Known as All Saints, Chelsea Old Church is an Anglican church situated on Old Church Street, Chelsea, London, near Albert Bridge. Living and working just round the corner, I have often visited but never actually had a proper tour. So, as I was down there in September, I thought I’d pop in.
It was a beautiful, hot, Sunday afternoon and outside a guide stood enjoying the sunshine. He offered to show me around the church and so we entered the cool, dark interior. Was this where Princess Elizabeth, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Parr and Lady Jane Grey had once actually listened to Mass?
There had been a church on this site since Christianity first came to England, and sometime in the 13th century, a new stone church was erected. The earliest part of the church was the chancel, to which north and south chapels were added around 1325. The nave and the tower did not follow for several centuries, until around 1670.
However, what we see today is a reconstruction, for when a parachute landmine fell nearby in 1941, the blast blew the Tower over onto the church destroying it. Fortunately, it was restored in its entirety using what was left of the original foundations.
I was told that after the battle of Bosworth in 1485, Sir Reginald Bray – who had found Richard III’s crown in a thorn bush – acquired the Manor of Chelsea and with it the private chapel in the church. When Reginald died in 1503, the estate was mainly left to the sons of his younger brother, John, but this was disputed and it was divided between the nephews and Sir William Sandy’s, who had married their cousin.
When Sir Thomas More settled in Chelsea – a rural spot – in about 1520, he built himself a fine house surrounded by beautiful, formal grounds. These stretched down to the River Thames where his barge waited to take him to Westminster or Hampton Court on state business. The Tudors also had a residence in the neighbourhood (called Chelsea Place and sadly demolished in the 18th century) and King Henry VIII, to whom More owed his rise and fall, frequently came to visit. He would spend whole days in the most familiar manner with his learned friend, Thomas, enjoying debates or discussing, among other subjects, astronomy. Today, no trace of either house remain.
More went on to rebuild one of the chapels in the Old Church and the southern aisle was erected at his own cost, in 1528. The date can be found on one of the capitals of the pillars leading to the chancel, which were reputedly designed by Hans Holbein, the court painter. The carvings on the pillars are interpreted as representing aspects of More’s life, such as a bundle of tapers, two crossed candlesticks, a pail of holy water and a missal with clasps. He also donated the communion plate and with a forecast of the coming troubles, remarked, ‘Good men give these things, and bad men will soon take them away.’
Sir Thomas’s association with the church was certainly devout, and he and his family worshipped there regularly. He usually attended Divine service on Sundays and very often assisted at the celebration of Mass. The Duke of Norfolk, coming one day to dine with him during his chancellorship, found him in church wearing a surplice and singing in the choir. ‘God's body, my Lord Chancellor!’ cried the duke, as they returned to his house. ‘What! A parish clerk! A parish clerk! You dishonour the king and his office.’ ‘Nay,’ replied Sir Thomas, ‘you may not think your master and mine will be offended with me for serving God, his master, or thereby count his office dishonoured.’
Later, however, Sir Thomas did offend the king, and when he felt he could not accept King Henry as the head of the church, he resigned his office of Lord Chancellor and retired to Chelsea. There in the peace and quiet, he erected a monument and tomb in the church for his first wife, and then, when the time came, for himself and his second wife. But his peace was not to last long. Unable to accept the Act of Supremacy, he was tried and executed. Sadly, his burial wishes were not met, for his body was laid to rest in the church of St Peter ad Vincula, at the Tower of London, in an unmarked grave, and his head placed on London Bridge. His daughter, Margaret, rescued his head and it now rests in the Roper family vault at St. Dunstan’s, Canterbury. Margaret, herself, most likely lies in the tomb at Chelsea. Standing by the tomb I was told that, by some miracle, the Thomas More Chapel suffered the least damage from the bombing. The plaster at the West end of the chapel was most certainly destroyed, but it revealed one of the oak roof frames and this was left uncovered to show an example of pre-Tudor building work.
Chelsea Old Church is claimed to have the most impressive array of monuments outside Westminster Abbey. Many were very badly damaged, but restored by the architect, Mr. W. Godfrey. In one corner of the More Chapel is the tomb of Jane Guildford, Duchess of Northumberland, mother-in-law of Lady Jane Grey when Jane married Guildford Dudley.
There are also the Chained Books, and these are the only such example in any London church, the gift of Sir Hans Sloane, Irish physician and collector (1661-1753). They consist of the Vinegar Bible (a version of the King James bible printed in 1717), two volumes of Foxe's Book of Martyrs (1684), a Prayer Book (1723) and Homilies (1683).
The Vinegar Bible is called such because the chapter heading in Luke 20 should read ‘The parable of the vineyard.’ Instead it reads, ‘the parable of the vinegar’ hence the title the Vinegar Bible. When the bible was published in 1717 it was criticised by the clergy for its misspellings.
I spent a few hours here and I would recommend anyone visiting London tries to pop in on a Sunday afternoon. Behind the church there is a pretty garden and Roper's Garden, across Old Church Street from the West door, is believed to have been part of the garden of More's estate in Chelsea. At the front stands the statue of Sir Thomas More by L. Cubitt Bevis which was erected in 1969. If you do visit, it is only a stone’s throw away from the King’s Road, where you can enjoy afternoon tea at any one of its numerous cafés. A delightful end to a delightful afternoon.
Finally, if you would like to read more about this church, an important history has been published. It is called ‘A History of Chelsea Old Church, the Church that refused to die’. It is written by Alan Russet and Tom Pocock and the foreword is by John Simpson CBE, World Affairs Editor of the BBC. The book is beautifully illustrated and costs £25.
Chelsea Old Church today
Part of the More Chapel
Emblems of More's public office
The memorial to the Duchess of Northumberland
The Chained Books