St Mary Matfelon

St Mary's, Whitechapel
St Mary Matfelon Church, Whitechapel
St Mary's Church, Whitechapel,
after the fire in 1880
St Mary's, Whitechapel is located in Greater London
St Mary's, Whitechapel
St Mary's, Whitechapel
Location in London
51°30′59″N 0°04′07″W / 51.5163°N 0.0686°W / 51.5163; -0.0686
LocationWhitechapel, London
CountryEngland
DenominationChurch of England
History
Statusparish church
Architecture
Functional statusdefunct
Completed1329
Administration
ProvinceCanterbury
DioceseLondon
ArchdeaconryStepney
DeaneryTower Hamlets

St Mary Matfelon church, popularly known as St Mary's, Whitechapel, was a Catholic then after the English Reformation a Church of England parish church on Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel, London (in the county of Middlesex until 1889). It is repeatedly supposed by many works and oral histories that the church was covered in a lime whitewash, which gave the chapelry (district) its common name, Whitechapel. Around 1320, it became called St Mary Matfelon. About that time it became a parish in its own right but its priest for many years was a nominee of the Rector of Stepney. The church's earliest known priest was Hugh de Fulbourne in 1329. Last rebuilt in the 19th century, the church was firebombed during the Blitz leading to its demolition in 1952. Its nave's stone footprint and graveyard – its headstones removed – are the basis of Altab Ali Park on the south side of the thoroughfare.[1][2]

  1. ^ Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (eds) (1983) "Whitechapel" in The London Encyclopaedia: 955-6
  2. ^ Andrew Davies (1990) The East End Nobody Knows: 15–16