Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower

Another London Marian shrine not included in Canon Stevenson’s list is that of Our Lady of All Hallows Barking by the Tower. This was a shrine which attracted royal patronage over several centuries.

This famous London church has a rich and long history, for which see the online article from Wikipedia at All Hallows-by-the-Tower and others at All Hallows By The Tower and at All Hallows-by-the-Tower | Historic London Churches

I have only visited it once and found it fascinating as a building which links Roman Londinium to the seventh century conversion and right through to the twentieth century Toc H and the bombing and restoration of the church.  Reading more about it in the last reference below in the Survey of London makes me want to pay another and longer visit.

It is included by Fr Bridgett in his Our Lady’s Dowry. I had intended to copy his account as it gives not only something of the history of the shrine but also an insight into the mindset that underlay and supported it. However on further research I find that his account is replicated with much more in the detailed history of the church from the Survey of London published in 1929. This includes a section on the free-standing chapel and the Royal Chantry and on devotion to the statue of Our Lady. It really repays study and shows just how much can be gleaned about parish life in the middle ages and in the reformation era if records have survived. It can be seen at The history of All Hallows Church: To c.1548 The account continues in the subsequent sections of the online Survey

Our Lady of All Hallows’ Barking Pray for us