Saint Elsyng Spital

Elsyng is a saint in name only. William Elsyng who built this church in 1330 was never canonised, although to most people he was of saintly character.

These are the ruins of the so called St Elsyng Spital on London Wall in London. This is part of my recent London photo walk to see what I can see. We've already seen The Globe and an underground section of Roman London's city wall.

This evocative ruin is all the more impressive for its location wedged between the glass towers of this busy financial hub of a mega city. It is always a wonder that small remnants of ancient history manage to survive for hundreds of years while all around them changes.

Following the edge of the Barbican complex, where a signature feature are aerial walkways, these ruins are the remains of what was once a large scale charitable institution. In 1330 William Elsyng, a London merchant, founded a hospital right here. The hospital provided shelter, and spiritual and physical care for London's homeless blind people. The original meaning of hospital was not exactly the same as today, being more like almshouses, than a specifically medical institution.

The name Spitalfields in London actually originates from one of these hospitals, that of St Mary Spital. Spital itself is an archaic form of hospital.

It's worth saying that today's idea of "poverty" is in no way similar to "poverty" seven hundred years ago. Seven hundred years ago blindness could be a death sentence. People without work or income in some form, literally starved to death.

Terrible illnesses abounded and life expectancy was short, even for the wealthy. The average person lived until they were 30 or 35. That is an adulthood of 15 to 20 years, something hard for us to imagine today. That tended to focus the mind on the hereafter and wealthy people who were God fearing often made charitable use of their spare cash to secure their place in heaven.

Only nineteen years later, William was dead, a victim of the Black Death. It is estimated that in England 40-45% of the population died in the outbreak. He was buried in this churchyard. This ruined tower is all that remains of his hospital and church. Two hundred years later the hospital became a private residence, home of the Master of the King's jewels. That is quite a change of use. The church was bought by the parishioners and remained

In 1774 the church after having gone through many changes over the centuries, was declared unfit for use. The church was subsequently rebuilt keeping this original tower. The body of the church itself was built into the original Roman wall of the city as we'll see in my next post. By 1900 the church was again in a poor state of repair and in 1913 part of it was rebuilt.

After being damaged by bombing in the First World War the church was scheduled for demolition. By 1923 only the original tower remained. The tower featured a small altar and chairs where people could pray, but in 1940 it was gutted by fire after yet more bombing in the Second World War. In 1958 this entire part of the city, massively damaged by bombing, was redeveloped. See my post on the Barbican development right next door.

In 2018 the aerial walkway was added and this whole site was turned into a garden, London Wall Place & St Alphage Gardens. It is a small miracle of survival.