All Hallows by the Tower

All Hallows by the Tower is London’s oldest church, with a congregation that dates back to 675 AD.  It’s storied past includes being damaged by bombs in World War II, the marriage of John Quincy Adams (1797), and the baptism of William Penn (of 1644).

The church is surrounded by new buildings and the property line is just 20 feet from the building where I am working.  I just thought it was another old church building that needed to be cleaned as I walked past it’s entrance on my way to buy lunch. But today we all got a corporate email inviting employees to a Christmas service, also pointing out that this is London’s (but not England’s!) oldest church.

It is bordered on three sides by narrow bricked alleys and has a gated and well manicured garden that shields worshipers from the city.  The picture below was taken by sticking the camera between the iron fence spikes.