ll of the most interesting
associations connected with the ancient history of the
Metropolis. The roof was first stripped off its massive and
solemn nave; in this state it was left a considerable time,
exposed to all the injuries of wet and weather; at length it
was condemned to be pulled down, and in place of one of the
finest specimens of ecclesiastical architecture left in
London--with massive walls and pillars, deeply moulded arches,
a most interesting south porch, and a splendid western
doorway--we have as vile a preaching-place ... as ever
disgraced the nineteenth century.

"It is bad enough to see such an erection spring up at all,
but when a venerable building is demolished to make way for
it, the case is quite intolerable. Will it be believed that,
under the centre tower, in the transepts of this once most
beauteous church, _staircases on stilts_ have been set up,
exactly resembling those by which the company ascend to a
booth or race-course?... Nothing but the preaching-house
system could have brought such utter desolation on a stately
church; in fact, the abomination is so great that it must be
seen to be credited."

Strange as it may appear, the seating accommodation under this
arrangement was even greater than it is at present, and the
congregations at the Sunday services were almost as large as they are
to-day. It would be quite wrong, therefore, to suppose that no
religious work was going on in the parish. But beyond the
parishioners, and the few antiquaries who visited the church from time
to time, it was scarcely known to the outside world, except when the
bells rang out the old year on the 31st of December, or when a dismal
light in the windows proclaimed the Christmas distribution of bread,
coals, and blankets to the poor of the neighbourhood.

It was impossible, however, that an edifice with the history and
associations of St. Saviour's, should escape the religious and
artistic revival of which the Oxford movement was the cause or the
outcome; and the restoration of this fine church to its original
beauty, and more than its original usefulness, has followed almost as
a matter of course. The scheme for its restoration, although in the
air for some time previously, began to take a definite shape in 1877,
when St. Saviour's, Southwark, with other South London parishes, was
transferred from the diocese of Winchester to R