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A church was here from at least
the 12th Century, and given the significance of Upper
Thames Street, probably long before that. The medieval
building was destroyed in the Great Fire, and Wren's
replacement was complete by 1685. The spire was probably
Hawksmoor's. It is a big church, positioned rather
awkwardly now since the buildings to the south along
Upper Thames Street were removed in 1974 to allow that
ratrun to be widened, but the pleasing passageways of
this part of the City run off into a maze to the north.
The Blitz knocked the church about a bit, but it was far
enough south and west to escape the firestorm of December
1940. The clock dated 1682 is actually a 1980s
replacement of the orignal, which was lost to German
bombs. There was a restoration of the interior after a
crane from an adjacent building site fell into the church
in 1991, taking out the roof of the sanctuary.
The postwar restoration removed many of the 19th Century
fixtures and fittings and replaced them with Wren
furnishings held in storage from other churches, most
notably St Michael Queenhithe, a Wren church which stood
nearby and was demolished in 1875. It is one of the most
harmonious of the surviving Wren churches, and in any
other city would be open far more frequently than the one
day a week currently allowed us.
Simon Knott, December 2015
location: Upper Thames Street 2/029
status: guild church
access: open Thursdays
         
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