St Mary Matfelon

A building going by this name or its aliases stood for at least 670 years until its last form was demolished. For all or most of its time, the place of worship stood where Adler Street meets White Church Lane and Whitechapel High Street. The original form was the white chapel or, more formally, the chapel of St Mary, Stepney. The white chapel stood by 1282 at some distance outside the bars at Aldgate, to which the high street leads. A wine merchant named Richard Matefelun is recorded in the area in the 13th century. In 1511, a parishioner, Richard Hunne, after a dispute with the priest over his infant son's funeral, sought to use the English common law courts to challenge the church's…

The "thoroughly repaired" late Stuart church (before its 1877 complete rebuilding) and some of its history are described in a book of 1829: <blockquote>This church is of some antiquity, as appears by Hugh de Fulbourn being rector thereof in the year 1329. It was originally a chapel of ease to the church of St Dunstan, Stepney, and is supposed to have obtained the epithet of White from having been white-washed or plastered on the outside.<br> The first church erected on the spot after it ceased to be a chapel of ease of Stepney parish, was dedicated to St Mary Matfelon; a name which has given birth to many conjectures respecting its signification, but which is probably derived from the…

The following description of a Sunday service appeared in East London Sketches of Christian Work and Workers by Henry Walker, published by the Religious Tract Society in 1896: <blockquote>The church of St Mary Matfelon - to give it the old historic name - is itself a message of beauty and graciousness in such a quarter. Its noble spire rises two hundred feet in height, far above the houses of the populous and struggling district around, a striking and commanding feature visible far and wide. The beautifully-toned bells are filling the air with their inviting peal. Through the crowded streets of loungers, well-to-do church-goers of the middle classes are wending their way to morning service.…