Olave (later styled “Olaf”) was the King of Norway who supported the Anglo-Saxon King Ethelred over Danish King Cnute at the Battle of London Bridge in 1014. As a result of the battle, Ethelred reclaimed the British throne from the Danes.
After Olav’s death in 1030, locals canonized him and built a wooden church on Hart Street around 1050. Supporters chose the location due to its proximity to the site of the 1014 battle. Builders renovated the church in stone during the medieval period. Today, it stands as a rare pre-fire survivor in the city of London.
Getting There
Location: 8 Hart Street, London EC3R 7A –
Just a stone’s throw from the Tower of London this is a great site to visit while you’re in the area.
Transport: Tower Hill Tube Stop or Fenchurch Street Rail Station
Highlights
Must-See:
- Grim entryway off Seething Lane
- 17th century interior memorials
- 15th century crypt
Stone and Brick
The church survived the Great Fire of 1666. However, WWII air raids caused heavy damage. As a result, the site you visit today is a combination of medieval stone and modern materials. But don’t let that detract from your visit. There is still plenty to see!
In the 13th century, the original wooden church was replaced with a stone structure which was itself rebuilt in 1450. The crypt dates from this period.
I like that the repairs made following the bomb damage doesn’t try to match the medieval construction. The church has had a long history, and that story is told through the variation in building materials you see at the site.
In 1658, craftsmen added a gate to the churchyard entrance. The carving reminds those who enter that “Christus vivere” – Christ Lives, and that “Mors mihi lucrum” – Death is My Gain.
Charles Dickens saw the somber gate and dubbed the church “St Ghastly Grim” in his collection of essays titled “The Uncommercial Traveler”. A bit of foreshadowing, perhaps, with what was soon to come.
Plague and Fire
The 1660’s were a rough time for London. The Black Death ravaged the city mid-decade; the worst outbreak since 1348. The Olave graveyard holds over 350 plague victims from this period. An estimated 15% of the city died during the outbreak.
Yet even with this disaster, the city remained overcrowded and congested. Many of the buildings in London were still made from wood and very close together. On the night of September 2, 1666, the King’s Baker went to bed without fully extinguishing his oven’s fire.
Sparks from the fire ignited sacks of flour which quickly grew into the massive Great Fire of London. It took three days for the city to get the fire under control. Fire breaks and shifting winds spared St Olave’s from destruction.
Samuel Pepys, Peter Turner and ... James Dean?!
Perhaps the most famous parishioner is Samuel Pepys, a naval administrator who kept a diary for nearly a decade, giving us a fantastic first-hand account of the plague, the fire and general life in Reformation England.
Pepys left us more than a million words from 1660 to 1669 when his eyesight began to fail him.
There’s a cool website of Pepys’ diary where you can read entries and learn a lot more about London in this period.
Connection to the Boston Tea Party
I didn’t learn this until after my visit, but there is a memorial to two parishioners who were grocers on nearby Fenchurch Street. If you visit, check the tower for the memorials to Monkhouse Davison and Abraham Newman. Their crates of tea were famously dumped into Boston Harbor by the rowdy American colonists in 1773!
Two designs appropriate for a visit to St. Olave’s are available in my Etsy shop. Author Daniel Defoe survived the 1665 outbreak as a child and wrote a dramatic history later in life, where the character closes with a somber poem of his ordeal. The other shirt captures a common medieval graveyard phrase, “Memento Mori”, which reminds us that we all eventually die.
