It is uncertain when and by whom the church was built. It is only
certain that it was erected during the Saxon period. It is distinguished
in several reigns as a royal free chapel, and is styled “The Church of
St. Juliana, the Virgin.” In 1223 Henry III. attached to it the chapel
of Ford; but Henry IV. annexed its revenues, with those of St. Michael’s
“in the Castle”—a foundation now destroyed—to the new college of
Battlefield, “reserving only a small allowance for the minister.” The
first structure was Anglo-Norman, but having become dilapidated, was,
with the exception of the tower, taken down in 1748. The foundation
stone of the present structure was laid in August of the same year. The
first service was held in August, 1750. The exterior of the southern
side was considerably altered and improved in 1846–47 through the
generosity of the late Rev. R. Scott. Opposite St. Julian’s Church, at
the entrance of Milk Street, is an old stone building which has seen
remarkable changes of fortune. Anciently and originally it was the