All Hallows by the Tower, on Byward Street in the City of London, was rebuilt after the Blitz under the direction of the celebrated architectural partnership of John Seely, 2nd Baron Mottistone (1899–1963) and Paul Edward Paget (1901–1985), who were responsible for the reconstruction of many of London’s bomb-damaged landmarks. The restored arcades, roof, and steeple follow the proportions of the fifteenth century, yet the design was shaped to reveal the church’s much older story—reaching back nearly two millennia to a Roman villa in Londinium.
From other churches lost in the war came important additions: the pulpit from St Swithin’s (1682), a fine example of Restoration joinery, and the monument to Hieronymus Benalius, an Italian merchant, carved by the Southwark School of Masons with the crisp detail and restrained elegance of the Renaissance. These works speak of London’s mercantile ties and the skill of those who shaped its monuments.
The Lady Chapel is the most authentic survivor. Its thick, smoke-darkened medieval walls still enclose the tomb of Alderman John Croke (1477), one of the few intact fifteenth-century memorials in the City. A sixteenth-century Flemish panel, added after the war, now hangs here, its colour and detail in quiet dialogue with the Gothic carving, binding the church’s medieval heritage to its post-war renewal.
