As you walk along Clerkenwell Road, you will notice a magnificent frontage decorated with colourful mosaics and the statues of saints – this is St. Peter’s of All Nations, more familiarly known as “The Italian Church.”
Why is there such an opulent building in this part of Clerkenwell? It is because this area was once known as “Little Italy”; in the early 19th century, skilled craftsmen came from the northern Italian regions of Piedmont and Lombardy.
They were makers of mirrors, picture frames and precision instruments such as barometers and thermometers. The unsettled political situation in Italy which eventually led to Unification in 1871, also led to an economic downturn and some areas of Italy were described as being nearly as barren as the Sahara Desert. Later, the Italian community was swelled by families from southern Italy, and with them came ice-cream, barrel organs, all types of pasta, plaster statuettes and a vitality that would be envied.
St Peter’s Church, Clerkenwell. Photo: Peter Bore.
The church was the brainchild of Vincent Pallotti, a Catholic priest, and funds for the structure came from all over Europe. The architect was an Irishman, Sir John Miller-Bryson, and his designs were based on a church in Rome – San Cristoforo in the district of Trastavere. It is in a basilica style and until Westminster Cathedral was built in 1903, it was the largest Catholic church in Britain. St. Peter’s also has a 33-metre-high bell tower, constructed in 1891 and which houses a huge bell known as “The Steel Monster.” The mosaics above the main entrance depict the miracle of the fishes and Christ giving the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to St. Peter.
St. Peter’s has always been famous for the excellence of its music and visiting soloists have included Enrico Caruso (“The Great Caruso”), who sang on the steps outside the church, and in October 1949, another famous Italian tenor, Beniamino Gigli, sang at High Mass. On the political scene, visitors have also included Guiseppi Garibaldi, the conqueror of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1860 and Guiseppi Mazzini, the famous Italian patriot who founded the first Italian school in Little Italy in 1841.
Over the years, much of Little Italy has been re-developed and there has been a population shift to other areas of North London, including Hornsey, Crouch End and Barnet. However, on Sunday and the big religious festivals, the church is packed and worshippers often go in to “Terroni”, the well-stocked delicatessen, wine bar and coffee shop – a true reminder of the past.
Something that has not changed is the annual Procession of Madonna del Carmine or Our Lady of Mount Carmel, generally held on the Sunday nearest to 16th July. The procession has been in existence since 1883, with an interval only during the war years. It is the only procession of its kind in London. The image of the Madonna with the baby Christ in her arms is carried through the streets on a float covered in flowers. There have also been decorated floats since the 1950’s – the same families make the floats each year and Italian seamstresses make the robes for the tableaux. On the day of the procession, huge crowds come to Clerkenwell and bus routes have to be diverted.
Torpedoing of the Arandora Star
In the church porch, there are two memorials linked to World Wars 1 and II. The most striking is the memorial to the victims who died on “The Arandora Star” on 2nd July 1940. When Mussolini, the Italian leader entered into a pact with Hitler, Italians living in Britain were regarded as “enemy aliens” and faced deportation to Canada. However, many were waiters, shopkeepers and restaurant owners who had been in London for years and did not have political allegiances. The ship “Arandora Star” was sunk by a German torpedo and 450 internees were drowned. The memorial shows a sinking boat containing three men who are looking up to a cross in the sky.
Plaque to the 450 Italian internees lost aboard the Arandora Star en route to Canada. Credit: Peter Bore.
This terrible incident figures in the 1999 novel “A Foreign Country” by Francine Stock – the sinking is described by a young poet, Alessandro Delle Rose and there is an account of the procession of 1946 – “finally came the climax of the whole procession – a huge statue of the Virgin, festooned with pink and red paper roses, carried on a gold plinth.”
Finally, I have included a photograph of the remains of an illuminated clock on Booth’s Gin Distillery on Clerkenwell Road. This clock may be seen in many wedding photographs taken outside the church in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was a real local landmark.
Gin ‘o clock. The Booth’s Gin factory clock opposite the church that appeared in many wedding photos. Credit: Peter Bore.
St. Peter’s always welcomes visitors, and any enquiries should be directed to the Church Office on Back Hill.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BERTONCINI, PETER. “St. Peter’s Italian Church”, Jarrold Publishing, 2007. ISBN 978 0 7117 4483 7
SMITH, DEREK & ST. LUKE’S COMMUNITY HISTORY GROUP. “Finsbury Stories”. 2022. ISBN 978 1 3999 4117 4
TUDOR, ALLEN. “Little Italy: the story of London’s Italian Quarter”, Camden Local Studies and Archive Centre, 2008. ISBN 978 1 900846 21 9
Jenny Watson-Bore is an Islington Guided Walks and London Blue Badge guide. You can find out about more upcoming walks in Islington here:
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