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St Mary at Lambeth
Edmund Walcot's legacy was administered by the rector and church wardens of St Mary's Church and this continued for many years until an independent organisation was established in the twentieth century.
One of our other charities - the Hayle's Charity - came into being as a result of an over subscription by the public to a restoration appeal for the church. The surplus money was used to buy a field from Robert and Ann Hayle on 1 December 1671. The income from the field was used for the relief of the poor of Lambeth. Mr Hayle merely entered into a sale at the current market valuation but by an accident of history is associated, three hundred years later, with a charitable foundation.
St Mary-at-Lambeth Church is mentioned in the Domesday Book as being owned by Countess Goda, sister of Edward the Confessor. The Bishops of Rochester were later given the living, which in 1197 passed to the Archbishops of Canterbury. The church was rebuilt in the 1370s and again in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. Philip Hardwick the Younger rebuilt the church in 1851-2 to match the tower. The church was badly damaged in the World War 2 and was restored by Godfrey Allen. The church was later taken over by The Tradescant Trust as the first museum of garden history in the UK.
View of St Mary-at-Lambeth, which stands immediately outside Lambeth Palace, the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Across the the Thames can be seen the Houses of Parliament. Credit: Denis Waugh