St Bartholomew the Great



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Welcome to the website of the Priory Church of Saint Bartholomew the Great

Looking down the church from the screen Saint Bartholomew the Great is one of London's oldest churches. It was founded in 1123 as an Augustinian Priory and has been in continuous use as a place of worship since at least 1143. It is an active Anglican/Episcopal Church in that part of London known as the City. The Smithfield area, which includes St Bartholomew's Hospital and Smithfield Market, is popular because of the large number of restaurants, bars and pubs both north and south of the Market. At the heart of it all is a church built when Henry I, son of William the Conqueror, was King of England. It survived the Great Fire of 1666 and the bombs dropped in Zeppelin raids in World War I and during the Blitz in World War II. Today the Church has a reputation not only for wonderful architecture, but also for traditional formal worship, marvellous music and intelligent preaching. It has also appeared in a series of award-winning films including Four Weddings and a Funeral, Shakespeare in Love, The End of the Affair, Amazing Grace, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, and The Other Boleyn Girl. It has also appeared in a number of television programmes including Madame Bovary, The Real Sherlock Holmes, Spooks, and The League of Gentlemen Christmas Special.

The Reverend Martin Dudley BD MSc MTh PhD FSA FRHistS AKC is the 25^th Rector of the Priory Church since the Reformation.

This Week: May 11 ^th to May 17 ^th
Tuesday	:	12.30 pm	Holy Communion
Wednesday	:	5.15 pm	St Bartholomew’s Hospital View Day Evensong
Thursday	:	8.30 am	Holy Communion

This Sunday: May 18 ^th, Trinity Sunday
9.00 am	:	Holy Communion Preacher: The Rector
11.00 am	:	Solemn Eucharist Missa Papæ Marcelli Palestrina O lux et beata trinitas Byrd Preacher: The Rector
12.30 pm		Short guided tour of the church
6.30 pm	:	Choral Evensong and Sermon Wesley in E I saw the Lord Stainer Preacher: The Rector

To return to this page at any time, click on the logo in the top left hand corner

St Bartholomew's in the Apprentice?
Did you spot the Church as the setting for the beginning of Sir Alan's latest Apprentice task? If not you can catch it on BBC iPlayer and see some lovely shots of the Church.

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Bishop Richard at the St Bartholomew's
The Bishop of London, The Rt Revd and Rt Hon. Dr Richard Chartres, was celebrant and preacher at the Solemn Eucharist on 20th April 2008. He baptised four adult candidates from the parish and confirmed them and a further four, together with a candidate from another parish. It was... Read More and see Photos

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Drain Work Completed
£12,000 of work on the church drains has just been completed. In recent years we have made a great deal of progress in getting water off the roof and down the pipes, rather than ... Read More and see Photos

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See the church as you've never seen it before!
A stunning photo taken by Linda Nylind on Good Friday.

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Photographs of Holy Week and Easter
A series of action photos from last year's Holy Week and Easter services from 2007.

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Website Maintenance
The church's website is still under construction and changes are made frequently. If a link does not work or you find a problem on a page, please contact the Website Administrator and the error will be fixed as soon as possible.