London's oldest parish church is All Hallows By the Tower, founded as a convent by Erkenwald, Bishop of London, about 675. Richard the Lionhearted built a chapel in its churchyard; Edward the Confessor gave it a statue of the Virgin. The Great Seal of England was once guarded from William the Conqueror on All Hallows' altar; erring Knights Templar were tried there for heresy in the 14th century, and the headless body of many a wrong-guessing notable was brought there from the nearby Tower of London for burial. In the Great Fire of 1666, Samuel...
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