View of the crypt of St Paul’s underneath the choir, which served as the parish of St Faith, to whom the altar there was dedicated. A screen is depicted deeper into the crypt after the fourth bay. After 1551, this space was leased out as a warehouse.

This drawing of Charterhouse Cemetery by Faith Vardy depicts the cemetery as it may have appeared in the 14th century during the Black Death plague that swept through London in 1348. In the background of the scene, the church of St. Bartholomew's Priory is visible, as is the spire of medieval St. Paul's. The graveyard was uncovered during digging for the City of London’s ambitious Crossrail railway project in 2013. Prior to this discovery, there was some speculation that an undiscovered plague burial site was located somewhere around Charterhouse. Eleven skeletons were recovered at the phase I site of the cemetery, including the bodies of nine adults, one adolescent, and one child. Each of the bodies were laid in rows with their heads facing south-west. Between each grave was enough room for a person to walk, indicating a level of care on the part of the gravediggers. The site is one of several cemeteries dating from the medieval period to the 1700s that were discovered during excavations for the Crossrail. The Charterhouse itself was a Carthusian Monastery established outside the walls of the City of London in 1371. Some records indicate that the location of the monastery may have been chosen because of the proximity to the plague burial site. The accumulation of land for the monastery occurred piece by piece, over the course of several decades and the last buildings were only completed in 1450. At its founding, there was anxiety among the lay people regarding access to the cemetery that had been created during the plague in 1348. However, the monastery allowed the funerals of lay people to occur in the church and for the laity to visit the cemetery located on the grounds. Unusually, the Charterhouse monks each had their own living quarters; they also gained a reputation for their spiritual and intellectual activities, though like other monastic houses they were dissolved on the eve of the English Reformation in 1538.

This drawing by Peter Jackson depicts the Chapel of St. Thomas on London Bridge as it would have appeared in the late 14th century. The chapel was constructed on the London Bridge in the late 12th century on the largest central pier. During this period, the idea of public works as acts of piety became popular. It was believed that building chapels on bridges would ensure their protection. Dredging of the Thames beneath has revealed countless discarded pilgrimage badges depicting St. Thomas Becket, leading many scholars to believe that the chapel may have been the starting point for various pilgrimages. The Chapel of St. Thomas was built in commemoration of Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in 1170 under the direction of Henry II. As penance for Becket’s murder, Henry II was forced to sponsor for the construction of a new stone bridge for the city of London. Construction began in 1176 with the foundations of the first pier. The project was overseen by Peter of Colechurch, a parish priest who supervised the project for twenty-nine years. Ultimately, the process took thirty-three years and was completed in 1209. Peter of Colechurch died in 1205, four years before the bridge was completed, but the chapel was able to receive his remains. The chapel was maintained by the bridge wardens who were in charge of dispersing money for its upkeep, while several chaplains also attended to the running of the chapel. Daily mass was offered, as were seasonal observances, including the feast day of St. Thomas the Martyr on the 29th of December. From 1384-96 the chapel was rebuilt in the perpendicular style, a late medieval form of the gothic style that emphasized rich decoration. The new building was a five-sided, east-facing apsidal end over an undercroft/lower chapel. In this drawing, the large stained glass windows and decorative tracery can be observed as elements of the perpendicular style.

The Priory of St John of Jerusalem as viewed from three angles. Two smaller images (a and b) above a larger one (c). (a) The south gate of the Priory. (b) The west side of the chapel and Priory. (c) the back of the Priory as seen from the northeast.

St Katharine' of the Tower church as viewed from the south. A small wooden turret is visible at the west end and the lower part of the west window is bricked up. While this church had held the favor of both King Edward III and King Edward IV, it fell out of favor under Edward VI. Due to this nothing of importance happend in the 70 years before Hollar completed his etching of the Cathedral. The structure and shape of the building as depicted by Hollar remains consistent with that of the Medieval building, although weathered by neglect.

St Mary Overy church, now known as Southwark Cathedral, as viewed from the south. The church which would become St. Marie Overie, also known as Southwark cathedral, was consecrated in 604 by a Bishop of Rochester known as Paulinus. On July 10th 1212 the cathedral burned down in a fire which also damaged the first London Bridge. It was rebuilt and it is this Church which was depicted by Hollar in 1661 as no major renovations which would change the view of the cathedral building as seen in this etching.

This view of London appeared in the first volume of Civitates orbis terrarum, originally published in six parts in 1572 and 1617, and printed in Cologne, c. 1600-23, with 546 engraved views of cities around the world. Edited by Georg Braun, most of the engravings were done by Frans Hogenberg who relied on earlier drawings and engravings by other artists. This bird’s eye view of London depicts the city as it was around 1550 since it includes the tall spire of St Paul’s cathedral, which was destroyed in 1561. The people in the foreground are wearing English fasions from the first half of the sixteenth century.