London - St John's Gate Church & Museum

St John's Gate was originally the main entrance to a priory of the order of St John of Jerusalem (the Knights Hospitallers). Dating from 1504, it, plus the 12th C crypt and large parts of the church, are the most obvious remains of the priory. The rooms in the gateway are now the headquarters of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, and contain the Museum of the Order of St John.

The order, founded in Jerusalem in the 11th C, and later based successively in Cyprus, Rhodes and Malta, came to England in the 12th C and built a priory in London in the 1140s. The order was suppressed in England in 1540. A move to revive the Priory in the 19th C resulted in the formation of the Order of St John, made a Royal Order of Chivalry by Queen Victoria in 1888. The museum traces the history of the Order from the Crusaders to the modern St John's Ambulance Brigade. The site of the priory church of 1185 is now occupied by St John's Church (1721-23) in St John's Square, which incorporates the choir walls of the old church. The church was damaged in the Second World War but was completely restored in 1958. Most of the fabric of the church is 15th/16th century and the Norman Crypt (1140-80), which has survived the hazards of the centuries.

Housed in this museum is a collection of relics from the Knights of St John. A collection of weapons and armor includes a rare suit of Italian Gothic armor from Rhodes and a cannon presented to the Grand Master Henry VIII.