Treasure-houses of the nation

Britain needs to decide on the future of our great churches — and what we want them to be

MY CHURCH TURNS 900 this month. Nine hundred years is a lot. You feel the transience of your time very strongly when your institution celebrates its nonacentennial. Even my long-reigning predecessor, Rector Abbiss, who finished his 65-year incumbency in 1884 still wearing the ecclesiastical periwig, barely served for seven per cent of the church’s life. And what a lot has gone on in St Bartholomew the Great in those nine hundred years. The church has been an Augustianian Friary, a home for Sir Richard Rich, a Dominican Friary, a Presbyterian Church and an ordinary C of E Parish Church. Its gate witnessed the Peasants’ Revolt, the execution of William Wallace and the burnings at the stake of both Catholics and Protestants. Parts of it have been hived off and restored…

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The Critic (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2023

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