All Hallows Lombard Street

All Hallows Lombard Street was a parish church in the City of London.

Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt following the Great Fire of London but was demolished in 1937. Its tower was reconstructed in Twickenham as part of the new church of All Hallows.

All Hallows is first recorded in 1054. John Stow in the 16th century described it as ’All Hallows Grasse Church’ because "the grass market went down that way, when that street was far broader than now it is".

The church was rebuilt around the beginning of the 16th century - the south aisle is recorded as having been completed in 1516. The bell tower was completed in 1544 and the stone porch from the dissolved monastery of St John of Jerusalem - Clerkenwell Priory - was used.

All Hallows was badly damaged in the Great Fire of 1666. The old building was replaced with a new one designed by the office of Sir Christopher Wren and completed in 1694.

In the 1830s, George Godwin noted that the church was so hemmed in by other buildings that "it is with difficulty discovered, even when looked for; it has in consequence been called ’the invisible church’."

The church was 84 feet long and 52 feet wide. A stone tower stood at the west end of the south wall. As seen in the faithful rebuilding in Twickenham, the tower has three storeys.

By the late nineteenth century, the residential population of the City was falling. After the First World War the church was earmarked for demolition, despite fierce opposition. In 1937 the church, which had been found to be unsafe, was demolished and Wren’s tower, porch and the furnishings were reused in the construction of All Hallows Twickenham.

Ball Alley, which connected the church with Lombard Street and George Yard is part of the modern redevelopment.