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St Ethelreda's is the oldest
pre-Reformation Roman Catholic church in London.
Built in 1291, the early Decorated
church is the only surviving part of the Bishop of Ely's once
extensive London palace. St Ethelreda founded the monastery
at Ely in AD 673. and a pre-Reformation model of Ely
Palace can be seen in the vaulted undercroft of the church.
In 1874 the building was bought
by the Institute of Charity or Rosminians, a Roman Catholic
order founded in 1838 by Antonio Rosmini Serbati. St
Ethelreda's is a rare example of a modern Catholic congregation
occupying a medieval church.
St Ethelreda's is a typical two-storey
medieval private chapel.
From the entrance, into a corridor
on the south side, a flight of steps leads to the aisless,
rectangular upper church. The church is the only
surviving example in London, with parts of Westminster Abbey,
of Gothic architecture from the reign of Edward I.
The interior is dominated by
the five-light east window with its Decorated design of styles
from the 13th and early-14th centuries. The stained
glass was created by Joseph E Nuttgens in 1952.
At the west end of the church
an 1897 screen divides off the first bay and supports the
Lewis organ. In the west window is stained glass by
Charles Blakeman, 1964, depicting the Carthusian monks of
nearby London Charterhouse, martyred in 1535 for denying Henry
VIII's supremacy over the church. The simple chapel
is lined with statues of Catholic martyrs, designed by Mary
Blakeman in 1962 - 64, whilst a gabled reliquary at the east
end contains a portion of St Ethelreda's hand below a statue
of the patroness.
The gardens of St Ethelreda were
said to produce the finest strawberries in London and were
mentioned in Shakespeare's Richard III. A 'Strawberry
Fayre' is held every June in Ely Place for charity.
Admission free
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Chancery Lane