[7] 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.

[7] 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.

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.

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.

[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 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.

[21] In 2005 a memorial service was held for Sir William Wallace, on the 700th anniversary of the Scottish hero's execution nearby, organised by the historian David R. Ross.

The Oriel Window was installed inside St Bartholomew the Great in the early 16th century by Prior William Bolton,[26][27] allegedly so that he could keep an eye on the monks.

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.

[28] The church was the location of 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).

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.