of the original structure may still be seen in the porch. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1137.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Deans and Canons of St. Martin’s-le-Grand before 1324, from whom it passed to the Abbot and Convent of Westminster from 1505; the Bishop of Westminster by grant of Henry VIII., January 20, 1540; the Bishop of London by gift of Edward VI. in 1550, confirmed by Mary, March 3, 1553-54, in whose successors it continued.