All Hallows by the Tower: Pepys's Lookout
Why is it significant?
In front of you stands All Hallows by the Tower, with a sturdy brick tower topped by a slim copper-green spire. That brick tower is a rarity in itself: it was built in the late 1650s, under Oliver Cromwell, when almost no churches were being built at all.
Key Facts
| Place | All Hallows by the Tower: Pepys's Lookout |
|---|---|
| Address | All Hallows by the Tower, Byward Street, London EC3R 5BJ, United Kingdom |
| Geo Coordinates | 51.50940, -0.07930 |
| Part of Walk | London Burning: The Great Fire of 1666 and Wren's Phoenix City, from the Tower to St Paul's |
| Generated | Generated |
In front of you stands All Hallows by the Tower, with a sturdy brick tower topped by a slim copper-green spire. That brick tower is a rarity in itself: it was built in the late 1650s, under Oliver Cromwell, when almost no churches were being built at all.
This is the oldest church in the City of London. It was founded in 675 by the great Abbey of Barking, which is why for centuries Londoners called it All Hallows Barking. Inside, a Saxon arch still stands, built partly out of reused Roman tiles. It is older than the Tower across the road.
On the morning of Wednesday the 5th of September 1666, Samuel Pepys climbed up this very tower. The church had only just been saved: the fire had scorched its porch, and sailors from the naval dockyards had blown up the houses around it to stop the flames. From the top Pepys looked west across the city and wrote that it was the saddest sight of desolation that he ever saw. Everywhere, fires still burning in cellars and smoking ruins as far as he could see.
This church has also seen the end of many lives. Tower Hill, where traitors were beheaded, is just outside, and the bodies of the executed were often brought here for burial. Archbishop William Laud lay here for nearly twenty years before he was moved to Oxford. But it has happier records too: William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, was baptised here in 1644, and in 1797 John Quincy Adams, the future American president, married his wife here.
In the crypt there is a small museum, with a fragment of Roman pavement found right under the church. German bombs gutted the building in 1940, and the copper spire was added only when it was rebuilt after the war. Walk west along Great Tower Street, then turn left down St Dunstan's Hill, to a church that has lost its roof and found a garden.