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a visit to St. Dunstan's Church
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit St. Dunstan's in Stephney also, this past August. My time was very limited so I was not able to locate the pub or look up old records. Maybe next time.
It was a cloudy, dark day so I didn't get a very good picture of the outside, but took numerous pictures of the inside. When I entered the church, the Senior Warden greeted me and asked if I had a special reason for visiting the church. When I told her that I had ancestors married in the church, she replied, "The Pace Family". Astonished, I asked her how she knew. Her reply was, " Well, you look like a Pace". We had a laugh over that. She was very friendly and informative about the church and it's history.
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St. Dunstan's Church, Stepney
She brought me over to a plaque on the wall where the Vicar,
Richard Pace, is listed as being the vicar in 1519. As you may all know, it is thought that we 'may' be descended from a brother of his. It was quite a moving experience to be there where Richard and Isabella were married and to imagine what it must have been like, how they were maybe dressed and their walking the same ground.
The warden told us - during World War II, Hitler bombed the area extensively and everything around the church was destroyed, but the church was left untouched. Wow !!
Just thought I would give my experience there.
- DR - Fri, 08 Oct 1999
Much the same story of St. Paul's Cathedral where RICHARD PACE was the dean around the years 1520
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Another visit to St. Dunstan's
An interesting correspondence from NP about her recent
visit to St. Dunstan's and the Prospect of Whitby pub in London. St.
Dunstan's, of course, is where Richard and Isabelle Smythe Pace were
married, and the Prospect of Whitby is the only thing left in the area (as
far as I know) that might have relics of Richard's time. It was called
"Devil's Tavern" then and was a hangout for sailors, smugglers, and all
kinds of folks. The bar and the old stone floor are the only things left
from that era. Richard could have trod that floor. Or he might have been a
Puritan and would not have set foot in any such den of iniquity. St.
Dunstan's was a Puritan center. You will recall that the Puritans were
those who wanted to stay in the Church of England and "purify" it of
"Pope - ish" practices.
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Richard, like everyone else in Jamestown, would have
been a Church of England member, but we have no idea of what persuasion.
The Prospect of Whitby is on a street called Wapping Wall. An early Pace
Society bulletin has an abstract of the entry indicating that Richard and
Elizabeth were of Wapping Wall, but Nancy has a photocopy of the original
and says it just says "Wapping." She is sending me a photocopy.
She said it was about a 30 minute "power walk" from St. Dunstan's to the
Prospect of Whitby, so that gives a rough idea of the distance of Richard's
residence from his place of marriage. That was not considered far. Five
miles from your work was considered "walking distance" in those days.
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Another visitor
to St. Dunstan's Church:
Got back from England a week ago, and more or less getting organized
again. My apartment was super and such fun to live like a native. My
friend, Julie, spent about every other day in town with me, so I never felt
totally alone. In fact, she and I went to Stepney my first day in the city,
and found St. Dunstan's in short order. We ran into a funeral procession
half way to the Church, but it was a very lucky coincidence. We walked
about taking pictures, reading tombstones and sitting on benches until the last of
the people had left the Church, and then we slipped in, Thursday noon when
it is never open!! Met the Senior Warden (a woman), and two members of the
Altar Guild, told my story to each and was made welcome. I was allowed to
video the inside, but didn't take any snapshots. I bought a booklet of the
history of the Church, a walking tour of Stepney, and donated to the new
roof being put on at present. I still can't believe my good fortune at our
timing - day and time!! The funeral hearse was followed by three cars chock full
of flowers inside and on the roofs, and people were following on foot who came
out of the apartments/condos all along the street to St. Dunstan's. We
wondered if it was a member of the Mafia, but one of the ladies giggled over
that and said it was a well-liked man of the neighborhood who was born in a
pub and died in a pub. That's a better story anyway!
Then, Julie and I walked to the Prospect of Whitby Pub for lunch (2:00 pm).
We ate upstairs in a new-ish addition next to the 1600s room where Pepys did
some writing, or so the story goes. Had a wonderful meal by the windows
overlooking the Thames. Got to snoop a bit because at that hour we were the
only ones about. The Pepys room, with views of the river, had the old low
ceilings with heavy beams, sloping floor. It was being set up for an
evening banquet meeting. Noted the stone floor downstairs and the bar, both
supposed to be original to the 1500s pub which burned in the 1600s. That was my
premier day, as I'm sure you would agree.
The next day, I went to the London Metropolitan Archives and found the
microfilm copy of the original marriage records for St. Dunstan's, Stepney,
found October, 1608, made a copy. Then asked about transcriptions since the
original is almost entirely unreadable. Some man in the 1800s did just
that, so I ordered that book brought up from the vaults and ordered a copy of the
title page and page of the marriages for appropriate date. They just came
in today's mail, so I am scanning, copying now. I am sending you an envelope
snail mail tomorrow with 4 photo prints, 3 of the Church and one of the pub,
a copy of the original marriage record and the transcribed record, and a
copy of the brochure on the history of the church. You may have some, or all, of
these, but if so, you'll now have two. I'm going to send the same to Jim
Gordy. He gave me a lot of good tips about records before I left. Note that
the third entry for October in the transcription is for Richard and Isabell;
then look at the third entry on the original. I can make out the word
Wappinge (sic), and Smyth, I think. See what you can do with it.
