3-043-869 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Smithfield Martyrs' Memorial Church, [London], 1871. 'This building...stands in St. John-street-road...in the parish of St. James, Clerkenwell...The style of architecture is Early Gothic, from the designs of Mr. E. L. Blackburne, F.S.A. Outside the building are placed seventeen statues of the English Protestant martyrs and five bas-reliefs of scenes of martyrdom...The interior will afford sitting accommodation for about 1000 persons, and half the seats are to be free...Round the walls are ornamental scrolls, on which are recorded the names, accusations, dates of death, and memorable words of the sixty-six persons who were burnt in Smithfield for their religion, under the reigns of the House of Lancaster and House of Tudor, commencing with William Sautre, who suffered in 1400, and finishing with Roger Holland, who was burnt on June 27, 1558...The...district contains a population of about 8000, mostly of the working classes and many very poor. The new church has been built at a cost of £8000, to which the Bishop of London's Fund has contributed £1500, the Incorporated Church Building Society, £100, and the London Diocesan Church Building Society, £100'. The church was demolished after the Second World War, partly as a result of bomb damage. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.