LHK: Medieval & Tudor Canonical Priories & Collegiate Churches in London

David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History for Kids

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in Medieval & Tudor London

In medieval & Tudor times, there were lots of monasteries within and immediately surrounding the walls of the City of London. A few of them started back in Saxon times. They were all shut down by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 1530s. Some were lived in by monks. Most of them were the homes of canons:

St. Paul's Cathedral was a collegiate church as well as a cathedral. It housed the Shrine of St. Erkenwald and was the centre of London life. During the Dissolution, the canons were sent away and the monastic buildings were sold off as shops. St. Paul's School carried on though.
Holy Trinity Priory Aldgate was the first monastery to be closed in London. The Abbot was unpopular because he was one of the Aldermen who ran the City. The church was offered to the locals for their parish church, but they turned it down. It was turned in a block of flats. Two of King Stephen's children were buried there.
St. Martin le Grand was a place of sanctuary where lots of criminals hid out. A man accused of killing the Princes in the Tower was amongst them. In Edward I's reign, the curfew bell for the City was rung there. After the canons left, the buildings were used for making the famous St. Martin's Lace.
The Priory of St. Bartholomew the Great at Smithfield housed the Shrine of its founder, Rahere, Court Jester to Henry I. It became famous for holding St. Bartholomew's Fair. The buildings eventually became houses and shops. The choir of the church survives today as a parish church, but the nave was pulled down.
The church for the priory of St. Mary Overie survived as a parish church and is now Southwark Cathedral. The priory ran St. Thomas' Hospital. King James I of Scotland was married in the church. During the Catholic Mary Tudor's reign, Bishop Gardiner held court there & condemned 7 Protestant martyrs to be burnt to death.
St. Mary's Clerkenwell was a nunnery for Austin canonesses. They owned an awful lot of land all over the country. The church survived as the parish church of St. James until it was completely rebuilt in 1788.