Building    From 1147  To 1825

St Katharine by the Tower / Royal Foundation of St Katharine

Categories: Religion

Full name: Royal Hospital and Collegiate Church of St. Katharine by the Tower.

This was a medieval church and hospital founded by Queen Matilda of Boulogne, wife of King Stephen. From 1273 onwards patronage was always held by the queen.  By the nineteenth century it had grown to a village providing refuge to immigrants and to the poor. Considered insanitary and located close to the City this was the site chosen for new docks. This happened during a period that there was no queen available to be patron and so, unprotected, "old Kate" was demolished. The Docks company funded the construction of a chapel and other buildings in Regent's Park.  

1948 some buildings were badly damaged by bombs, the Foundation was reconstituted as the Royal Foundation of St Katharine and decided to return to the East End, to the war-damaged site of St James Ratcliff.  The Regents Park church was sold to the Danish Church. The complex story is told very well at our picture source and at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine (2022: both sites now inaccessible.)

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
St Katharine by the Tower / Royal Foundation of St Katharine

Commemorated ati

St Katharine by the Tower

Very similar iron plaques can be found on mooring bollards around the docks. ...

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Other Subjects

Henry Geard

Henry Geard

One of the Deacons at the Wandsworth chapel who provided lectures and popular entertainments during the week for the working classes.  Active in 1883.

Person, Religion

1 memorial
Esther John

Esther John

Presbyterian evangelist from Pakistan, was allegedly killed by a Muslim fanatic.

Person, Religion, Tragedy, Pakistan

1 memorial
Church of St Marylebone

Church of St Marylebone

Old parish church , built 1400, rebuilt 1741, demolished 1949.

Building, Religion

1 memorial
Rev. W. H. Hornby Steer

Rev. W. H. Hornby Steer

Born Birkenhead. Vicar of St Philips Lambeth 1898 - 1910. Biblical Studies: The Rev. W. H. Hornby Steer, MA, St John's College, Cambridge, Senior Curate of St Jude's Church, South Kensington, has ...

Person, Religion

1 memorial
Stratford Martyrs

Stratford Martyrs

The church website has done a very thorough job on the history not just of the memorial but the church and the area so we quote them here on the background to the martyrs: "In 1553 Queen Mary Tudor...

Group, Execution, Religion

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Marie Taglioni

Marie Taglioni

Ballet dancer. Born Stockholm to an Italian father and Swedish mother, both in the dancing world. From an early age she lived around Europe. First appeared in London in 1829. She was aclaimed in he...

Person, Dance, France, Italy, Sweden

1 memorial
Staple Inn

Staple Inn

The last surviving Inn of Chancery. Attached to Gray's Inn. Things changed over time but, basically, Inns of Court were places where barristers lodged and worked, while Inns of Chancery were plac...

Building, Community / Clubs, Law

1 memorial
Whitecross Debtors' Prison

Whitecross Debtors' Prison

EC2, Whitecross Street

Whitecross Debtors' Prison, 1813 - 1870 Warm-hearted Nell Gwynne, in her will, desired her natural son, the Duke of St. Albans, to lay ou...

3 subjects commemorated, 1 creator