In approximately 1100 a Norman baron named Jordan Briset founded an Augustine nunnery dedicated to St Mary, which became wealthy and influential.

[2] It had a place of pilgrimage at Muswell Hill, and the parish kept an outlying tract of territory there until the nineteenth century.

At the dissolution of the nunnery under Henry VIII its church, which by then seems to have acquired a second dedication to St James, was taken into use by its parishioners who had already been using a part of it for some considerable time.

The site of the nunnery was granted to Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, in 1540 but the freehold of the church passed through various hands until it was conveyed in 1656 to trustees on behalf of the parishioners, who at the same time obtained the right to appoint the vicar.

This strong-minded and evangelical lady had taken over a building in the parish called Spa Fields Chapel, and insisted on appointing her own chaplains to preach there.

The architect was a local man, James Carr, and he produced a building which is pre-eminently a preaching-house but with carefully planned and harmonious detail clearly influenced by Wren and Gibbs.

A print of the church, based on a drawing by Samuel Rawle, featured as the frontispiece of The European Magazine, volume 36, published 1 August 1799.

Robert Maguire, a prolific writer of Protestant pamphlets, who had enjoyed a peculiarly stormy and exciting election.

The crypt was used for burials, but early in the twentieth century 300 coffins were moved and stored under the main West entrance.

The latest work created a dedicated youth space in part of the crypt and was opened by Rt Rev John Sentamu, Bishop of Stepney, on 19 December 1999.

The main room, The Crypt, has a vaulted brick ceiling and parquet flooring and is used by the church itself and the local community.

Because of its magnificent architecture and location in the heart of London the crypt is a popular venue for exhibitions, film shoots, parties, conferences and wedding receptions.