The church was founded in 1123 by Rahere, a prebendary of St Paul's Cathedral and an Augustinian canon regular.^[7] While at the Vatican, Rahere dreamed that a winged beast came and transported him to a high place, then relayed a message from "the High Trinity and...the court of Heaven" that he was to erect a church in London's Smithfield.^[8] Rahere travelled to London and was informed that the area in his vision – then a small cemetery – was royal property, and could not be built upon. Henry I, however, granted title of the land to Rahere upon hearing his divine message.^[8]

Rahere started construction on the building with the use of servants and child labourers, who collected stones from all over London.^[8]

The priory gained a reputation for curative powers, with many sick people filling its aisles, notably on 24 August (St Bartholomew's Day). Many miracles were attributed to occur within and without the walls of the building, including "a light sent from heaven" from its first foundation, and especially miraculous healings; many serious disabilities were claimed to be cured after a visit.^[8] Many of these cures were undertaken at the church hospital, the still existing St Bartholomew's Hospital.^[8]

The last Prior was Robert Fuller, the Abbot of Waltham Holy Cross. He was favoured by King Henry VIII, having been invited to attend the christening of Prince Edward, and did not oppose the dissolution of the Priory.^[9]

While much of the hospital survived the Dissolution of the Monasteries, about half of the priory's church was ransacked then demolished in 1543.^[10] Having escaped the Great Fire of London of 1666,^[11] the surviving parts of the church fell into disrepair. ^[12] During Canon Edwin Savage's tenure as rector, the church was further restored at the cost of more than £60,000.^[13] The surviving building had comprised part of a priory adjoining St Bartholomew's Hospital,^[14] but its nave was pulled down up to the last bay but the lofty crossing arches and choir survive largely intact from the Norman^[15] and later Middle Ages, enabling its continued use as a parish church.

The church and some of the priory buildings were briefly used as the third Dominican friary (Black Friars) of London, refounded by Queen Mary I of England in 1556 and closed in 1559.^[16] Part of the main entrance to the church remains at West Smithfield, nowadays most easily recognisable by its half-timbered, late 16th-century, Tudor frontage built on the older (13th-century) stone arch. This adaptation may originally have been carried out by the Dominican friars in the 1550s,^[16] or by the post-Reformation patron of the advowson,^[17] Lord Rich, Lord Chancellor of England (1547–51).^[18] From this gatehouse to the west door of the church, the path leads along roughly where the south aisle of the nave formerly existed.

In the early 1720s, at the suggestion of Governor of Pennsylvania Sir William Keith Bt, the American polymath and patriot Benjamin Franklin worked as a typesetter in a printer's shop in what is now the Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great.

The Lady chapel at the east end had been previously used for commercial purposes and it was there that Benjamin Franklin worked for a year as a journeyman printer. The north transept was also formerly used as a blacksmith's forge.Parts of the site was occupied by squatters in the 18th century.

In 1888, new parish school rooms, with basement rooms for youth clubs and a soup kitchen, were built on part of the former burial grounds. The works were funded by in part by the rector, Sir Borradaile Savory. The foundation stone was laid on 5 July 1888 by the Duchess of Albany.

From 1889,^[19] the was extensively restored under the direction of architect Sir Aston Webb.This programme of works saw the restoration of the Lady Chapel and fragmentary south transept and a new flint-faced north transept. The scars at the West end where the demolished nave had once joined was given a new flint-faced facade. The restored south transept was opened by Frederick Temple, Bishop of London, on 14 March 1891; and the south transept in February 1893 in the presence of the Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark (Princess of Wales), Edward White Benson (Archbishop of Canterbury) and other dignitaries.^[20] The Priory Church was one of the few City churches to escape major damage during the Blitz.

Charitable distributions in the churchyard on Good Friday continue a tradition established when twenty-one sixpences were placed upon the gravestone of a woman stipulating that the bequest fund an annual distribution to twenty one widows in perpetuity,^[21] with hot cross buns nowadays being given not only to widows but others.^[22]

The Priory Church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.^[23] In April 2007 it became the first Anglican parish church to charge an entrance fee to tourists not attending a worship,^[24]though this was discontinued and the church is open free of charge weekdays.^[25]

For a few years the rector of St Batholomew the Great church was simultaneously priest-in-charge of the nearby St Bartholomew the Less, though the latter retained its own Parochial church council (PCC) and churchwardens. On 1 June 2015 the parishes of both churches were dissolved and replaced with the new united benefice of Great St Bartholomew. The Rector of the former parish of St Bartholomew the Great became Rector of the united benefice and the parish boundary follows precisely those of the two former parishes. A single Parochial Church Council and churchwardens are responsible for both buildings. The parish church is St Bartholomew the Great, while St Bartholomew the Less is a chapel of ease within the parish, the latter bering part of an eucumenical and inter-faith ministry to the patients and staff at the Hospital.^[26]

The brick clock tower was constructed in the South West corner of the truncated church in 1628.^[27] It has a small timber cupola and houses the earlier ring of pre-Reformation bells that were cast between 1500 and 1514.^[28]

Immediately to the North of the high altar is the monument to founder Rahere. This is in a mixture of the Decorated Gothic and Perpendicular Gothic styles. A painted effigy lies on top of the tomb under an elaborate canopy. It is unclear whether it is the resting place of Rahere's remains, or his monument, since it was constructed c.250 years after his death in 1144.

The interior Oriel Window was installed in the early 16th century by Prior William Bolton,^[29][30] allegedly so that he could keep an eye on the monks. The Prior's lodgings were adjacent to the South of the church. The symbol in the centre panel is a crossbow "bolt" passing through a "tun" (or barrel), a rebus or pun on the name of the prior. William Camden wrote:

It may be doubtful whether Bolton, Prior of St Bartholomew, in Smithfield, was wiser when he invented for his name a bird-bolt through his Tun, or when he built him a house upon Harrow Hill, for fear of an inundation after a great conjunction of planets in the watery triplicity

Said to be 'newly built' in 1336, this extends to the E of the choir, with a crypt under its E end. The building was in secular use after the Dissolution of the Priory and divided into workshops and houses. Re-acquired by the parish in the late nineteenth century it was restored by Sir Aston Webb to something close to its original appearance, with much original stonework surviving.^[31]

Very little evidence of the monastic buildings now survives above ground. Three bays of the semi-derelict c.15 cloister were restored and extended by a further five bays in replica in the 1920s as a war memorial the new work using the surviving medieval footings. The approximate footprint of the cloister quadrangle was recreated as a grassed area when adjoining buildings were redeveloped in 2019. The approximate extent of the monastic enclosure is defined by the modern street of Bartholomew Close and Cloth Fair.^[32]

The principal remaining area of the churchyard is a raised garden on Cloth Fair laid out by the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association's landscape gardener Fanny Wilkinson in 1885.^[33]

St Bartholomew the Great is the adopted guild church of various City livery companies who host services there throughout the year: the Worshipful Company of Butchers (one of the seven oldest livery companies), the Worshipful Company of Founders (whose Hall is beside the church), the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers (incorporated 1448, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies) whose Hall is on the opposite side of West Smithfield, the Worshipful Company of Fletchers, the Worshipful Company of Farriers (incorporated 1674), the Worshipful Company of Farmers (incorporated 1955). More recent companies with a connection to the church are: Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (incorporated 1992), the Worshipful Company of Hackney Carriage Drivers (incorporated 2004), the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers (incorporated 2005), the Company of Public Relations Practitioners (incorporated 2000).

The Priory Church served as the chapel of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor before the establishment of the Society's permanent chapel in St Paul's Cathedral in 2005.^[34]

The church was the location for the fourth wedding service in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) and of scenes in other films: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Shakespeare in Love, the 1999 film version of Graham Greene's 1951 novel The End of the Affair, Amazing Grace (2006), Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Richard II of The Hollow Crown (2012), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), Testament of Youth (2014), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017). It was also used in Taboo. It was used by T-Mobile as a stand-in for Westminster Abbey in its "royal wedding" advertisement (2011). It has also been the location for six music videos of Libera.^[35]

The BBC Radio 3 programme Choral Evensong has been livecast from the church, including a 2023 Evensong service to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the foundation.^[36]

Since 2021 the principal church services are simulcast on the parish YouTube channel and remain available online for two months.^[37]

Edward A. Webb's history of St Bartholomew-the-Great provides an account of each rector up to W. F. G. Sandwith.^[38]

Several rectors served as President of Sion College: Thomas Westfield (1631, 1632), Thomas Spateman (1732), Owen Perrot Edwardes (1785), Sir Borradaile Savory (1905).^[57]

St Bartholomew the Great had an organ installed by John Knopple in 1715, superseded by an organ in 1731 by Richard Bridge. In 1886, this was replaced by the organ from St Stephen Walbrook re-installed by William Hill. Modifications were made in 1931 by Henry Speechly & Son, in 1957 by N.P. Mander and in 1982–83 by the firm of Peter Wells. Specifications of this organ are detailed on the National Pipe Organ Register.^[58] but it is considered unplayable. The church is currently using a Viscount digital organ for services, pending the commissioning of a new instrument.

Unusually for a parish church, the Priory Church Choir comprises professional singers, directed by Rupert Gough. A choir of amateur singers, the Rahere Singers, sing for some services.^[59]

In 2009 the roles of Organist and Director of Music were divided into two posts.

• Nigel Short 2009–15^[61]

In 2015 the roles of Organist and Director of Music were recombined.

• Rupert Gough, 2015–present^[62]

• Ben Horden, January 2016 – May 2017
• James Norrey, 2017–present

• Francis Anthony
• Sir George Hastings
• John Hovyngham
• Sir Rice Mansel
• Sir Walter Mildmay
• Prior Rahere

• Sir John Betjeman Poet Laureate took a flat overlooking the church in Cloth Fair and considered the church to have the finest Norman interior in London.^[63]
• 11th Duke of Devonshire and the Hon Deborah Mitford celebrated their wartime marriage here in 1941.
• W. G. Grace, cricketer was a member of the congregation here
• William Hogarth, artist was baptised here
• William Peryn (died 1558), Catholic theologian and Prior of St Bartholomew
• Sir William Wallace in 2005 a memorial service was held for on the 700th anniversary of his execution in nearby Smithfield, organised by the historian David R. Ross.

The ghost of Rahere is reputed to haunt the church, following an incident during repair work in the 19th century when the tomb was opened and a sandal removed. The sandal was returned to the church but not Rahere's foot, and Rahere since then, as a "shadowy, cowled figure appears from the gloom, brushes by astonished witnesses and fades slowly into thin air. Rahere is said to appear every year on the morning of July the 1st at 7 am, emerging from the Vestry".^[64]

• Sir John Deane's College
• St Bartholomew the Less Church
• List of churches and cathedrals of London
• List of English abbeys, priories and friaries serving as parish churches

• Gauthier, Charlotte, ed. (2022). 900 Years of St Bartholomew's: the history, art and architecture of London's oldest parish church. London: Paul Holberton Publishing. ISBN 978-1-915401-03-8.

• Official website
• St Bartholomew's Priory, Smithfield, Records; The parish: descendants of Rich and the advowson
• Friends of City Churches website
• The Records of the priory and parish church: Two volumes of records, first published by E. A. Webb in 1921. Full-text, as part of British History Online.
• Rahere's Garden: The History & Personalities of St Bartholomew the Great
• Photo essay and history of the priory
• Bell's Cathedrals: The Priory Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield from Project Gutenberg
• 360 Panorama of Lady Chapel, St Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield
• 360 Panorama inside St Bartholomew-the-Great, Smithfield