St Mary Colechurch was a parish church in the City of London 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 and not rebuilt.

History

The church was situated at the junction of Poultry and the south end of Old Jewry. Named after its first benefactor, it was a prosperous parish able to support a grammar school, which was rebuilt on the site after the fire and continued in that locality until 1787. The Great Fire of London of 1666 destroyed 86 of the 97 parish churches in the City of London. By 1670 a Rebuilding Act had been passed and a committee set up under of 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 ...

to plan the new parishes. Fifty-one were chosen, but St Mary Colechurch was one of the minority not to be rebuilt. The parish was united with St Mildred, Poultry, although the parishioners objected on the grounds that

This was a noisy, crowded parish perpetually disturbed by carts and coaches, and wants sufficient place for burials.

When St Mildred's too was deemed surplus to requirements, following the passing of the 1860

Union of Benefices Act Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, it passed successively through partnerships with

St Olave Jewry St Olave's Church, Old Jewry, sometimes known as ''Upwell Old Jewry'', was a church in the City of London located between the street called Old Jewry and Ironmonger Lane. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, the church was rebuilt by th ...

and

St Margaret Lothbury St Margaret Lothbury is a Church of England parish church on Lothbury in the City of London; it spans the boundary between Coleman Street Ward and Broad Street Ward. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of ...

. C. W. Pearce notes that the last traces of any building vanished in 1839 although a Parish Boundary Mark inside the Mercers’ Hall still exists.Premier Livery Company
/ref> St Mary Colechurch Plaque

St Mary Colechurch & St Mildred Poultry Map

St Mary Colechurch & St Martin Pomeroy copy

A plaque commemorates the church on the southwest corner of Old Jewry. The site is currently occupied by the Alliance & Leicester at 82 Cheapside.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary Colechurch Former buildings and structures in the City of London Churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt Churches in the City of London 10th-century establishments in England 1666 disestablishments in England