London History

A curious ceremony marked the end of major building works at Bow Church last Sunday - when the Rector re-interred human remains from the churchyard, disturbed during the relaying of the drains.

At 11.30am last Sunday, 6 May, after the normal Communion Service, the Reverend Michael Peet conducted a short burial service to lay to rest once again the mortal remains of several local people who were originally buried here about 1800, when Bow was still a village in the Middlesex countryside east of London. In the spirit of the early 19th century, the Revd Peet used a Common Prayer Book that once belonged to the splendidly named Hamlet Harrison (Rector of St Mary’s in 1809). He also donned robes appropriate for that period.

The recent work on the roof, gutters and drains of the church, which has been supported by grants from English Heritage and the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, is the first step in a programme of restoration and refurbishment of the building in preparation for the 700th anniversary of the foundation of Bow Church in 2011 and for the Olympic Games the following year. When the games commence, St Mary’s will be a major sight on the ‘Olympic Boulevard’, which will run from the City to the Olympic site at Stratford.

Not everything turned up in the excavations was quite so venerable of course. The builders unearthed a small metal shield which first thoughts had down as a 17th century coffin plate. Scraping away the earth, they the inscription: ‘The public are requested to place waste paper and orange peel in this basket’. A rather charming relic of Victorian times (and manners), buried when the church tower was bombed in 1941.

Further reading:
* The Olympic Boulevard: www.towerhamlets.gov.uk
* The church’s history: www.stmarylebow.co.uk/?History.