Austin Friars, ca.1884

From: Henry Dixon & Son

RA Collection: Art

""Then next," says Stowe, "have you the Augustine Friars' Church and Churchyard; the entering thereunto by a south gate to the west porch, a very large Church having a most fine spired steeple - small, high, and straight, I have not seen the like: founded by Humphrey Bohun, Earl of Hereford and Essex, in the year 1253." (p.67.) At the Dissolution the house was bestowed on William Paulet, the first Marquis of Winchester, and from the residence built by him on the site of the Friars' house, cloister and gardens, years ago; the name still survives. "The Friars' Church", says Stow, "he pulled not down, but the west end thereof, enclosed from the steeple and choir, was in the year 1550 granted to the Dutch nation in London, to be their preaching place." The Church, rebuilt after a fire in 1862, still remains the Dutch Church."

The above description, by Alfred Marks, was taken from the letterpress which accompanies the photographs.