The Whitefriars Crypt in the City of London is the remains of a 14th century medieval priory that belonged to a Carmelite order known as the White Friars.
This site was home to a religious institution in 1253. This crypt, believed to date from the late 14th century, is the only visible remains of a medieval priory that belonged to a Carmelite order known as the White Friars.
At its peak, the priory stretched from Fleet Street to the Thames, bounded by the Temple in the west and Water Lane (now Whitefriars Street) in the east. The ground contained a church, cloisters, garden, and cemetery.
Story
The order, whose members wore white cloaks over their brown robes on formal occasions, had been founded on Mount Carmel (in present-day Israel) in 1150 but expelled from the Holy Land by the Saracens in 1238. Under Richard’s patronage, Earl of Cornwall, the brother of King Henry III, some members of the order sailed to England and, by 1253, had built a small church on Fleet Street. It was replaced by a much larger church a century later.
When Henry VIII dissolved the priory in the mid-16th century, he gave most of the land to his physician, William Butte. The buildings soon fell into disrepair. In fact, this crypt appears to have once been used as a coal cellar. The great hall, meanwhile, became the Whitefriars Playhouse, which housed a succession of troupes of child actors.
Eventually the speculative builders moved in, filling the site with a maze of cheap housing. By the 1830s, when Charles Dickens wrote about the district, the Whitefriars had developed a bad reputation as the last haven for criminals and drunks.
This crypt, which was located below the prior’s (head of the convent) quarters, was unearthed during construction works in 1895. It was cleaned and restored in the 1920s when this area was rebuilt on behalf of the News of the newspaper. World .
Moving
This site was rebuilt again in the late 1980s after News of the World and The Sun had left Fleet Street for Wapping. The crypt, which originally stood on the eastern side of the site, was erected on a concrete raft and moved to its current location. It is possible to see the crypt from outside the building, although there is no direct public access to it.
How to find the Whitefriars Crypt
The closest tube stations are Temple or Blackfriars. Use Journey Planner or the Citymapper app to plan your route on public transportation.
Whitefriars Crypt is located at the rear of the offices of the international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer at 65 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1HS.
Turn off Fleet Street and walk down Bouverie Street. Look out for Magpie Alley on your left. Go inside and when you get to the patio look over the wall into the basement. There are steps on your left so you can get a closer look at the remains of the Whitefriars Crypt.
This information comes from the screen on the site provided by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (the law firm whose offices house the Whitefriars Crypt), used with permission.
