The church lies in a general east and west direction, and, at the present day, consists of the Choir and encircling Ambulatory, Lady Chapel, north and south Transepts, with the lower stage of the central Tower, one bay of the ancient Nave, three bays of the Cloister, and a seventeenth-century brick Tower—the whole hidden behind the houses, in an obscure corner of West Smithfield, by no means easy for a stranger to discover. It will be well for him, therefore, in the first place, to make his way to the better known buildings of St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and then walk across the open square, between them and Smithfield Market, to its eastern side, where he will find the entrance close to the narrow street called Cloth Fair.

The Gateway is interesting, as a surviving fragment of the Early-English period, supposed by some authorities to mark the site of the original west front, of which they regard it as having formed part—the entrance to the south aisle—which was allowed to stand, after the grand central porch, and a corresponding doorway on the northern side, were destroyed with the nave. More probable is the conjecture that it was merely the entrance to the monastic enclosure, turned to account as a ready-made structure when the work at the church was the reverse of constructive, as it seems too large and too high for a mere doorway at the end of an aisle, besides being rather too far from the church to agree with its supposed dimensions. The modern iron gate is surmounted by a gilded cross and the name of the church on a framework in the tympanum. The arch is acutely pointed, and moulded in four orders, with a tooth ornament in the hollows, and is in tolerably good condition; but the supporting shafts have been superseded by a wall on each side, with the circular moulded capitals (much decayed) above it, the bases either being destroyed or buried in the earth beneath. The gateway is in a line with the houses facing the public square, which touch it on both sides, and are carried on without interruption above the opening.

When the floor of the church was lowered to its original level in 1863-6, the present approach to it was made by an excavation through the churchyard, which covered the site of the nave, and is now walled off on the northern side of the passage.

The gravestones are of comparatively modern date, and of no special interest. A few of them have been left against the wall on the right, where there is something of more antiquarian value in a collection of dÉbris from the old building, containing the bases of some of the Early-English columns in their original place, but hopelessly mutilated. The existing West Front dates from the time when the nave was destroyed. In 1893 a great improvement was made in its appearance by refacing the wall with flint and stone, and otherwise ornamenting the surface, to bring it into uniformity with the porch which was then built at that end of the church. There are now three round-headed recesses in the central portion of the wall, those at the extremities containing narrow windows; a band of chequered stonework is carried across the space beneath them, and a small circular window inserted above. It may be mentioned here that the pointed arch has generally been adopted in the new work, to distinguish it from the old, but the characteristic massiveness and predominant scale of the original has been preserved throughout the restoration. A practical illustration of these principles will be seen in The Porch, as an ingenious compromise between the older and newer types of architecture which are brought together in the main fabric. It is built of a combination of flint and Portland stone, like the wall-front just described, with which it is connected by a small circular tower and an oblong extension on the northern side. The two storeys of which it consists are divided externally by a band of chequered diaper. The shallow arch of the doorway is simply moulded and very slightly pointed, suggesting a transition from the Romanesque to the Early-English style, while the Perpendicular is represented in the battlements on the roof and the octagonal turret on the southern side. In a niche above the apex of the arch, and on a bracket displaying the Priory arms, upheld by two angels, stands a figure of Rahere, the founder, with his left hand raised in benediction, and in his right a model of the church. The design of this little edifice is taken from one of the ancient seals (see Illustration 9 in the Appendix), and shows the central tower, with a round turret at each end, and a small building (probably the original Lady Chapel) projecting from the east. Rahere's features are copied from the effigy on his tomb, which is believed to be an authentic portrait. The figure occupies the central position in the higher storey, with three arched recesses on either side (the middle one in each case containing a window), diminishing in height outwards, in harmony with the lines of the roof. The ceiling within the porch is groined in four divisions; and the "priest's chamber" above it makes a convenient private room for the rector of the parish. This new porch bears its own date (1893), and the date of the foundation, seven hundred and seventy years earlier.[1] The Brick Tower, built in 1628, is said to have been altered to some extent in subsequent repairs, which have not improved its appearance. So at least say the admirers of King Charles I, who argue that nothing quite so hideous could have been erected in his reign. It is a plain square structure, seventy-five feet in height, in four stages, gradually diminishing in area upwards, the lower part supported by buttresses, and the summit crowned by battlements, with a small bell-turret and vane. More interesting than the tower itself—which is, in fact, an incongruous addition to the church—are the Bells which it contains, a precious inheritance from the Augustinian Canons, and in some respects the most remarkable in London. The foundry stamp shows them to have been cast by Thomas Bullisdon, who died about 1510. They are the smaller five of a ring of twelve, six of which were sold at the Dissolution to the Church of St. Sepulchre, Holborn, where they have since been re-cast, and one has disappeared from history.

The measurements and inscriptions are as follows:

The clock-bell, in the cage on the top, is inscribed, "T. Mears of London Fecit 1814." Diameter about 25 inches. The churchyard is overlooked on its northern side by the back windows of some rickety old wooden houses, suggestive of an easy conflagration, and dangerously near the church. They date from the time of Queen Elizabeth, and stand on a piece of the ground formerly devoted to Bartholomew Fair, the memory of which is perpetuated in the adjoining street (Cloth Fair), where the humble shops in front of the same houses are said to be a survival of the ancient booths. They run close up to the North Porch, which projects into the street from the transept. It was erected in 1893, at the same time that the transept was restored. The porch is similar in material and character to that on the west, with some differences in detail, the chief of which are that the figure over the door represents St. Bartholomew, with only one window on each side of it—in this case square-headed, with a label-moulding—and the chequered diaper covers the whole wall-surface of the upper storey. The Saint is raising his right hand in the act of blessing, and holds in the left a knife, which has become his emblem, as the instrument of his passion. A scroll entwined about the effigy bears the appropriate words (in English) from Rahere's vision: Almighty God this spiritual house shall inhabit and hallow it. The upper chamber here is reserved for the mission-lady working in the district.

The face of the transept visible above displays three lancet-headed windows of the clerestory; the spaces are laid out in ornamental panels; and there is an octagonal turret on the right, with battlements and a pointed roof.

The rest of the church is hemmed in, and for the most part concealed, by tumble-down houses, forming a labyrinth of narrow winding passages about the walls, and even encroaching upon them—a bit of old London which has escaped the modern spirit of improvement, and would appear to be full of suggestive material for the writer of romance. As we thread our way through this network round the east end and south side, to reach the entrance once more, we get an occasional glimpse of the choir and Lady Chapel through a gap in the surrounding buildings; but are far more impressed with the sense of poverty and ruin than by anything in the way of architecture, which can be much better seen and described from within. The new schools in the south-east corner (built to supersede the old structure which still remains attached to the north triforium) are worth a visit en route: and so, perhaps, is the abandoned burial-ground outside the south transept, if only as a melancholy souvenir of the past.

The church is open every day, and the services are as follows:

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