top of page
CITY CHURCHES - PART 2
A stomp around 52 medieval churches in the City of London in a day
City Churches 2: About
27. St. Botolph Aldgate 10:38
I can see St Botolph’s across the road as I slurp my coffee and rest my weary feet. It is both within the City of London but outside the old city walls. I consult the map I discovered online, provided by The Friends of the City Churches. The next church on the list is St. George which looks suspiciously a long way outside the city boundary, but at this stage, I am committed to my itinerary so I plough on and eventually find myself outside a church now used by the German Lutherans. I then retrace my steps to St. Botolph without Aldgate and Holy Trinity Minores to give it its full name. I have two more Botolphs to visit, the saint being the patron saint of boundaries. His statue stood outside four of the gateways to the medieval city - St. Botolph’s Billingsgate was never rebuilt after the fire.
I climb the steps to the open doorway and venture inside. It is light and spacious with a gallery on three sides. I am struck by the six stained glass windows that commemorate parishioners who attained the highest honour in the city, that of Lord Mayor. Each window names the guild the mayor belonged to with, all of them many centuries old despite their sometimes modern associations. So along with a stationer (the guild received a charter in 1403) there was a cutler (1416), a cloth worker (1528), a spectacle maker (1629), a pavior (1479) and a modern sounding carman (1517).
City Churches 2: About
28. St. Katherine Kree 10:46
This church escaped both the Great Fire and German bombing and is the only Jacobean church in the city, being rebuilt during the reign of James I in a renaissance style. At the start of the 12th century, there was a priory here but conflict arose between the monks and the local parishioners and St Katherine’s was built - the Cree is a form of Christchurch - to serve the parishioners. Nowadays it has lost its parish and serves only as a guild church. The guilds arose in medieval times as companies of merchants and craftsmen who wanted to ensure the quality of the goods they were selling or making. There are over one hundred of them in the city these days.
29. St. Andrew Undershaft 10:50
After a short walk along Leadenhall Street I arrive at my next stop. The undershaft refers to a maypole that used to be erected on feast days opposite the church until 1517 when the city apprentices rioted and the authorities removed it. It was later destroyed as a symbol of the devil. A smaller replica stands across the road by the modern skyscraper that known as the Cheesegrater. Looming up behind the church is the Gherkin. I am disappointed not to be able to enter because I’d have liked to have seen the memorial to John Stow, the 16th century writer who is buried here. His Survey of London, published in 1598, gives a detailed account of every street, alleyway, church and civic building that existed before the Great Fire and, despite being crammed full of fairly repetitive detail, it is a book that I have read from cover to cover.
30. St. Helen’s Bishopgate 10:52
St. Helen’s is located across the road and down a side street. With the amalgamation of medieval parishes over time, the church’s full name is St. Helen’s Bishopgate with St. Andrew Undercroft and St. Ethelburga Bishopsgate and St. Martin Outwich and St. Mary Axe - quite a mouthful. Apparently it has a huge number of monuments, second only to Westminster Abbey, not that I was able to see any of them. Having survived both the Great Fire and the Blitz, it was badly damaged in 1992 and 1993 by IRA bombs planted nearby.
31. St. Ethelbburga 10:57
Also damaged by the 1993 bomb was St. Ethelburga’s which reopened as a centre for peace and reconciliation after it was restored. The saint was an abbess at Barking Abbey in the 7th century.
32. St. Botolph Bishopsgate 10:58
I move further north up Bishopsgate, past the site of another of the ancient gateways to the city, to another church dedicated to the patron saint of boundaries, St. Botolph. The church was rebuilt in the 18th century and escaped most of the IRA bomb damage in 1993. I wandered in and spent a few minutes looking at the fixtures and fittings but nothing much excited me. More interesting was a plaque nearby that told of the first Bethlehem Hospital for those with what we would now term mental health issues. The second manifestation was in Moorfields and it’s third building is now used by the Imperial War Museum in Southwark. A shortened form of Bethlehem, Bedlam, became synonymous with the chaos of the early hospitals.
City Churches 2: Text
33. Â Â All Hallows on the Wall 11.06
It is at this stage of my journey that my map reading skills begin to desert me and I start making unnecessary detours. Between churches, I find myself walking besides Liverpool Street station, a place I’ve only been to once before en route from Cromer to Taiwan and where my credit card was copied when I used it to purchase a tube ticket to Heathrow Airport. I take short cut through an arcade which appears to be closing down which is a shame as it was constructed by the Metropolitan Railway in 1912. When the underground line beneath the arcade moved from steam powered trains to electric, the Metropolitan was able to build above it. All Hallows has a rather bleak grey exterior fronting the road. Inside it has a simple design with no aisles and was the creation of the 24 year old architect George Dance the Younger in 1767.
City Churches 2: About
34. St. Peter Cornhill 11:27
For the second time, my Friends of the City Churches map sends me on a long journey, this time to St. Mary Moorfields, the only Catholic Church in the City of London. Although this was not a medieval church foundation, it does have an interesting history. After the Reformation, Catholic worship became illegal. Several chapels appeared, known as Penny Hotels because worshippers had to pay a penny to a man behind a grille to gain entry. This church, which was open, was completed in 1913, and replaced an earlier version in nearby Finsbury Circus. It was designed by George Sherrington who also created the Brompton Oratory and several underground stations.
It is a fair trek to the Dutch Church, located in what was a medieval Augustinian priory. The present building dates from 1950 but it occupies the site of the first Dutch Protestant church in the world, given to fleeing Protestants from the Netherlands in 1450. It is open, hosting an exhibition that celebrates Grinling Gibbons with displays of religious carvings by contemporary artists. Whilst I am taking in the interior’s decoration, a guide mistakes me for an exhibition visitor and proffers me a pamphlet on the works on show, whereupon I have to spend some time taking in the exhibits, which are indeed very interesting but not the focus of my visit. When it seems respectable to leave, I exit the church and promptly get lost in the warren of side streets surrounding the church.
Eventually I emerge onto Cornhill where my next two churches are located in fairly close proximity. St. Peter’s occupies the highest spot in the city and was, according to many accounts, the site of the first archbishopric until it moved to Canterbury. The church was damaged during the Great Fire and Wren worked on it, shortening it by several feet to make way for the widening of Gracechurch Street which borders it on one side.
City Churches 2: Text
35. Â Â St. Michael Cornhill 11:29
A few steps along Cornhill and a left turn down St. Michael’s Alley bring me to my next church. It has gone through a few transformations over the centuries getting a new tower in the 15th century, a rebuild after 1666 but probably not by Wren, additions to the tower by Hawksmoor and a new porch by George Gilbert Scott in the 19th century. Gilbert Scott is better known for his Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, the gothic Midland Hotel at St. Pancras station and various religious buildings around the country.
City Churches 2: About
36. St. Edmund King and Martyr 11:31
This is the third church in close proximity and takes me close to St. Mary Woolnoth which I visited about two hours previously. It is dedicated to St. Edmund, an early king of East Anglia who was killed by an invading Viking army, allegedly after refusing to renounce Christianity. He was buried in what then became Bury St. Edmunds but his body disappeared after the dissolution of the monasteries. This was unusual because having the body of a deceased monarch often guaranteed the preservation of the buildings. No one knows where he now is - perhaps under a car park somewhere.
37. St. Margaret Lothbury 11.36
Lothbury is a street running alongside the austere walls of the Bank of England. It is another Wren church, as was St. Christopher Le Stocks whose parish was joined to St. Mary’s in 1781 when that church was demolished to make way for an extension to the Bank.
38. St. Olave Jewry 11:44
All that remains of St. Olave’s is a tower and part of a wall. It stands in what was the Jewish quarter in medieval times until the authorities decided to expel them in 1290. Its churchyard did contain the body of William Caxton who introduced the printing press to England and in so doing brought about a huge change to society. When the church was demolished in the 19th century, his bones were reburied in St. Margaret’s on Parliament Square, Westminster.
39. St. Lawrence Jewry 11:46
I’d admired St. Lawrence Jewry many times on visits to the Guildhall although I’d never been able get inside it. Today was no exception. Yet another Wren church, it stands in what is now the forecourt to the Guildhall and it is the official church of the Lord Mayor and Corporation.
40. St. Alban Wood Street 11:49
I find St. Alban Wood Street on a traffic island with the occasional car passing on both sides. Just a tower, I mistake it for St. Mary Aldermanbury due to a mix up with my map reading. In 1633, it was in such a state of disrepair that it was pulled down and rebuilt. The new church lasted just 32 years before it burnt to the ground, probably the shortest lived of the city churches. The Wren rebuilt lasted a bit longer, until German bombs destroyed it once again and this time there was no reprieve as all but the tower was cleared away.
41. St. Alphage London Wall 11.51
London Wall is a soulless street. Running in the vicinity to the old city walls, it has nothing to recommend it, with masses of concrete on either side. I am forced to endure a section and then take my chances crossing the road to look for St. Alphage. What I discover are pleasant gardens, set out in the 19th century. The original church never made it as far as the Great Fire although there are rthe emains of priory and part of the Roman Wall, revealed by the bombing of the Second World War.
City Churches 2: Text
42. St. Giles Cripplegate 11.55
When I see my next church lies within the Barbican, my heart sinks. I have a particular distaste for this area that rose up over the devastation wrought by the Luftwaffe. It’s not the architecture as such, or the building materials, more the huge expanse with its endless walkways. I pass under an arch and there stands St. Giles Cripplegate, a medieval gem in a 20th century housing area. Behind it stands another portion of London Wall and my thoughts turn to a future outing to trace the wall and its seven gateways. It is thought that Cripplegate comes from the Anglo-Saxon Cruplegate meaning a covered way. Joy, oh joy, the church is open and inside I find monuments to three key historical figures.
The first commemorates the poet John Milton who is buried here. The second remembers the explorer Martin Frobisher who set about trying to find a North West Passage to India and discovered parts of Canada in the process. He too is buried here, well most of him - his heart was buried in Plymouth. Completing the trio of burials is that of John Speed, a map maker of renown, a copy of his county map of Leicestershire resides in my house. It was, however, John Speed who went to the wrong religious ruins in Leicester looking for the last resting place of Richard III. The absence of any monument led to him questioning some locals who told him that the late king’s body had been dug up at the Reformation and thrown into the River Soar, a story that became the story until a discovery in a car park in recent times.
City Churches 2: About
43. St. Mary Aldermanbury 12:04
When I retrace my steps, I realise that the church on the traffic island isn’t St. Mary Aldermanbury although it’s only a few metres away. Rebuilt in Portland stone after the Great Fire, the church was badly damaged in World War II leaving just the walls standing. Inside is a garden which is currently occupied by city workers beginning their lunch break. Some of the rubble from the ruins was taken to Fulton, Missouri by its townsfolk as a memorial to Winston Churchill who gave his Iron Curtain speech in the town.
44. St. Mary Staining 12: 07
Now comes a complete surprise because I stumble upon some more gardens on the site of the demolished St. Mary Staining. They are part of a city gardens project to provide green spaces within the square mile, something I was unaware of until I read the notice board. There are no visible ruins to see but I add this church to my collection.
45. St. John Zachary 12:09
And then , like the proverbial London buses, I discover another garden, this one where St. John Zachary’s once stood. It was also the site of London’s oldest recorded livery hall, that belonging to the Goldsmiths. The church disappeared in 1666, the livery hall last century, and a garden was laid out on the land they both once occupied.
46. St. Anne & St. Agnes 12:10
Across the road stands St. Anne and St. Agnes church. The parish absorbed that of its neighbour after the Great Fire and was rebuilt by Wren in the shape of a Greek cross, an unusual arrangement. For many years it was used by the exiled Latvian and Estonian Lutheran communities but now it is the home of an educational charity.
47. St. Botolph Aldersgate 12:12
I arrive at my final Botolph church, this one standing just outside the old Aldersgate. There is a plaque marking the location of the now demolished gateway but I only found this out later. I’ll pick it up on my London Wall walk. The church stands in one corner of Postman’s Park which I’ve nosied round on previous visits. Named after the postmen from the nearby GPO headquarters who used the park to eat their lunches, the park actually commemorates acts of heroism. It was the idea of the sculptor GF Watts who wanted to remember ordinary people who had done extraordinary things in the face of adversity. Amongst the row of ceramic tiles are dedications to people who gave their lives saving others from fire, accident and drowning. By now, I’ve decided that the Friends of the City Churches have accumulated a handful of ‘friends’ from outside the city and my trek through a covered road tunnel on the northern edge of the Barbican confirms this as I find myself at the Jewin Welsh church, a thoroughly modern building serving the Welsh Presbyterian community.
City Churches 2: Text
48. Â Â St. Bartholomew the Great 12:27
I retrace my steps through the gloomy tunnel and dive off into some side streets that eventually lead me to the magnificent St. Bartholomew the Great. I have been inside before but, as it is open, I take the opportunity to make a return visit. I enter the grounds through a 13th century gateway with a gatehouse above. The church was once the chancel of an Augustinian priory founded by Rahere whose tomb is located inside. Rahere was a nobleman in Henry I’s court who went on a pilgrimage to Rome, fell ill and vowed to found a hospital to give thanks for his recovery. On his return journey, he had a vision of St. Bartholomew who told him to build his hospital at Smithfield, just outside the city walls. The hospital he founded, St. Barts, now covers a large area to the south of the church. The interior is very different from the other churches I’ve managed to get into today, dark, ornate, a mixture of styles.
City Churches 2: About
49. St. Bartholomew the Less 12:31
Nearby St, Bartholomew the Less, so called to distinguish it from its illustrious neighbour, is now the church of St. Barts Hospital. It too was open and so I venture in. Light and airy due to the high lantern windows, it is a total contrast. After a quick look round, I head off into the environs of the hospital. Medics in their green scrubs are scattered around a square, eating sandwiches. I manage to get lost and have to retrace my steps back to Smithfield, now a meat market and underground car park but once a place of public execution. There is a monument to William Wallace, the Scottish freedom fighter who was put to death here along with a host of other dissenters and heretics.
50. Christ Church Greyfriars 12:38
I have to admit to feeling very weary and churched-out as I trek to the final ruin of the journey, knowing that I will have to retrace my steps once I’ve seen it. The medieval church was destroyed during the war and whilst the tower was preserved, the rest of the site was laid out as gardens. In the 14th century it had been the second largest church in the city, boasting eleven altars. It was the resting place for a number of royal bodies. These included Marguerite of France, second wife of Edward I, who provided money for its rebuilding, and Isabelle, wife of Edward II who she deposed, ruling as regent for her son, Edward III until he forcibly removed her. The heart of Henry III’s Queen, Eleanor of Provence, was also buried there.
51. St. Sepulchre 12:40
St. Sepulchre is closed but I have visited before. The most interesting item on view then was the execution bell. Opposite the church are the courts of the Old Bailey but prior to that it was the site of the notorious Newgate prison. In an act that today seems unnecessarily cruel but at the time would have been viewed as helpful, the bellman of St. Sepulchre’s would have rung the bell twelve times outside the cells of those condemned to die the next day, reciting a plea for the condemned to repent of their sins. For a time, the church bells would have tolled the next day as the procession of condemned prisoners passed the church on their way to Tyburn, where Marble Arch is today. One vicar of St. Sepulchre's, John Rogers, met his end, not at Tyburn, but burnt at the stake as a heretic in 1555 at Smithfield. It is the largest of the churches I have visited today. From here, I follow the road to Tyburn until I come to another of my map’s additional churches, the City Temple, the only non-conformist church in the city that has regular services.
52. St. Andrew Holborn 12:49
And so to my final church, except my map sends me off to St. Ethelreda’s Chapel, a modern Catholic Church, and St Alban the Martyr, through Hatton Gardens, which I am able to enter whilst noting that my ramble has finally ended at 1pm. But back to St. Andrew’s which I am also able to enter. There has been a church here for over a thousand years and maybe more, as Roman remains were discovered in its crypt. Although it survived the Great Fire, Wren was asked to redesign it, presumably after he’d finished all his fire damaged buildings. In the 18th century, one of its preachers, Dr. Henry Sackeverell, so roused the people with his sermons that it led to rioting which, in turn, was instrumental in Parliament passing the riot act. Isambard Kingdom Brunei’s parents were married here and Disraeli was christened here. In 1827, Dr. William Marsden found a young girl dying from exposure in the churchyard. Outraged that no hospital would treat her, he set up what is now the Royal Marsden Hospital.
And so my quest is completed. I have visited 40 medieval churches still in use and ten ruins, along with the two gardens I discovered and my map’s seven additional churches. It has been a most enjoyable trek around the city and I’ve discovered lots of new places as well as managing occasionally to gain access to these ancient structures. Given that the city is a square mile, I am surprised that I have walked nearly 15 miles from start to finish. I grab some lunch then head off to Westminster Abbey and arrive three minutes after it closes from visitors. Perhaps that's not such a bad thing. After all, I have seen rather a lot of churches today.
City Churches 2: Text
City Churches 2: Image
bottom of page