All Hallows by the Tower
older than the tower next door
The oldest church in the City of London, free to visit, with a Roman pavement in the crypt and the tower Samuel Pepys climbed to watch the Great Fire.
Free to visit · Tower Hill · Tower Hill · EC3R 5BJ
Opening: Daily · roughly 8am to 5pm · check times
Everyone queues and pays for the Tower of London next door. Almost nobody crosses the road to All Hallows by the Tower, which is free, older than the Tower itself and quietly one of the most history soaked buildings in the City. It was founded in 675 by the Saxon abbey at Barking, which makes it the oldest church in the Square Mile.
Head down to the undercroft and you walk on a Roman tessellated pavement laid when this was Londinium, alongside a little crypt museum of relics and model ships. Up above, the brick tower is the one Samuel Pepys climbed in 1666 to watch the Great Fire spread across London, calling it the saddest sight of desolation he ever saw.
The connections keep coming. William Penn, who went on to found Pennsylvania, was baptised here, and John Quincy Adams, a future American president, was married here. For a church this free and this central, it is astonishingly overlooked.
Getting there: A two minute walk from Tower Hill, right next to the Tower of London.
Best time to go: A weekday morning is calmest. Pop down to the undercroft museum to see the Roman floor.
Insider tip: Do not just see the nave. Go down to the undercroft museum for the Roman pavement and the crypt, the part most visitors miss entirely.
Official site: https://ahbtt.org.uk
Free things to do in London · London Free Guide