St Benet Sherehog, additionally dedicated to
St Osyth, was a medieval parish church built before the year 1111, on a site now occupied by
No 1 Poultry
No 1 Poultry is a building in the City of London, allocated to office and commercial use. It occupies the apex where the eastern ends of Poultry and Queen Victoria Street meet at Mansion House Street, the western approach to Bank junction.
Th ...
in
Cordwainer Ward
Cordwainer is a small, almost rectangular-shaped ward in the City of London. It is named after the cordwainers, the professional shoemakers who historically lived and worked in this particular area of London; there is a Livery Company for the ...
, in what was then the wool-dealing district of the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...
. A ''shere hog'' is a castrated ram after its first shearing.
History
The church was originally dedicated to St Osyth. Sise Lane in the parish uses an abbreviated form of the saint's name.
The historian
John Stow believed that the later dedication of "Benet Sherehog" was derived from a corruption of the name of Bennet Shorne, a benefactor of the church in the reign of
Edward II.
The patronage of the church belonged to the monastery of
St Mary Overy until the
Dissolution
Dissolution may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Books
* ''Dissolution'' (''Forgotten Realms'' novel), a 2002 fantasy novel by Richard Lee Byers
* ''Dissolution'' (Sansom novel), a 2003 historical novel by C. J. Sansom Music
* Dissolution, in mu ...
, when it passed to the Crown.
Matthew Griffith chaplain to
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
was rector from 1640 until 1642, when he was removed from the post and imprisoned after preaching a sermon entitled "A Pathetical Persuasion to Pray for Publick Peace" in
St Paul's Cathedral.
[
]
Destruction
St Benet's was one of the 86 parish churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and it was not selected to be rebuilt when the 1670 Act of Parliament became law. The parish was united to that of St Stephen Walbrook in the same year, but continued to be represented by its own churchwarden. In 1685, a church report judged the unification a success. Nearly two hundred years later, however, this arrangement was still capable of causing tension. Some of its parish records survive, and have been collated.
The site of the church was used as a burial-ground for the united parishes until closed by an Act of Parliament in 1853. It was excavated between 1994 and 1996, before the current office block was erected.
Burials
*John Fresshe
John Fresshe (sometimes Frossh, Fresche, Froysh or Frosh) (died 6 September 1397) was a citizen, alderman, and Lord Mayor of London, Mayor of London in the latter years of the fourteenth century. A merchant by trade, he was a member of the Wors ...
(d. 1397) alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...
of Cordwainer Ward
Cordwainer is a small, almost rectangular-shaped ward in the City of London. It is named after the cordwainers, the professional shoemakers who historically lived and worked in this particular area of London; there is a Livery Company for the ...
and Lord Mayor of London
The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...
from 1394 to 1396.
*Edward Hall
Edward Hall ( – ) was an English lawyer and historian, best known for his ''The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke''—commonly known as ''Hall's Chronicle''—first published in 1548. He was also sever ...
(1497–1547), was an English lawyer, Member of Parliament, and historian.
* Katherine (Fowler) Philips (1632-1664), was an English poet.
*Hector Philips (1655-1655), was the infant son of Katherine Philips, about whose death two of her more famous poems were written.
References
Bibliography
* Bannerman,W.B, RAOC Harleian Society 1919-20 ''The Registers of St, Stephen, Walbrook, and St. Benet Sherehog, London. Part I (Baptisms 1557 to 1790; Marriages 1557 to 1754; Burials 1557 to 1716) & Part II (Baptisms 1790 to 1860; Marriages 1754 to 1860; Burials 1716 to 1860)'' London, Harleian Society, 1920
* Betjeman, John, ''Sovereign City of London Churches'', Andover: Pitkin, 1967 rpnt 1992
* Cobb,G ''London City Churches'': London, B T Batsford Ltd., 1977
* 'Church of England, Parish of St. Stephen Walbrook: Visitation order issued by the Archdeacon of London to the united parishes, 1685'. - M0015630CL cited in ''City of London Parish Registers Guide 4'' Hallows,A.(Ed) - London, Guildhall Library Research, 1974 .
* ''A Dictionary of London'' Harben,H: London, Herbert Jenkins, 1918
* Huelin, G, ''Vanished Churches of the City of London'', London,Guildhall Library Publications, 1996ISBN 0900422424
* ''The London Encyclopaedia'' Hibbert,C; Weinreb,D; Keay,J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008)
* Miles, A., Tankard,D. White, W. ''Burial at the site of the parish church of St Benet Sherehog before and after the Great Fire: excavations at 1 Poultry, City of London'' London, Museum of London Archaeological Service, Monograph Series, 2007
*Reynolds, H, ''The Churches of the City of London'', London, The Bodley Head, 1922
* 'Letter from Michael Gibbs, 33 Walbrook concerning the separateness of two church wardens’ duties'. ''The Times'', Thursday, Sep 21, 1843; pg. 5; Issue 18407; col E
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Benet Sherehog
12th-century church buildings in England
1666 disestablishments in England
Churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt
Churches in the City of London
Former buildings and structures in the City of London