ABSTRACT
In the spring of the year 1681, the parish of All Hallows’ hard by the Tower of London was in uproar (Plate 1). The vicar and churchwardens had been indicted in the civil courts, pamphlets were published by both sides in the dispute, and the affair was reported in the newspapers. What is striking about this apparently local dispute is that everyone participating in it claimed that what was happening at All Hallows’ had significance for the Church of England as a whole and for the security of the nation. At its heart, the apparent cause of all the commotion, was a 5ft high wooden statue of St Michael, which had hung over the Commandments boards at the east end of the church since 1675. Before that, and since it had been installed in the church in 1658, it had hung between two figures of Time and Death over the clock at the west end.2
