At the heart of the Barbican, where the gate of Cripplegate once stood, St Giles still raises its Gothic tower among the modern concrete towers. Rebuilt in the late fourteenth century, this parish church was, in Elizabethan times, at the centre of a populous and lively parish — and the last home of several great figures of the age.
A parish at the heart of Elizabethan London
Rebuilt in Perpendicular Gothic in 1394, damaged by fire in 1545, St Giles served one of the busiest districts of the Elizabethan City. Its tower and nave, restored after the destruction of the Blitz, keep the silhouette of the church where craftsmen, merchants and actors thronged. It was here that some of the threads of the English Renaissance were tied: literature, exploration and theatre cross in the parish registers.
Foxe, Frobisher and Shakespeare
Three illustrious names attach to St Giles. John Foxe (died 1587), author of the famous Book of Martyrs (Acts and Monuments), a monument of Protestant memory, was buried here. The explorer Sir Martin Frobisher — seeker of the North-West Passage and hero of the fight against the Armada —, brought back mortally wounded from the siege of Brest, was buried here in 1594-1595. Finally William Shakespeare, lodged around 1604 at Silver Street, in the parish, is said to have stood witness at the baptism of his brother Edmund's children. To see: the Perpendicular tower and nave, the burials and memorials of Foxe and Frobisher, and the interpretation of the Shakespearean links.
Did you know?
The body of the explorer Martin Frobisher was, it is said, shared between two towns: wounded at the siege of Brest in 1594, he died at Plymouth, where his entrails were buried, while his body was brought back to London to rest at St Giles-without-Cripplegate. The navigator of the far North thus ended his voyage in two ports.
Notes
St Giles-without-Cripplegate lies on Fore Street, in the Barbican, City of London; a working church, restored after the Blitz. Usually free to enter.
Quiz
- Which author of the 'Book of Martyrs' is buried here?
- John Foxe
- John Knox
- William Tyndale
- Which explorer was buried here in 1594-1595?
- Sir Martin Frobisher
- Francis Drake
- Walter Raleigh
- Which playwright was a Cripplegate parishioner around 1604?
- William Shakespeare
- Ben Jonson
- Christopher Marlowe