St Mary Woolnoth is an Anglican church 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 ...
, located on the corner of
Lombard Street and
King William Street near
Bank junction. The present building is one of the
Queen Anne Churches
The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches (in London and the surroundings) was an organisation set up by Act of Parliament in England in 1711, the New Churches in London and Westminster Act 1710, with the purpose of building fifty new churc ...
, designed by
Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principa ...
. The
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
continues to be actively used for services, with
Holy Communion
The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instituted ...
every Tuesday. St Mary Woolnoth lies in the
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of
Langbourn
Langbourn is one of the 25 ancient wards of the City of London. It reputedly is named after a buried stream in the vicinity.
It is a small ward; a long thin area, running in a west–east direction. Historically, Lombard Street and Fenchurch ...
.
History
Early history
Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...
remains were found under the site during the rebuilding by Hawksmoor, and there is speculation that there was a large Roman building in the immediate vicinity. (see https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1064620). This has led some to believe that the site has been used for worship for at least 2,000 years. This is based on the guess that the Roman remains were of a religious nature, and 'under the remains of an
Anglo-Saxon
The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...
wooden structure'. However, its name is first recorded in 1191 as ''Wilnotmaricherche''. It is believed that the name "Woolnoth" refers to a benefactor, possibly one Wulnoth de Walebrok who is known to have lived in the area earlier in the 12th century, or perhaps
Wulfnoth Cild
Wulfnoth Cild (; died 1014) was a South Saxon thegn who is regarded by historians as the probable father of Godwin, Earl of Wessex, and thus the grandfather of King Harold II.
Biography
It is known that Godwin's father was called Wulfnoth, an ...
, a
South Saxon
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
nobleman and grandfather of King
Harold Godwinson
Harold Godwinson ( – 14 October 1066), also called Harold II, was the last crowned Anglo-Saxon English king. Harold reigned from 6 January 1066 until his death at the Battle of Hastings, fighting the Norman invaders led by William the C ...
. Its full (and unusual)
dedication is to Saint Mary of the
Nativity.
The present building is at least the third church on the site. The
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
church survived until 1445, when it was rebuilt, with a spire added in 1485. It was badly damaged in 1666 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 ...
but was repaired 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 ...
. Two new bells (the treble and the tenor) were cast in 1670, and in 1672 the middle bell was cast. The patched-up structure proved unsafe, however, and had to be demolished in 1711.
Hawksmoor
![London Lombard Street and King William Street geograph-3070268-by-Ben-Brooksbank](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/London_Lombard_Street_and_King_William_Street_geograph-3070268-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg)
The church was rebuilt by the
Commission for Building Fifty New Churches. Work began in 1716 and the new church was reopened for worship on Easter Day 1727. It was commissioned from
Nicholas Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principa ...
, who had responded with one of his most distinctive and original designs. He benefited greatly from having an unusually open area in which to work. The old church had been hemmed in by shops and houses, like many other City churches, but these were demolished at the same time as the church. Hawksmoor was thus able to fully exploit the unobstructed front of the site. St Mary Woolnoth is Hawksmoor's only City of London church.
The resultant church was something of an architectural statement on Hawksmoor's part. Its unusually imposing façade, in
English Baroque
English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroque ...
style, is dominated by two flat-topped turrets supported by columns of the
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...
, which are used throughout the church. The west side of the façade, facing Lombard Street, has distinctive recesses bearing an inset forward-curving pediment resting on skewed columns.
The interior of the church is surprisingly spacious, despite its relatively small size. The layout is typical Hawksmoor, forming a "cube within a cube" – a square enclosed by three rows of four columns which is itself enclosed by a wider square. It is dominated by a baroque
baldaquin
A baldachin, or baldaquin (from it, baldacchino), is a canopy of state typically placed over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over h ...
, modelled on that of
Bernini in
St. Peter's Basilica
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican ( it, Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano), or simply Saint Peter's Basilica ( la, Basilica Sancti Petri), is a church built in the Renaissance style located in Vatican City, the papal e ...
in Rome.
Threatened demolition
![London_-_City_-_Coat_of_Arms](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/London_-_City_-_Coat_of_Arms.jpg)
The church underwent major changes in the late 19th century and the turn of the 20th century; it was proposed for demolition on several occasions but was saved each time. Its galleries were removed by
William Butterfield
William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy.
Biography
William Butterfield was born in Lon ...
in 1876, who thought they were unsafe, and a number of other significant (and not entirely successful) changes were made at the same time.
Between 1897 and 1900 the
City & South London Railway
The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...
(C&SLR) built
Bank Underground station beneath the church. The C&SLR were given permission to demolish it, but public outcry forced them to reconsider: the company undertook to use only the subsoil instead. The crypt was sold to the railway and the bones were removed for reburial at
Ilford. The walls and internal columns of the church were then supported on steel girders while the lift shafts and staircase shaft for Bank station were built directly beneath the church floor. At this time, the bells were also rehung with new fittings. No cracks formed in the plasterwork, and no settlement of the structure occurred; the company later claimed that the edifice of the church was considerably stronger than before.
Mid-twentieth century
St Mary Woolnoth 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, and in 1952 became a
guild
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 ...
church.
Present day
![St Mary Woolnoth Interior Entrance, London, UK - Diliff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/St_Mary_Woolnoth_Interior_Entrance%2C_London%2C_UK_-_Diliff.jpg)
St Mary Woolnoth is the active
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
for the combined
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of ''
St Edmund the King and Martyr, and St Mary Woolnoth Lombard Street with
St Nicholas Acons
St Nicholas Acons was a parish church in the City of London. In existence by the late 11th century, it was destroyed during the Great Fire of London of 1666 and not rebuilt.
History
The church was situated on the west side of Nicholas Lane in ...
,
All Hallows Lombard Street
All Hallows Lombard Street, also seen with descriptor Gracechurch Street, was a parish church in the City of London. It stood behind thin buildings fronting both streets, in Langbourn Ward, The west and south sides faced into Ball Alley. Of ...
,
St Benet Gracechurch
St Benet Gracechurch (or Grass Church), so called because a haymarket existed nearby (Cobb), was a parish church in the City of London. First recorded in the 11th century, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and rebuilt by the o ...
,
St Leonard Eastcheap
St. Leonard, Eastcheap, sometimes referred to as ''St Leonard Milkchurch'', was a parish church in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and not rebuilt. The site of the church was retained a ...
,
St Dionis Backchurch
St Dionis Backchurch was a parish church in the Langbourn ward of the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London to the designs of Christopher Wren and demolished in 1878.
Early history
The church of St D ...
and
St Mary Woolchurch Haw
St Mary Woolchurch Haw was a parish church in the City of London, destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and not rebuilt. It came within the ward of Walbrook.
History
The church of St Mary Woolchurch Haw was an ancient foundation, dati ...
'' – usually shortened to "St Edmund & St Mary Woolnoth" (the only two aforementioned churches to have survived). It is part of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
's
Diocese of London
The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England.
It lies directly north of the Thames. For centuries the diocese covered a vast tract and bordered the dioceses of Norwich and Lincoln to the north ...
.
It is currently used by London's German-speaking
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
community, and is also the official church in London of the government of
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
The 2013 boundary changes to the
City's wards kept the church within Langbourn, despite the surrounding buildings being transferred to Candlewick and Walbrook wards, because of the church's strong connections with the ward.
Notable people associated with the church
![JohnNewtonStMaryWoolnoth](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/JohnNewtonStMaryWoolnoth.jpg)
* Sir
Martin Bowes
Sir Martin Bowes (1496/97 – 1566) was a very prominent and active civic dignitary of Tudor London whose career continued through the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I and Elizabeth I.C.E. Challis, 'Bowes, Sir Martin (1496/7–1566)', ''Ox ...
, Lord Mayor (1545-46) and Mint Master, was married and buried here, and his children and grandchildren baptized.
*
Thomas Kyd
Thomas Kyd (baptised 6 November 1558; buried 15 August 1594) was an English playwright, the author of ''The Spanish Tragedy'', and one of the most important figures in the development of Elizabethan drama.
Although well known in his own time, ...
, Elizabethan dramatist, was baptised here; his father Francis was also a
churchwarden
A churchwarden is a lay official in a parish or congregation of the Anglican Communion or Catholic Church, usually working as a part-time volunteer. In the Anglican tradition, holders of these positions are ''ex officio'' members of the parish b ...
.
*
Josias Shute was rector here from 1611.
*
Ralph Robinson was presbyterian minister here in the 1640s.
*
William Owtram was rector here.
*
Thomas Busby the composer was organist here from 1798.
*
John Newton
John Newton (; – 21 December 1807) was an English evangelical Anglican cleric and slavery abolitionist. He had previously been a captain of slave ships and an investor in the slave trade. He served as a sailor in the Royal Navy (after forc ...
, evangelical, anti-slavery campaigner and hymnist, was incumbent here from 1780 to 1807.
*
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
, anti-slavery campaigner, worshipped here.
* Edward Lloyd, founder of
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...
, is memorialised here.
*
William Josiah Irons
William Josiah Irons (1812–1883) was a priest in the Church of England and a theological writer.
Life
Irons, born at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, 12 September 1812, was second son of the Rev. Joseph Irons (1785–1852), by his first wife, Mary Ann ...
the theologian was rector here from 1872.
* Sir
William Phips
Sir William Phips (or Phipps; February 2, 1651 – February 18, 1695) was born in Maine in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and was of humble origin, uneducated, and fatherless from a young age but rapidly advanced from shepherd boy, to shipwright, s ...
was buried here.18 February 1694/5
*
Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson, noted American colonial woman, married
William Hutchinson here in 1612.
* Thomas Ritchie, born 23 March 1809, a founder of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, was baptised here.
Literary reference
*
T. S. Eliot refers to this church in a famous passage of his 1922 poem ''
The Waste Land
''The Waste Land'' is a poem by T. S. Eliot, widely regarded as one of the most important poems of the 20th century and a central work of modernist poetry. Published in 1922, the 434-line poem first appeared in the United Kingdom in the Octob ...
'', Part 1, 'The Burial of the Dead':
A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying, "Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!
In his notes to the poem Eliot remarks that the "dead sound on the final stroke of nine" was "A phenomenon which I have often noticed."
St Mary Woolnoth is an important historical site in
Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd (born 5 October 1949) is an English biographer, novelist and critic with a specialist interest in the history and culture of London. For his novels about English history and culture and his biographies of, among others, William ...
's 1985 novel ''
Hawksmoor
Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principa ...
'' where it is the scene of one of a series of murders all taking place at churches redesigned by Nicholas Hawksmoor, who is given the fictional name Nicholas Dyer.
[Peter Ackroyd, ''Hawksmoor'', Hamish Hamilton, 1985 ']
See also
*
List of churches in London
This is a list of cathedrals, churches and chapels in Greater London, which is divided into 32 London boroughs and the City of London. The list focuses on the more permanent churches and buildings which identify themselves as places of Chris ...
Notes
*
External links
St Margaret Lothbury and St Mary Woolnoth
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary Woolnoth
Churches in the City of London
Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom
18th-century Church of England church buildings
Diocese of London
Grade I listed churches in the City of London
Nicholas Hawksmoor buildings
English Baroque church buildings
Georgian architecture in London
Greek Revival church buildings in the United Kingdom
Neoclassical architecture in London
Neoclassical church buildings in England