Choral Evensong with Tudor Music followed by St Olave Lecture
“Tudor Spies” by Sally Gibbins of the Francis Bacon Society
Tuesday 22nd September 2026
Over 110 people joined us for a special Choral Evensong with Tudor music, followed by our first St Olave Lecture of the autumn.
A huge thank you to Sally Gibbins, Principal of the Francis Bacon Society for a fascinating and entertaining talk which placed St Olave’s and its neighbourhood at the heart of the secret world of Elizabethan espionage. Sally drew together the stories of figures including Sir Francis Walsingham, Peter Capponi, and Francis and Anthony Bacon, revealing some of the remarkable connections between the parish and the intelligence networks of Tudor England.
With Tudor music, live character performances by Sally’s actor and musician friends Gary Cordice and Jonathon Lawrence Freeman and the historic setting of St Olave’s itself, this month’s lecture was a unique and memorable experience.
We were also delighted that Professor David Stupples joined us and brought along an Enigma machine to demonstrate after Sally’s talk. It provided a fascinating bridge from the world of Anthony Bacon, codes and ciphers to the development of cryptography and the work of Alan Turing and the codebreakers at Bletchley Park centuries later.
Thank you to Sally, David, all the performers and musicians, and everyone who joined us for such a memorable evening.
Choral Evensong takes place at St Olave’s on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 5.30pm. Do join us for our regular weekly services when you can.
Our next St Olave Lecture follows Compline by Candlelight on Tuesday 20th October. Details of this and the rest of our current programme can be foundhere.
The Francis Bacon Society
Founded in 1886, the FBS is one of the UK’s oldest literary societies and a registered educational charity researching Francis Bacon, his work and the world in which he lived. If this fascinating period interests you, please join the Society. New members are always welcome. Contact Sally Gibbins: francis.bacon.society@gmail.com Find out more at this link.
