The Great Priory Church of St Bartholomew's, West Smithfield

Rahere, a Frankish price and Augustinian, founded the Priory of St Bartholomew-the-Great in 1123 as he also founded St Bartholomew's Hospital nearby. Having thrived during the medieval period, the priory, as so many other religious orders, was surrended to Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monasteries of the mid-sixteenth century. Parts of it were demolished, parts sold into private ownership and only the choir (annexed by Henry's order into the old parish chuch in order to enlarge it) left for parishoners' worship. For a time the cloisters were used as a stable, and during Georgian times a few other ruins of the priory survived, among them some vaulted passages and the gateway from West Smithfield.