Catholic London / John Wittich

Catholic London reflects one of the many facets that make up the story of London’s complex history. For the five centuries between the Norman conquest (1066) and the English Reformation the Londoner was, inevitably, a child of the Church – whatever his personal beliefs. The religious and monastic basis of the city was inescapable. The centuries have not obliterated this London and many traces of this past remain in the London of today. You may go into a modern building, just off Cheapside, and find there a medieval figure of Christ, discovered in the aftermath of WWII. You may visit new offices, just off Fleet Street, and find beneath it the crypt of the Carmelite Prior’s dwelling. In Threadneedle Street the Merchant Taylors’ Company have their priceless funeral palls used at the funerals of the members hundreds of years ago. At Clerkenwell the medieval meeting places of the Worshipful Company of Parish Clerks can be found in the present day home of the order of St. John and the St. John Ambulance brigade. Both have their origins in the Catholic order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem. In all these places and many others the London of today and the London of yesterday exist side by side.

John Wittich is a Londoner ‘born and bred’ and has devoted the last thirty years of his life to showing tourists and Londoners alike ‘the sights behind the sights’ by taking groups on walking tours around London. He has written many books which aim to help people explore areas of London that are ‘off the beaten track’. He is a member of The Minor Order of Readers of The Church of England and serves on the staff of St Gabriel’s Warwick Square, in London’s Pimlico area. He is in constant demand as a lecturer when his skills as a photographer are brought to the screen with the slides that he and his son have gathered together. He lives, with his wife, daughter and son “just north of Hyde Park” which puts him where he likes to be “in the heart of the Metropolis” that he loves so well.