England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
All Hallows Barking

The Parish

The parish of All Hallows Barking lies in the extreme southeast of the city of London including part of the Thames waterfront which forms the city's border with neighbouring Surrey. The parish is nowadays known as All Hallows by the Tower due to its proximity to the Tower of London which lies just to its east, separated by one of London's many Liberties The parish extended to the Thames frontage from the central position of the church and northwards a similar distance being roughly 400 yards from north to south and slightly less from east to west. Whilst the parish was rather thickly populated at the time of this transcript today it is largely filled with commercial premises. The parish is sited at just 10 metres above the sea and is drained largely by underground rivers and sewers to the nearby Thames. By the end of the time period of this transcript the population of All Hallows parish would have stood at just under 1,800 parishioners.

The Church

All Hallows' church stands on the southern side of Byard Street, number road A100 some 300 yards west of the iconic Tower of London and Tower Bridge. It received its suffix "Barking" as it was a daughter church of Barking Abbey. Much of the history of the church's fabric has only been revealed during the church's reconstruction from severe war damage in World War II. Whilst the church survived the Fire of London, buildings around were demolished to create a fire-break, it was not so fortunate in the 20th century as a mixture of bombs and incendiaries turned the church into a ruin, the tall tower of the church acted as a chimney enhancing the destructive fire which raged. The church has been restored to a mixture of old and new during the period of rebuild which lasted until the re-dedication as All Hallows by the Tower in 1957. Excavations during that rebuild, however, uncovered the extraordinarily early history of the church which was built on top of a Roman house of the 3rd or 4th century, its tessellated pavements are displayed in the undercroft. Fragments of Saxon crosses dating to c1000 - c1060 were also found. Standing Saxon fabric was also discovered at the western end of the church which is now believed to be 11th century. Because of the rebuilding after the war the church is a mixture of modern fabric and parts of the earlier church(es). The 15th century aisle and northwestern walls together with the 17th century western tower and northwestern porch being the main surviving pieces. In its urban setting views of the church are necessarily restricted by both neighbouring close properties and also by the incessant traffic passing along Byard Street, it may take a while for the photographer to gather acceptable imagery.