These two lovely doors are both from the church of All-Hallows-By-The-Tower, in London, England. 
The church was founded in 675AD, making it one of the oldest Christian churches in London, and parts of the original building are still visible inside. Standing outside, if you look one way you see the Tower of London;
And if you look the other way, you see the ‘Walkie-Talkie-, one of the newest buildings in the city.
If there was ever a building that could be said to encompass the history of a place, then All-Hallows-By-The-Tower is it. Built on the site of an earlier Roman building, you can go down into the original crypt and walk on tiles laid almost 2000 years ago. You can see a Saxon arch made using Roman roof tiles, and interior walls still blackened by a direct hit from the Luftwaffe during the Second World War, which reduced much of the building to a shell. Beheaded victims from the nearby Tower of London were sent to All Hallows for temporary burial, before heading to their final place of rest and the church tower, built in 1658, was the place where Samuel Pepys, the famous diarist, watched London burn during the Great Fire of 1666, the church itself only narrowly escaping destruction in the flames. Truly it is a building that spans millennia – if only the walls could talk.
This is my entry for Norm 2.0’s Thursday Doors challenge – for more doors, or to add one of your own, head over to Norm’s and click the link.
Helen Glynn Jones 
Wow. Gorgeous doors but I love the history here. I would NOT be able to resist this: “Built on the site of an earlier Roman building, you can go down into the original crypt and walk on tiles laid almost 2000 years ago.” Next time I’m over there… 🙂
It was so cool, such a surprise. We were eating lunch with plans to visit somewhere else nearby, when we spotted the sign that said they had a crypt and museum. And the museum was quite charming, things stacked against walls and here and there, with no rhyme or reason. Part of the Roman floor was cordoned off, but there was a section running along the centre of the crypt that you could walk on. It was great – I definitely recommend it next time you’re over 🙂
On my list!
Wow…crypt and museum. Add “gift shop” and it’s a hat trick. 💖
Gift shop and a cafe, even!
If walls could talk indeed! We were curious about that “walkie talkie” building when we visited the Tower. We called it the Dr. Seuss building!
It does look a bit like a cartoon building, doesn’t it? It seems quite incongruous compared to a lot of the architecture around it, that’s for sure.
The area around the Tower seems to have swallowed it up! At least that was our impression.
Yes, and from other angles it seems to loom over everything. My friend said it was ‘photobombing’ us as we tried to take photos of the older buildings. I wrote a post earlier this week where I shared a photo I took and it looks as though it’s been badly photoshopped into the frame. It’s a controversial building for several reasons, I think, although I hear the Skygarden at the top is quite fantastic.
Those doors are amazing and “if the walls could talk” indeed!
Thank you 🙂 It was such an interesting place, so much history crammed into such a small building.
Both doors are gorgeous! I wish I had taken more door images when I was at the Tower, and in London!
Thank you! London is an endless source of interesting doors, I’m finding – maybe we need to organise a Thursday doors tour there 😀
I’m going to London in a few weeks so I’m going to check out the Walkie-Talkie building… Love these doors, I bet there are some truly fascinating stories they could tell!
Love the new theme too!
Thanks, Suzie! Yes, check it out, it’s kind of weird how much it stands out from the surrounding architecture, although I hear the Skygarden at the top is pretty wonderful.
And thanks, you’re the first person to mention the new theme! It was time I had an overhaul, and in doing do realised I needed to update my other pages too, so a good exercise even though it took a bit of time 🙂
I never even knew this one existed!
It was a surprise to us as well, and it was only that we were having lunch across the road from it and noticed the sign – otherwise we were heading somewhere else nearby. And I’m so glad we went in, it was such a fascinating place – the little museum in the crypt felt like a flea market in some points, things all over the place – I loved it!
I rarely go to London – it needs a really good reason to make me – but I’ll remember that for the next time I do.
🙂
Without question two wonderful doors, plus a humbling amount of history – great entry again this week Helen 🙂
Thanks, Norm 🙂 It was quite something to travel through so much history within the confines of one fairly small building. I’m finding London to be a real treasure trove of interesting doors.
What a great find. Love your photos!
Thanks, Suzie – it was a really cool place to find 🙂 I even got some more book inspiration out of it!
BONUS!
😀
Those are two gorgeous doors, Helen!
janet
Thanks, Janet 🙂
Extraordinary passage again this week Helen:- ) Gorgeous entryways however I adore the history here…Those entryways are astounding and “if the dividers could talk” to be sure!
Thank you – glad you enjoyed the post! Yes, I think the walls would have a lot of stories to tell…
Nope, no ghosts in that church.
Probably one or two…? 🙂