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 A NEWCHURCHMAN'S GUIDE Ta

LONDON

Compiled by

the Rev. Dennis Ducltworth

Refs.

LJ/C - Swedenborgts Last Judgment

(Continuation)

NCH - The New Church Herald

NCL - New Church Life

RF - Hindmarsh' s Rise and Progress

of the Nt.."\Y Church
 A NE'tVCHURCHIviAN r S GUIDE TO LONDON

INTRODUCTION

This little Guide is offered to you with

the vnsh that you ~ill greatly enjoy your visit
to London. For London, as well as being a
wonderful city two thousand years old, is also
rich in its associations for the New~hurchmrol.
Swedenborg came to London up,{ards of eleven
times: here the Arcana was published: here
Swedenborg died: here lived Robert Hindmarsh,
who called together the first receivers of the
Heavenly Doctrines: here was born the organised
New Church: here was the first distinctive New
Church worship, in the little chapel off Great
East Cheap.

Modern London, too, is a centre of the New

Chur ch. The Swedenborg Society has its
headquarters at 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, W.C.1.
Swedenborg House is the home and office of the
Church in many ways. There are six active
societies of the Church in the greater London
area, as well as the New Church College at
Woodford Green, Essex - just aeross the London
County border.

London is big - very big: thirty miles

across. It has grm-m rapidly during the past
~vo centuries. It is many times bigger than
the London Swedenborg lmew. In 1750 London
stretched from Marble Arch to just beyond the
Tower, in a west-to-east direction; and from
(Swedenborg House) to "The Elephant and Castle,
in a north-to-south dll~ection. AlI beyond was
open country. If we compare moùern London, in
size, to a large envelope, then Swedenborg's

( 1)
London was about the size of the stamp!

In the Continuation concerning theLast

Judgment,Swedcnborg vlr'ites of "the noble English
nation." He loved England for its spirit of
freedom, and the consequent "interior
intellectual light" of its people. He was not
blind to the insularity of the British, as when
he notes their readiness "to contract intimacy
with friends of their mm nation, and rarely
w'i. th others." "Englishmen, fi he says, "are
lovers of their country, and zealous for its
glory, but regard foreigners much as a person
looking through a telescope from the roof of
a house regards those outside the city." But
he adds, "they are kind in relieving each
others necessities, and are lovers of sincerity."
It was because of the freedom of the English
press that Swedenborg could publish his works
in London without interference - a privilege
denied to him in his mm country. It is hoped
that those who visit London today will not be
ove!'liihelmed by the prevailing insularity of the
inhabitants, but will find still, in the
historic streets of this great city, a love of
freedom, a little intellectual light, sincerity,
and a general spirit of friendliness and help­
fulness.

D.D. Finchley, 1956.

SWEDENBORG HOUSE

Address - 20/21 Bloomsbury Way, London, W.C.1.

Five-minute Ylalk from Holborn Underground

Station (Central Line): ten-minute walk t'rom
Tottenham Court Road Underground Station
(Central and Northern Lines).

( 2)

Buses 19, 38, and 38A pass the door.

Buses 68, 77, 77A, 188, 196, and others, pass

very near. Most buses running along Oxford

Street and New Oxford Street will be convenient.

It will be well to start our tour of London

at Swedenborg House. The fine premises of the
Swedenborg Society are situated in the heart of
London. Just off the great artery of New Oxford
Street, and fringL~g one of the famous old
squares of' Bloomsbury, they stand in a district
noted for its intellectual and artistic life.
Nearby is the British Museum. Many large
publishing houses are near neighbours. This is
the bookman's London: it is also the traveller's
London, for Bloomsbury abounds with hotels and
boarding-houses, large and small. Many a visitor,
strolling along Bloomsbury V/ay, has paused before
a certain shop window, and caught his first sight
of the name SVlEDENBORG. Yes, Svvedenborg House is
splendidly situnted.

The Swedenborg Society was founded in 1810.

For over forty years i t had no permanent promises.
rts stock of books l'las stored, and its meetings
were held in private houses or public taverns.
In 185~ the Society took on the occupancy of
No. 36 Bloomsbury Street (now No. 1 Bloomsbury
Street). Bloomsbury Street is a turning off
~Je"w Oxford Street - the third on the right beyond
the junction with Bloomsbury Way; and here the
Society dwelt for sevcnty-one years. In 1925,
through the dètermination and generosity of a
nL~ber of people - and especially of I~. David
Wynter, the present large and handsome premises
viere purchased.

Every New Church visitor to London should

make a point of callL~g at, and inspecting,
Swedenborg House. On the ground floor is the

(3)

"shop" .... ~ rather elegant kind of shop, but

nevertheless one in which the Society's
publications may be bought. Do not miss the
shmv-case in the corner, with its interestirig
exhibits. Behind the shop is the Hall - beloved
of aIl New Church Londoners. Classical in style,
and perfectly proportioned, the Hall.will hold
about a hundred-and-fifty people. The portraits
on the wall.include SWedenborg hinself; the
Reverend Samuel Noble, first secretary of the
Society; Dr,J.J.Garth W~lkinson, translator of
many of Swedenborg's scientific works, and
pioneer of British homoeopathy; Robert Hindmarsh,
founder of the New Church organisation; Charles
Higham, the. New Church his torian; and the
Reverend J.F.Potts, famed for his great
~ordance.

In the Marchant Room, on the first floor,

the student will find dcsk, with pen, ink, and
paper, and books of reference aIl around. Next
door is the office - the inner sanctum of the
secretaries, treasurer, and office staff.

The Society's library is housed in the

Wynter Room, on the second flaor. This is a
carefully kept and fully catalogued collection
of Swodenborg's works in aIl editions. Here,
too, m~ be seen Swedenborg's ring, the table he
used in his London lodgings, the Mouravieft
silver-botmd Greek Testament, the Mooki copy of
"The Truc Christian Religion," and other relies.
But the Wynter Room is the committee room of the
Society, and - generally speaking - the
committee room of the Church. The Conference
Council, the New Church College Council, the New
Church Missionary Society, the British Acaderny,
the 1956 General Assembly Committee, and many
other meetings of the Conference and the General
Chur~~, sit round its table. \ïhat plans are put

(4)
forward here! VJhat propositions discussed, and
resolutions passed:

On IlO a.c~ollllt f;hould the visitor omit the

basement. In the Gardiner RClom, surronJlù.ed by
the shelves of the Conference Library, sits the
manager of the New Church Press, ready to sell
or give the booklets and pamphlets published by
that body. In another room in the basement, the
Society keeps its l\.rchives, manuscript
translations, historical material
"Swedenborgiana" , annotated volumes of the
Writings and much correspondence of early New
Church people in this and other European
countries. lmd finally - before climbing the
stairs again - the visitor should peep into the
stock rooms. Here are New Church catacombs ­
rooms illld cellars and corridors, filled from
floor té ceiling with stock - with new and
second-hand volumes, bOW1d and unbound copies,
plates, sheds, packing, string, and sealing
wax: aIl thnt one yrould expect to find "down
below" in an up-to-date and thorough-going
publishing house.

In -1910 the Swedenborg Society celebrated

its centenary;-vith a great congress of New
Church people from many parts of the world
(See the"Transactions of the International
SYvedenborg Congress, Il published by the Society).
The Coneress \Vas houscd in the King's Hall,
Bolborn Restaurant, Kingmvay - immediately
opposite the Bolborn Underground Station. The
building was éJ.amaged in the Second Y!orld V,iar,
and - at the time of compiling this Guide - is
being demolished or extensively remodelled.
But the visitor should note the site of an
outstanding event of the pasto

(5)

 SWEDENBORG'S LONDON

Emanuel Swedenborg (whose name a t this time ­

before the ennoblement of the fe~ily - was
Svedberg) first visited London as a young man
of tr{enty-t~7o, a graduate of Uppsala University,
getting to lcnow the world. This was in 1710.
He came with the scant approval of his father,
Bishop Jesper Svedberg. His first letter home,
dated London...z." Octobcr 13th, 1710,is apologetic
in tone, and reveals a certain home-sickness.

The voyage from Gëteborg to London was

adventurous. The ship was boarded by the crew
of a Danish privateer, \Vas fired upon by an
English guard-ship by mistake, and was becalmed
on a aand-bank in a dense fog. The vessel
anchored in the Thames, just off Wapping Old
Stairs. Thi~ is reached today by walking east
from the Tower of London, and turning down
Gravel Lanc. It is a district where, not many
years ago, men carried knuckle-dusters in their
pookets, and policemen walked about in hvos and
threes. It is perfectly respectable today.
Near Wapping Old Stairs, in Swedenborg's time,
stood an inn, to which pirates were brought,
made insensible with gin, and hung. Swsdenborg
narrowly missed being hung - not for piracy,
but for ignoring the quarantine regulations ­
a serious offence. The plague had broken out in
Svreden, and aIl on board ship were commanded to
stay there for six weeks. Swedenborg's youthful
impatience got the better of him: he left the
ship, was caught, and severely reprimanded
probably only escaping the gallm7s because he
was the son of a distinguished bishop.

The London of this time was a fair and

flourishing city. The Augustan Age of llrt and

(6)

Literature had dawned, and genius was abroad.

Queen Anne was on the throne, to be followed

by the first three Georges~ London was newly­
built after the Great Fire, and Swedenborg
speaks of "the magnificent St. Paul's Cathedral,
finished a few days ago." In Westminster Abbey
he kissed the tomb of Casaubon (at the corner
of the nave and south transept). Isaac de
Casaubon, a Swiss theologian, translator, and
qritic, had been dead nearly a hundredyears.
He v;as a great Latinist; and Swedenborg, fresh
from college, seems to have had a veneration
for him.

It is not kno..-m where, or . .v i th whom,

Swedenborg stayed on his first visit to London.
He moved from place to place, staying with
those from . ."hom he could learn a craft. "1 put
my lodgings to some use," he . .v rites to Benzelius,
his brother-in-law. He wàs certainly not the
first, or the last, Scandinavian to do this.
"1 study Newton daily," he writes again. He made
the acquaintance of Flamsteed, the Astronomer
Royal, Halley, and other members of the Royal
Society - possibly at the headquarters of that
Society in Crane Court, off Fleet Street.
Swedenborg had, to use his O\"ffi V/ords, "an
immoderate desire" for knowledge; and he bought
books, both for himself and for libraries in
Sweden, in Paternoster R~7. He was therefore
"short of cash," and cqmplains to Benzelius
that his father is not sufficiently mindful of
the needs of a young student. He visited Sion
College Library in London Wall (now on Victoria
Emb~~kme~~), which whetted his appetite to see
the Bodleian at Oxford.

These feu facts can be given, but little

else can be said ...-vith certainty about

(7)

S~edenborgts first visit to London. But he was

to return again and again in later years, and to
record his activities more precisely.

TOURS THROUGH LONDON

to seek out places associated with

Swedenborg and with the New Church.

These are planned, that you may wander along

from place to place without fatigue, this little
Guide Book in your hand. Take the bus to Ludga. te
Circus, and you are at the heart of S\ledenborg' s
London. Travel west along Fleet Street, north
towards ClerkenV/ell, or east to St.Paul's and
the City, and you tread the ground that
Swedenborg once trod. You are, mareover, in the
cradle of the infant N~v Church organisation.
Take ID. th you a modern street map, yet realising
that such a map cannot be a true guide to the
London Sv~edenborg kne...: for the topography of a
great city is cantinually changing. You 'irill
need to leap about - mentally, of course - from
date to date, for it will be impossible to
follaw a time-sequence as you go exloring. The
London pavements are hard: take the simple
straight- fO~7ard way, and let the dates take
care of themselves.

ROUTE NO.1

Starting from Ludga,te Circus, walk up

Ludgate Hill tO'iJ'ards St. Paul' s. The Church of
St. Mar t in-wi thin-Ludgate is on the left. This
marks the position of the city gate, built ­
according to popular traditian - in 66BC by
King Lud, who is said to have built the city's
first walls. Adjoining the church is "Ye Olde
London" pudlic housc. This was The London Coffee
House, where, in 1783, Robert Hindrnarsh called

(8)

the first public meetjng of receivers of the

Heavenly Doctrjnes (RP.14). Five people attended,
~vho immediately adjourned to The Queen's Arms
Tavern, St. Paul' s Chur chyard, "and drank tea
together~" (It is said that a ceHar of "Ye Olde
London" is the old 'condemned cell' of Newgate
Prison) •

St. Paul' s Churchyard is the area, jn­

cluding the roadway and buildings, immediately
s urrounding the cathedral. The Queen' s Arms
Tavern no longer exists; but it stood on the
south side of the Churchyard - i.e. the right­
hand side, facing the cathedral - at the corner
of Dean's Court (site of the Westminster Bank).
The Svredenborg Society possesses an illustration
of it. It was a tavern used for the famous club
meetings of Dr. Johnson, David Garrick, and
others; and there is a record of Johnson' and the
meIribers of the Ivy Lane Club dining there on
December 3rd, 1783 - just nvo days before the
Hindmarsh meeting (Gentleman's Magazine, Lib. XV.
15). Describing this first New Church meeting,
Hindmarsh says, "To hear the story of each
other's first reception of the doctrines, and
to observe the animation tha t sparkled in the
eye and brightened up the countenance of each
speaker, as it came his turn to relate the
particulars of that by him never-to-be-for­
gotten event, ",as itself a little heaven"
(RP.16).

Sir Christopher Wren' s masterpiece, St.

Paul's Cathedral, stands before you. Blackéned
now by the smoke l~om a million chimneys, it
was, in Swedenborg's day, white and fresh. A
climb to the Vfhispening Gallery, the Stone
Gallery, the Upper Gallery, and the BalI will
be rewarding for those with energy and a steady

(9)

head; while in the Crypt may be seen the tombs

of great Englishmen - including Wren's, with its
famous inscription: "Lect or , si monumentwp.
reguiris, circumspice" (Reader, if you seek his
monument, look around you).

Leaving the cathedral, make your way to the

north-east corner of St. Paul's Churchyard, to
Paternoster R~{ - just behind Nicholson's
draper's shop. Paternoster Raw is a ruin.
Before the war it was a narrow thoroughfare,
lined with bookshops - a real gem of old London.
It had been a publishers' and booksellers' lair
for hundreds of years, and its printers' signs,
hung above the doors and windows, were lore for
the antiquarian. In the mid-eighteenth century,
at NO.1, under the sign of "The Bible and Dove,"
was the shop of John Lffi7is, publisher of that
greatest of theological and expository works,
Swedenborg's Arcana Caelestia. Swedenborg came
many times to this shop, during the years of
publication (1749-1756). On Horwood's Map of
the City of London, of 1799, No.1 Paternoster
Row is shawn as being on the right-hand side, a
few paces dmYn from Cheapside.

Walk along a1eapside (site of the Great

Market of London in medieval times), past the
church of St. Mary-le-Baw (of Baw BelIs fame) ,
and, unsuspectingly, you are in Poultry. At the
house of Thomas Wright, Watchmaker to the K..-ing,
No.6 Poultry, was held, on Tuesday, July 31st,
1787, a meet:ing that may be regarded as "the
commencement of the New Church in its external
and visible form." The Sacrament of the Holy
Supper was administered to eleven persons, ill1d
five others were baptised into the faith of the
New Church (RP.58). The communion cup used on
this occasion is still in regular use in the
church at North Finchley. On Honvood's Map,

(10 )

No, 6 Poultry is shown as being on the right,

just beyond Bucklersbury, and almost opposite
Old Jmvry.

A few steps will bring you to the hub of

the City of London - to the Mansion House, the
offici al residence of the Lord Mayor (on the
right), the Royal Exchan~e (straight ahead),
and the Bank of England (on the left), Speak­
ing of the English in the Spiritual World
(LJ/C.42), Swedenborg describes "t\'fO large
cities like London, into which most of the
English enter after death. l was permitted
to see them, and also to walk through them.
The middle of the first city answers to tha t
part of London, England, where the merchants
meet, called the Exchange."

Just beyond the Mansion House, turn right

into King William Street, ....hich runs south to
the Monument and London Bridge. This street
vv<as built in the middle 1830's, and much old
property was demolished to make Vlay for it.
At its junction with Cannon Street (this
portion of which ,/aS previously named Great
East Cheap) stood Maidenhead Court, in which
was the Great East Cheap Chapel - the first
ever used far New Church ~orship. James
George "!hite, in his book, "The Churches and
Chapels of London," tells us that Maidenhead
Court ,ras removed about 1831 for the con­
;::·~rudioTl of tho nO".i thoroughfare. Of the
Chapel he says, "This was a large square
building with three galleries, holding
about seven hundred people. Underneath the
Chapel v..-ere shops, and the way to i t from
Grea t East Cheap was through a passage into
the Court. The origin of the Chapel is
involved in much obscurity." The Chapel was
ovmed by the Baptists till 1760, when the

(11)

lease expired, and later occupied by the

Swedenborgians and German Lutherans, t ill i ts
demolition in 1820. Hindmarsh mentions that
it was rented for .t:30 per annum, and that "at
the end of the passage, in the street that led
to the place of worship, was placed a painted
board, on vfhich was inscribed, "The New
Jerusalem Church;" and over the entrance of the
Chapel was the inscription, "Nmv i t is
allowable," in conf'ormity to the memorable
relation in the True Christian Religion, No.
508" (RP.59,61). Maidenhead Court is shawn
on the old maps of the City. The first New
Church society occupied the Chapel for six
years - from January 27th, 1788, to the end
of the year 1793. The first five meetings of
Conference were held here, and the first New
Church ordinations were performed within its
,-,ralls. Reader, tread lightly on this hallQli,red
spot~

Continue now along Eastcheap and Great

Tower Street to the Tower of London. (You
must, on some other occasion than this, visit
the Tower and its environs). Keep to the
north of the Tower, y.nd enter ;aoyaX M§t
Z~~:et. c rossing the Minories (where Sweden­
: once lodged) ana nem!rii' Street. Continue
in an easter ~rec ~on a ong Cable Street ­
a narraw street, gloomy, and at first sight,
forbidding. A very mixed population lives
here - Je~~sh, negro, Indian, Asiatic,and,
oddly enough, Scandinavian - on the fringe
of dock-land. This was Scandinavian London
in Swedenborg' s time; and names like
Thollander, Carlson, and Svenne are still to
be seen. The second turning on the right
(Fletcher Street) leads into Wellclose Sguare.
Here Swedenborg once lodged for ten weeks,
with his friend Eric Bergstrom, landlord of

( 12)

the Kingt s Arros Tavern; and it is probable

that he stayed here at other times too. The
tavern has long since disappeared, and the
square has deteriorated - though a few houses
still retain a trace of their former elegance.
The church in the centre was originally the
Danish Church, where Magister Aaron Mathe9ius,
a bitter opponent of Swedenborg, was actfng
pastor.

Return to Cable Street, and the third

opening on the right leads into Swedenborg
Square, formerly Prince's Square - in which
stood the old S'1edish Church. Swedenborg
worshipped here, his flD1eral was here, and
he was bUl:' ied in a va u1 t beneath the altar
at the east end of the church. In 1908 his
body was removed to Sweden, where i t no".{ liee
in Uppsala Cathedral. The church was dem­
olished, and the ground on which it stood
made into a garden. Swedenborg Square is
absolutely delightful, if you visit it - as
l did - on a warm and smmy autumn day.
The garden is neat, well-kept, and full of
flowers. Wooden seats surround a small pond,
and little children playon their swings and
romdabouts. Perhaps you may chat with one
or two of the old people who live in the
cottages of the square, and who weIl remember
the old Swedish Church. "This used to be a
high class neighbourhood," says one old man,
"but now ••• ?" Yes, now Swedenborg Square
is a relie of former days - one of those
quaint spots of historie association, hidden
in the heart of London. Swedenborg's name is
commemorated here in the East End, with its
teeming populaoe fram aIl over the world.

Return to Cable Street, turn left, and

then right, along Leman Street, to Aldgate East,

where you will find buses running to moat parts

( 13)
of London.

ROUTE NO. 2

This .vill be a shorter route, but one

packed with intercst for the New Church
visitor. The starting place, again, i8
Ludgate Circus.

Under the railv:ay bridge, on the south

wall, is an inscription: "In a house near
this site was publishcd, in 1702, the Daily
Courant, first London Daily Newspaper." Thus,
~~s the baIl set rolling! Look west, along
Fleet Street - the home of the great British
newspaper industry; for this is the way we go.
The birth of the New Church was possible only
whcre "freedom of the press" existed; and this
eJo.."Ï.sted in England in 1749, when the Arqana
was first published by John Le'-1is, and printed
by John Hart, of Poppin' s Court, Fleet Stre et.

Poppin' s Court (now Poppin' s AIley) is

the first on the right in Fleet Street, going
west. It is likely that Mr. Hart's home and
printing shop was dŒl'm the alley to the left,
on the site nm. occupied by Beaverbrook Nmvs­
papers, Ltd. &7edenborg spent many evenings
with the Hart fmnily, when the Arcana was
being printed; and it i8 interesting to note
that, a t this time, in Gough Square nearby,
Dr • John son, Il the grea t Lexicographer , I l was
busy; Samuel Richardson, on the other side
of Fleet Street, was VITiting and publishing
his novels Clarissa and Pamela, with Oliver
Goldsmith as proof-reader; and not far away
în the Inner Temple, Vlilliam Cowper and
Edmund Burke were sucking their pens in the
uncongcnial environment of a solicitor's
office. Maybe Swedenborg rubbed shoulders

( 14)

wi th these "giants" in the busy neighbourhood

of "Grub Street" - as Fleet Street was nick­
named.

Salisbury Court, off Fleet Street (the

second opening on the left) is associated
with an earlier visit of Swedenborg. In 1744­
he travelled to London from Holland with a
certain John Sermiff, "a pious shoemaker, Il and
a member of the Moravian Church. Senniff
introduced him to Paul John Brockmer, a gold­
watch chaser, of Salisbury Court, with whom
he lodged for two months. This part of London
is still the home of goldsmiths, silversmiths,
and jevrellers. Swedenborg thus lived almost
next door to one of the most beautiful of
Wren r s churches - St. Bride 1 s; and in the
shadow of the notorious Bridewell Rouse of
Detention.

Walk along Fleet Street, past the great

nev/spaper offices. Note "Ye aIde Cheshire
Cheese" restaurant, the hatmt of Dr. Johnson.
We know that S\7edenborg was accustomed to
dine at an inn in Fleet Street: was it this?
See also Johngon t s house in Gough Square - a_
]1!1J: etïwttp\e=:()f à bouse or SwëêLêfibmg':s:::::dâi.
Crane Court (the last on the right before

Fetter Lane) is probab~ where Swedenborg

met Flamsteed, Halley, and other members of

the Royal Society, at the Socie~ls head­

quarters.

Turn the corner, and walk a little way

up Fetter Lane, ta see the site of the old

Moravian Chapel, where Swedenborg worshipped

for a short time 'while staYing with Brockmer.

He was attracted by the Moravian simplicity

of life, but was repelled, at length, by the

theological teaching. The Moravian Brethren

(officially named. the Uni tas Fratrum) are a

(15)
Protestant sect, originally from Bohemia.
They are distinguished by their puritanical
simplicity of lif~ and manners, and ~arnest,
austere piety. They have no doctrine beyond
the Brotherhood of Man, and have always been
great missionaries and educators. Their
Chapel in Fetter Lane, until completely
destroyed by bombing in the last war, was
one of the small historie chapels of London.
Built in the reign of James the First, i t
escaped the Great Fire, and survived many a
religious riota John Wesley resigned from'
membership of the Fetter Lane Chapel four
years before Swedenborg's attendance. The
Chapel was entered at No. 32 Fetter Lane, and
also t'rom Nevill' s Court - the third opening
on the right: nŒ{ 0.11 destroyed.

Return to Fleet Street, and walk on a

little way to Temple Bar. The old bar, or
gateway, be~veen the City of London and the
City of Westminster, was removed in 1878;
and that useless obstruction to traffic, the
"dragon" or "griffin" memorial, Vias put up
in its place. This i3 the spot, where, on
state occasions, the sovereign "knocks upon
the door Il on en tering the City from
Westminster, and the Lord Mayor surrenders
his sword of state. In Swedenborg's day,
the heads and limbs of persans executed far
treason were displayed on spikes above the
centre pediment of the Bar, and there was a
fine trade of letting spy-glasses at a half­
penny a look~

To the right lie the Law Courts, and to

the left lies the Temple. The Temple, as we
knew i t before the war wrought havoc there,
had not alterea much in two hundred years.
It is one of the most charming spots in
London, combining as i t does antiquarian
(16)
interest and rural quiet. "Who enters here
leaves noise behind." It is a collection of'
courts, lanes, squares, gardens, and passage­
""rays, where barristers have their rooms and
legal men their chambers. The Temple is of
particular interest to the New Churchman
because it was the first domicile of the
infant New Church. Hindmarsh, after des­
cribing the Queen 1 s .Arms Tave:rn meeting, says
(RF.17), "In the course of the following week
we engaged chambers in the Inner Temple, near
Fleet Street; and to make our next meeting
more public, wc caused an advertisement to be
inserted in sorne of the newspapers, stating
the objeci:.swe had in view, and giving a
general invitation to aIl the readers of
Emanuel SYvedenborg' s Wri tings, in London or
elsewhere, to join our standard." We do
not know where these chambers were; but
Hindmarsh goes on to say that, after meeting
two or three times in them, he and his
friends took more convenient rooms in New
Court, Middle Temple. New Court lies between
Middle Temple Lane and Essex Street, and
"contains only one large house, which oocupies
the entire west side (RP.23)." The meetings
in New Court were attended by many persons of
reputation and talent, including James Glen,
of Demerara, who took the new doctrines to
America; F.H. Barthelemon, the Royal
Musician; John Flaxman, sculptor, Lieutenant­
General Rainsford, Governor of Gibraltar;
possibly William Blake and his father; and
others destined to play an important part in
the grovrth of the New Church organisation.
The Temple takes i ts name from Solomon 1 s
Temple in Jerusalem; and it is more than
interesting that the New Church, which is the
New Jerusalem, should have had its first
foundation here.

(17)
 Essex Street, just to the west of the
Temple, is of interest, because at No. 31,
the home of George Prichard (two-thirds of
the way down, on the left), on 26th February,
1810, was held the first meeting of the
London Printing Society - now lmown as the
Swedenborg Society.

ROUTE No. 3

Again the s tart is a t Ludgate Circus;

and before travelling north, we make a slight
sojourn south - to Blackfriars, site of an
anciemt Dominican monastery. Walk up Ludgate
Hill, turn left down Creed Lane, and right
along Carter Lane. The first narrow street
on the left is Friars Street, at the bottom
of which, on the left, is Hutchinson House ­
a publisher's depèt. This is certainly the
site - and possibly the actual building - of
the Friars Street New Church society, which
commenced in 1792 under the leadership of the
Reverend Manoah Sibly, as an offshoot of the
Great East Cheap society. The society rented
premises in Store Street, off Tottenham Court
Road; then in Red Cross Street, Cripplegate;
then in Cross Street, Hatton Garden; and
finally in Cateaton Street, near the Guildhall;
before erecting the 'Temple' in Friars Street
in 1802/3, on a sixtY years' lease. Under
Sibly the society in Friars Street prospered,
and in time became the Argyle Square, King' s
Cross, society - and now the North Finchley
society. Hutchinson House has a vaguely
ecclesiastical appearance. On Horwood's map
(Faden's edition of 1813), the chapel is
clearly shown on this spot.

Return .to Ludgate Circns, and wall<: in a

northerly direction along Farringdon Street ­

( 18)

not one of the most attractive of Londan's

highways. Look out for Cross Street, or
rath~r Saint Cross Street, as it is known
today - àbout the seventh opening on the
left~ At No. 16 are the offices of Baird
and T~tlock (London), Lw., and their partners,
Hopkin and Willi~~, Ltd. - chemists. An entry
at No. 17 leads to the firm's warehouse behind
the offices - and this is the fabric of the old
Cross Street) Hatton Garden, church. Hindmarsh
says (RF .169 , "The remnant of the society
formerly meeting in Great East Cheap, ever
since their removal frOID tha t place of worship
entertained the design of erecting a more
convenientbuilding. This offered i tself in
the year 1796, in Cross Street, Hatton Garden,
when three individuals of the society, viz.,
Mr. Ralph Hill, of Cheapside, Mr. Richard
Thompson, of Snow Hill, and mYself, enterei
into a negotiation with the proprietor to
purchase the freehold astate, called Hatton
House." The purchase, the building of the
church, and the opening ceremonies, are des­
cribed in detail - followed by an account of
the society' s rather prccarioua early history.
In time the society settled d~m, and continued
here for nearly eighty years. The name ever
associated with the Cross Street, Hatton Gardens,
church is that of the Reverend Samuel Noble ­
author of the famous "Appeal" on behalf of the
New Church, a...'1d brilliant advoca te of the
Heavenly Doctrines throughout his long ministry,
It is said that William Blake composed his poem,
"The Divine Image," in one of the pews of the
church; and the baptismal rcgister cantains the
name of Richard D'Oyly Carte, famed for his
produotion of the immortal Gilbert and Sullivan
operas, In 1783/4 the society moved to Camden
Road, Hollovmy - and has now merged into the
North Finchley society,

(19)
 Continue along Farringdon Street (here
named Farringdon Raad) ta its junction with
Clerkenwell Raad, turn right, and immediately
left, into Clerkenwell Green - a bit of real
old London. Clerkenwell Close leads out of
the Green - a narrow winding road through sorne
rather "dawn-at-heel" property. No. 32, the
home of Robert Hindmarsh, "Printer ta His Royal
Highness, the Prince of Wales," seems ta be the
only house demolished during the war. The small
bombed site is on a corner, immediately opposite
the premises of George Brown (City) J Ltd.,
Notice end Sign-board Contractors. Horwood's
map of 1799 shows this spot as No. 32, and the
numbering is unchanged today. Here, then,
lived Hindrnarsh, and here he had his Sunday
morning meetings (when the Writings were read
in La tin), before ever the New Church as an
organisation was thought of.

Walk on, past Hindmarsh's house, and take

the first turning left - Bovrling Green Lane;
this will bring you again inta Farringdon Raad.
Cross the road, and walk a few steps north, ta
find Topham Street, formerly Great Bath Street.
Ornnia mutantur - how the times, and the eus toms,
and the situations change: This little
collection of prefabs, surrounded by tall and
ugly tenement flats, was once a fine square of
desirable suburban residences - Cold Bath
Square, vdth its spring of medicinal waters.
Swedenborg took lodgings at No. 26 Great Bath
Street, the house of Richard Shearsmith, a
peruke (or wig) maker; here he had a
"paral y tic stroke," just before Christmas,
1771; and here he died on Sunday, 29th March,
1772. The house - and indeed, the whole stréet
- was destroyed in the 'blitz,' and there is
~ome little doubt as ta just where No. 26 stood.
The entire area was rebuilt in thelast century,

(20)

and the numbering of the houses was altered.

Ro~vood's map of 1799 does not show a No. 26
ut all. However, the Swedenborg Society
possesses photographs of the house thouW1t
to be that (or on the site of that) in which
~vedenborg lodged: see NCL. June 1929. 321:
and NCR. November 1950. 189: for interesting
information. Swedenborg also lodged at one
Ume in fràrnêr Streefl(at a right-e.ngle with
Topham Street, with lia Mr.s. Carr, next to
e e lon. Il The site of the Red Lion is
still to be seen, and the house next door was
probably on the spot nov. occupied by F.H.
Norman & Co., Ltd., Wood Merchants. The
district has much deteriorated, and is now an
Italian neighbourhood. Topham Street is
named after the famous "Strong Num of Islington"
- an entertainer of c.1750, one of whose
'attractions' was to eat a live chicken, bones
and feathers and all! Perhaps, when the pre­
fabs. are removed and the street is rebuilt,
the City Corporation may agree to perpetuate
a name more honoured and of greater worth than
that of Islington's Strong Man.

Come out into the busy thoroughfare of

Rosebery Avenue, and take a bus (No. 19,38,
38A,176) to "The Angel," Islington. Cross
the road J and walk along to Char Iton Place
(on the right): this will lead you to the
top of Gerrard Street: down which, the first
opening on the left is Devonia Road. The
large Polish Catholic Church was, until 1931,
the New Church College. Devonshire Street,
Islington. A fund for the establishment of a
college was begun in 1845; seven years later
the ground .vas purchased; and about 1857 the
buildings, including the fine ch"lpel, were
completed. The first student for the ministry
te be educated at the college was Redman

(21 )

Goldsack. of Australia - father of the

Reverend S.J.O. Goldsack. The New Church
College today, in Sydney Road, Woodford
Green, Essex, has a much more rural setting
(See NeE. Special College Edition. January
24th, 1948) •
TtŒ ChlJRœ :ru MODERN LONDON

It is not the purpose of this little

Guide to attempt to describe the societies
of the New Church in London today, nor to
give anything but the barest outline of their
histories; but rather to give the visitor a
little useful and practical information to
enable him to visit those societies i f he so
wishes. There are six N~{ Church societies
in the Greater London area - here presented
in alphabetical order.

The Anerley Society of the New Church.

Address - Waldegrave Road, Upper Norwood,

S.E.19.
Nearest station - Crystal Palace (Law Level).
Buses No.2 and 3 from central London, or any
but going to the Crystal Palace. WaIdegrave
Road is at the bottom of Anerley Hill, which
goes dm;n steeply from the bus terminus.
Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m.and 6.3Op.m.

The Anerley society is in the south of

London, in the vicini ty of Croydon. It came
L~to being as a result of lectures delivered
in the Aner ley Tovm Hall by the Reverend Peter
Ramage and others. The church wa.s built in
1883, with 1~. R&~ge as first rrJnister of
the society.

( 22)

The Cambanvell Society of the New Chur ch.

Address - Flodden Road, Camberwell New Road,

S.E.5.
Nearest station - Kennington Oval: then walk
along Cambervrell Nmv Road to Flodden Road (on
the right).
Buses No. 68,68A,196 from Swedenborg Rouse
(Southampton Row), or any bus going to Camber­
weIl Green: then walk along Cambenvell New
Road to Flodden Road (on the left).
Divine ~orship on Sundays 11a.rn. 1st and 3rd
Sundays at 6.3Op.rn.

In 1862 a course of Sunday evening

lectures in Kennington Hall was arranged by
Messrs. George Dm1n and Isaac Gunton. These
led to the formation of a committee, and
eventually of a society, in 1864. Two years
later, the society was received into member­
ship of the General Conference, and a plot of
land was leased. The church premises were
dedicated in 1867. For a number of years the
society was under the leadership of 1~. E.
Austin, and then under the ministry of the
Reverend W.C. Barlow.

The Finchley Society of the New Church.

Address - 71 Gainsborough Road, North Finchley,

N .12.
Nearest station - Woodside Park (Northern Line):
then a ~vo-minute walk up Woodside Park Road.
Buses - from Moorgate, 609: from High Holborn,
517 and 617: from Willesden and Cricklewood,
645 and 660: from Golders Green, 125 - to
Tally-Ho Corner, North Finchley: then walk
along the High Road to the fifth turning on the
left - Woodside Park Road. The church is at
the junction of VToodside Park and Gainsborough
Roads.
Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m. and 6.3Op.m.
(23)
 The Finchley society came into being in
1954, as a result of the emalgamation of the
Argyle Square and Carnden Road societies.
These two societies were the descendants
respectively of the Friars Street and Cross
Street, Hatton Garden, societies: thus, the
Finchley society is the great-grandchild of
the first society ever established - that in
Great East Cheap. The church in Argyle Square,
King' s Cross, was bombed to the gI"ound in the
early days of the \Var; and the lease of the
Campden Road premises expired in 1952 - though
a part of them (in Parkhurst Road, Holloway,
N.7.) is still in use for Sunday School and
other activities. The society has strong
traditions, and possesses many records of the
early New Church. The Reverend Dennis
Duckworth was invited to be i ts first minis ter.

The Kensington Society of the New Church.

Address - 5 Pembridge Villas, Westbourne Grove,

North Kensington, W.11.

Nearest station - Notting Hill Gate (Metropol­

itan and Central Lines); then walk down

Pembridge Villas.

Buses No. 27,27A,28 and 31 stop at the door.

Buses No. 7,15,23 and others pass near.

Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m. and 6.30p.m.

The Kensington society formerly existed

in Palace Gardens Terrace, W.8., in a handsome
church erected at the expense of Mr. John
Finnie, and given to the Reverend Dr. Jonathan
Bayley in 1872. The society was first formed
of members from Argyle Square, resident in
West London: the first name on the membera t
roll is that of the Reverend William BrulSe
(of Bruce's Commentaries). The society moved
to Pembridge Villas in 1925. The fine lignum
ferrum pe"ls are from the old College Chapel in
(24)
Islington, and the handsome panelled reredos
came frOID the liner, the Mauritania.

Michael Church Society of the General Church.

Address - 131 Burton Road, Brixton, S.W.9.

Nearest station - Kennington, and Kennington
Oval.
Buses No. 109 and 133 from Kennington station,
or any bus going along Brixton Road~ Alight
at "The iVhite Horse, 11 which is a few paces
beyond the end of Burton Road.
Divine worship on Sundays: 11a.m.

Michael Church is a society of the r~neral

Church of the New Jerusalem, with headquarters
a t Bryn Atbyn, Pa., U.S.A. It was founded in
1891, as a society in connection with the
Academy of the New Church - an educational
establishment. The premises were built in
1892, at thG expense of V~. C.J. \Vhittington,
and were intended primarily for a school. The
Reverend R.J. Tilson was the first pastor,
from the foundation to 1938. The society was
officially adopted by the General Church in
1927/8.
The Willcsden Society of the New Church.

Address - 90 High Road, willesden Green, N.W.10 •

opposite the Public Library.

Nearest station - Willesden Junction.

There are many ways to Willesden, but bus No. 8

from Marble Arch to the Public Library is

convenient.

Divine vfOrship on Sundays: 6.3C'p.m.

In 1882, a few of the members of the

Kensington society met for worshipand study
in Willesden. This lcd to the founding of the

(25)

society in 1884, vdth bœ. (afterwards the

Reverend) R.W. Freeman as leader. The school
building is dated 1889, and the church, 1910.

The New Church College.

Address - 13 Sydney Road, Yfoodford Green, Essex.

Nearest station - Snaresbrook (Central Line):
then No. 20 or 20A bus to Sydney Road, Woodford
Green.
Bus No. 38A t'rom Victoria (and from Swedenborg
Rouse) passes the end of Sydney Road.

The College is about ten miles from the

centre of London, in the north-east, and on
the fringe of Epping Forest. It is a three-
storied building, standing in a large garden,
with very attractive aurroundings of common
land and foreat. The Principal of the College
lives on the premises; the tutors visit the
College for classes. The College exists to
train Students for the ministry of the General
Conference of the N~v Church. Easter and
Summer Schools for laymen (and women), and a
Ministers' School, are yearly occasions at the
College. The visitor to London should not
fail to see the College, and - if time permits
- something of the great forest nearby.

And here, we finish our little Guide to

London.

(26)