From Charterhouse St., opposite the Central Meat Market, St. John Street runs north to the Angel at Islington. To the left diverges St. John's Lane, spanned by St. John's Gate, the south gate of the once famous and wealthy priory of the Knights Hospitallers of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. The priory was founded about 1130, and was finally suppressed by Elizabeth. It was later the residence of Edmund Tylney, Master of the Revels, who here licensed thirty of Shakespeare's plays. The gatehouse, which, apart from the church, is the sole relic of the priory, was erected by the Grand Prior Sir Thomas Docwra in 1504. It is flanked with towers and adorned with numerous coats-of-arms. In 1731-81 it was used as the printing-office of the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' conducted by Edward Cave, to which Dr. Johnson used to contribute.
Since 1887 the premises have been occupied by the modern Order of St. John of Jerusalem, revived in 1831, which devotes itself to ambulance and hospital work. Its war service, in co-operation with the Red Cross was of the highest importance. The British Ophthalmic Hospital at Jerusalem is under its control. Visitors desiring to inspect the gatehouse must make previous application to the secretary. The library, with its original ceiling, contains historical relics from Malta and Rhodes. The chancery has a fine Elizabethan chimney-piece. The council-chamber over the archway is the room in which Garrick gave his first performance to Cave's workmen and friends. On the south side of the gate is a modern building designed by John Oldrid Scott in 1903, with a fine chapter-hall on the second floor.
In St. John's Square, farther north, beyond Clerkenwell Road, lies St. John's Church, built about 1720 and incorporating the choir-walls of the ancient priory-church. The area of the original circular nave is indicated by a line on the ground in front. Much the most important relic of the ancient church is the interesting and well-preserved Crypt (admission 6d.), 62 feet by 51 feet and 12 feet in height. The three west bays of this, in the Norman style, date from about 1140; the two east bays and the side-chapels, in the transitional style, were added about 1185. The fine alabaster effigy of Vergara, a 16th century knight, presented in 1914, was brought from the old cathedral of Valladolid. The south chapel is now used as a communion-chapel for the Order of St. John and contains numerous memorial tablets. The two chambers on the north contain fragments from the ancient church and other antiquities. Behind the church is the grave of John Wilkes Booth (died 1836), supposed to have been of the same family as the murderer of President Lincoln.
