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Church Parade

Here are 19 religious happenings which take place in London through the year. Too many to describe here – there is plenty of information in the captions.

Tyburn Walk passing along Oxford Street, London, 1984 - to the intense irritation of the London buses (The walk is in commemoration of 105 Catholic martyrs who died on Tyburn Gallows, which was situated near Marble Arch)

The ‘Tyburn Walk’, in remembrance of 105 Catholic martyrs hanged at Tyburn gallows (near Marble Arch) during the Reformation, passing through Holborn, London, 1984

John Stowe with his Quill Pen in St Andrew Undershaft, Leadenhall Street, London EC3 (The quill pen is changed annually at a service on 5 April, the anniversary of his death in 1605)

John Stow’s monument in St Andrew Undershaft, London. His quill pen is still ceremonially changed at an annual service in early April (From ‘Old England’, published c1860)

Inspection and blessing of the Gibson Vault in accordance with the terms of Mary Gibson’s will in 1793, St Nicholas churchyard, Sutton, south London, 1985

Before the Clowns’ Service in Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, London, which commemorates the life of Joseph Grimaldi, 1982

After the Clowns’ Service in Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, north London, in 1982 which commemorates the life of Joseph Grimaldi

At the Clowns’ Service held annually on the first Sunday in February in Holy Trinity Church, Dalston, London, to commemorate the life of Joseph Grimaldi

A young performer at the Clowns’ Service held annually in honour of Joseph Grimaldi in Holy Trinity Church , Dalston, London, 1982

Distribution of fruit after the Oranges and Lemons Service at St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London

The Flower Sermon in St Katherine Cree Church, Leadenhall Street, London at which the congregation carry or wear flowers. Still held every Whit Tuesday. (From ‘Old & New London’ by Walter Thornbury, 1877)

Druid ceremony at the Spring equinox (20 March) on Tower Hill at which seeds are scattered over the earth, London, mid-1990s

Druid Ceremony at the Spring Equinox, Tower Hill, London, England

Canon Thaddeus Birchard at Horseman’s Sunday, 1993, held every third Sunday in September since 1968 at St John’s Church, Hyde Park Crescent, just to the north of the park itself in London (Hyde Park is popular with London riders and as many as 100 regularly attend this unusual service)

Red Feather Day at which pupils remember the founder (in 1710) of Sir John Cass School at St Botolph-without-Aldgate, in the City of London, England, 1996

Green Man on the choir screen in Westminster Abbey, London

Good Friday procession in Victoria Street, near Westminster Cathedral, London, England

The Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey, London, on Remembrance Sunday, any year

Wreaths laid at the Cenotaph, Whitehall, London, on Remembrance Day 2005

The Butterworth Charity: the vicar takes a service while standing on the tombstone of Joshua Butterworth before distributing hot-cross buns. St Bartholomew the Great at Smithfield, London on Good Friday morning. 1982

The Butterworth Charity: the vicar takes a service while standing on the tombstone of Joshua Butterworth before distributing hot-cross buns. St Bartholomew the Great at Smithfield, London on Good Friday morning. 1982

Fish Harvest Festival display in St Mary at Hill Church near the old Billingsgate Market, London, England

A fine display for the Fish Harvest Festival, held in New Billingsgate Market (in Docklands) while St Mary-at-Hill church was under repair in 1985, London, England

Fish Harvest Festival in St Mary-at-Hill, Lovat Lane, near the old Billingsgate Fish Market, London, 1987

Fish Harvest Festival in St Mary-at-Hill, Lovat Lane, near the old Billingsgate Fish Market, London, 1984

Pearly Kings and Queens, and Pearly designs, at the Pearlies’ Harvest Festival at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, 1984

Pearlies at the Pearlies’ Harvest Festival at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London, 1980s

Passing through the Barbican whilst Beating the Bounds of the parish of St Botolph, Aldersgate, London, 1986

Blessing the Throats on St Blaise’s Day at St Etheldreda’s Church, Ely Place, London, 1989

Charles I Commemoration by his statue at the top of Whitehall near Trafalgar Square, London, 1988

The choir and congregation of St Bride’s, the ‘Journalist’s Church’ by Fleet St, London, egg rolling in the unusually deserted street after an early morning communion on Easter Sunday, 1988

Choirboys of the Abbey Choir School at Christmas, Westminster Abbey, London, England