Early History
The church, named after the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, is first mentioned in 1137. It was grandly re-built in 1450 only to be badly damaged in the Great Fire of 1666. The burnt out shell was rebuilt by Wren’s masons in 1670-71. St Sepulchre’s now stands as the largest church in the city of London.
Famous in folklore, the twelve “Bells of Old Bailey” are remembered in the rhyme “Oranges and Lemons”. St Sepulchre’s great bell tolled as condemned men passed from Newgate prison towards the gallows.
On midnight of an execution day, St Sepulchre’s Bellman would pass by an underground passage to Newgate Prison and ring twelve double tolls to the prisoner on the Execution Bell, whilst reciting a rhymed reminder that the day of execution had come. The hand bell is now displayed under glass in the church, alongside the rhyme that was read to prisoners.
Captain John Smith, first governor of the State of Virginia, USA, is buried in the South aisle of the church. Smith sailed to America in “the little ships” in 1607 where he was captured by Indians and freed by Princess Pocahontas. He is commemorated in a beautiful stained-glass window on the South wall.