St Martin, Ludgate, also known as St Martin within Ludgate, is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church on

Ludgate Hill Ludgate Hill is a street and surrounding area, on a small hill in the City of London. The street passes through the former site of Ludgate, a city gate that was demolished – along with a gaol attached to it – in 1760. The area include ...

in the ward of Farringdon, in 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 fr ...

. The church is of medieval origin, but the present building dates from 1677 to 1684 and was designed by Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches ...

History

Some legends connect the church with legendary King Cadwallo (now usually referred to as

Cadwallon ap Cadfan Cadwallon ap Cadfan (died 634A difference in the interpretation of Bede's dates has led to the question of whether Cadwallon was killed in 634 or the year earlier, 633. Cadwallon died in the year after the Battle of Hatfield Chase, which Bede rep ...

, father of

Cadwaladr Cadwaladr ap Cadwallon (also spelled Cadwalader or Cadwallader in English) was king of Gwynedd in Wales from around 655 to 682 AD. Two devastating plagues happened during his reign, one in 664 and the other in 682; he himself was a victim of the ...

. A sign on the front of the church reads "Cadwallo King of the Britons is said to have been buried here in 677". Modern historians would place his death about 682. Cadwallo's image was allegedly placed on

Ludgate Ludgate was the westernmost gate in London Wall. Of Roman origin, it was rebuilt several times and finally demolished in 1760. The name survives in Ludgate Hill, an eastward continuation of Fleet Street, Ludgate Circus and Ludgate Square. Ety ...

, to frighten away the Saxons. However, Middlesex and the London area were controlled by the Anglo-Saxon polities at that time and there is no evidence of British or any other occupation of the intramural area of the abandoned '

Londinium Londinium, also known as Roman London, was the capital of Roman Britain during most of the period of Roman rule. It was originally a settlement established on the current site of the City of London around AD 47–50. It sat at a key cross ...

' since the late fourth century. Previously the sign stated that it was the West Saxon king Caedwalla but this was contradicted by

Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

's writings that he was buried in Rome. However the earliest written reference is from 1174. A Blackfriars monastery was built nearby in 1278. The church was rebuilt in 1437 and the tower was struck by lightning in 1561. The parish books start from 1410. Before the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, the church was under the control of

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

, and afterwards under St. Paul's Cathedral. St Martin, Ludgate Hill, London EC4 - East end - geograph

St Martin of Tours Martin of Tours ( la, Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; 316/336 – 8 November 397), also known as Martin the Merciful, was the third bishop of Tours. He has become one of the most familiar and recognizable Christian saints in France, heralded as the ...

is a

Patron Saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of travellers. Churches which are dedicated to him often stand just within city gates. A blue plaque next to church records the earlier presence of Ludgate, demolished 1760. The church consists of a lead-clad dome, topped by a lantern and on top of that a sharp obelisk steeple. From the lower part of

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

the steeple stands between the viewer and the dome of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. Wren probably planned to make a contrast between the spiky steeple of St Martin's and the circular dome of St Paul's. Greek palindrome on the font

In "The Roaring Girl, or Moll Cutpurse" by Dekker and Middleton, Sebastian says "The clock at Ludgate, sir, it ne'er goes true". This might refer to St Martin's church. "I owe you three farthings, say the bells of St Martin", might refer to this church, but is more likely to refer to

St Martin Orgar St Martin Orgar was a church in the City of London in Martin Lane, off Cannon Street. Its name is said to derive from one Ordgarus (Odgarus, Orgarus, Ordgar, Orgar), a Dane who donated the church to the canons of St Paul’s. It is sometimes ...

in Cannon Street (previously Eastcheap). In 1614

Samuel Purchas Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an England, English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries. Career Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex, England, Essex son of an English yeoman. He graduated fr ...

, a travel writer, became the rector. On the 17th century font there is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

palindrome A palindrome is a word, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as the words ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date and time ''11/11/11 11:11,'' and the sentence: "A man, a plan, a canal – Panam ...

– ΝΙΨΟΝ ΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑ ΜΗ ΜΟΝΑΝ ΟΨΙΝ ''

Nipson anomemata me monan opsin ''Nipson anomēmata mē monan opsin'' ( grc, Νίψον ἀνομήματα, μὴ μόναν ὄψιν), meaning "Wash the sins, not only the face", or "Wash my transgressions, not only my face", is a Greek palindromeThe romanization is not a pa ...

'' (Cleanse my sin and not my face only). There is a 17th-century carved oak double churchwarden's chair – the only one of its kind known to exist. The medieval church was repaired in 1623, only to be destroyed in the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past the ...

in 1666. Rebuilding was not immediate, but was largely completed by 1680, finished in 1703. In 1669 a Roman tombstone, now in the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

, was found. The current design is topped by a lead-covered octagonal cupola supporting a balcony and tapered spire rising to a height of . The centre of the church is in the form of a

Greek cross The Christian cross, with or without a figure of Christ included, is the main religious symbol of Christianity. A cross with a figure of Christ affixed to it is termed a ''crucifix'' and the figure is often referred to as the ''corpus'' (La ...

, with four large columns. The chandelier dates from about 1777 and comes from the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

. As a curiosity, this is from the burial register: "“1615, February 28, St. Martin’s, Ludgate, was buried an anatomy from the College of Physicians.” (It was first noticed by Andrew Lang, in an article in "Books and Bookmen"). The

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of physicians by examination. Founded by royal charter from King Henry VIII in 1 ...

were based in Amen Corner, a few yards away from 1614 to 1666. In 1678

Robert Hooke Robert Hooke FRS (; 18 July 16353 March 1703) was an English polymath active as a scientist, natural philosopher and architect, who is credited to be one of two scientists to discover microorganisms in 1665 using a compound microscope that ...

designed a new hall in Warwick Lane, also nearby. The view from the steeple towards the river is spectacular. It was painted by T.M. Baynes. In 1893 to 1894, the church underwent a major rebuilding and alteration, with the floor level raised, and many bodies disinterred from the churchyard and reburied at

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regist ...

. In 1941, during the

London Blitz The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

, a German

incendiary bomb Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), that use materials such as napalm, th ...

damaged the roof, but St Martin's received relatively little damage during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1954 St Martin's became a

Guild Church A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...

and was designated a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

on 4 January 1950.

Organ

The organ is a Bernard Schmidt design dating from 1684. There are carvings by

Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, Petworth House and other ...

inside. The contemporary carvings in the church are also attributed to three joiners, Athew, Draper and Poulden, and to the carvers Cooper and William Newman. There are organ recitals every other Monday;

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

every Wednesday and Friday. A specification of the organ can be found on the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

. Past organists at St Martin include: *

Frederick Albert Bridge Frederick Albert Bridge or F. A. Bridge (18 December 1841 – 29 December 1917) was an English photographer, organist, singer and choirmaster. He was born in Shadwell. He maintained a professional photographer's studio at Dalston Lane, Hackney, ...

(b. 1841 – d. 1917)

Notes

External links

St Martin's-within-Ludgate websiteLooking At buildingsGreek PalindromeThe 1615 Anatomy
* ttp://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?image=10423126 View from the steeplebr>360° panorama inside St Martin's-within-Ludgate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Martin, Ludgate Christopher Wren church buildings in London Churches completed in 1684 17th-century Church of England church buildings English Baroque church buildings Church of England church buildings in the City of London Grade I listed churches in the City of London Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom Diocese of London 1684 establishments in England Ewan Christian buildings

History

Organ

See also

Notes

External links