Owner Comments:
Middlesex Skidmore's Churches and Gates DH #556a
Obverse: A north view of the church of St. Botolph ST. BOTOLPH . BOTOLPH-LANE. Ex: JACOBS in small letters
Reverse: The Skidmore cypher PSCO in script DEDICATED TO COLLECTORS OF MEDALS & COINS . surrounding
Edge: Plain
Diesinker: Benjamin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Paul Skidmore
Weight: 10.06g
Rarity: Common
The church of St. George, first mentioned during the reign of Henry II, stood on the west side of Botolph Lane. The rear of the church overlooked Pudding Lane where the Great Fire of London started. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt in 1671-4 by Christopher Wren using rubble from St. Paul’s Cathedral. The church fell into decay in the second half of the 19th century. The church was closed in 1901 and torn down in 1904 and the parish combined with that of the nearby St. Mary-at-Hill. Skidmore describes the church as St. Botolph, Botolph Lane possibly because the parish of St. George was combined with St. Botolph Billingsgate after the Great Fire.
The family business of the token manufacturer Peter Skidmore was an iron foundry at 15 Coppice Row in Clerkenwell with a shop at No. 123, High Holborn. Skidmore realized that there was a market for tokens as the genuine tradesmen's pieces of the time were very keenly collected as they were issued. As well as making genuine tradesmens' tokens to order, he also made pennies and halfpennies for sale to collectors of the time - especially series of Buildings Tokens for London.
One of a set of 120 pieces - each portraying a well-known church in or around London.
Atkins: Middlesex 427
Bt. Brian Herriott