St Thomas the Apostle was a parish church in St Thomas Apostle Street 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 ...

. In existence by the late twelfth century, it was 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 patronage of the church belonged to the canons of St Paul's and it is mentioned in the register of the Dean and Chapter as early as 1181.

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles'', ''The C ...

implies that was rebuilt some time in the late fourteenth century, describing John Barnes, Lord Mayor in 1371 as "a great builder of S. Thomas Apostles parish church as appeareth by his armes there both in stone and glasse". The parish was staunchly

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governme ...

in the years leading up to the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

In 1642, the rector, named Cooper, was sequestered and imprisoned in

Leeds Castle Leeds Castle is a castle in Kent, England, southeast of Maidstone. It is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds. A castle has existed on the site since 857. In the 13th century, it came into the ...

owing to his loyalty to the king. St Thomas' was destroyed by the Great fire in 1666. Following the fire, a Rebuilding Act was passed and a committee set up under

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 decide which buildings would be rebuilt. Fifty-one were chosen, but St Thomas the Apostle was not among those chosen."The City of London Churches" Betjeman, J. Andover, Pitkin, 1967 (rpnt 1992) Instead, the parish was united with that of

St Mary Aldermary The Guild Church of St Mary Aldermary a contraction of St Mary Aldermanbury (or St Mary Elder Mary) is an Anglican church located in Watling Street at the junction with Bow Lane, in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt from 15 ...

. Part of the site was used for the creation of Queen Street, though a small portion of the churchyard survived. The site of the church is marked by a plaque in Great St Thomas Apostle Street near

Mansion House tube station Mansion House is a London Underground station in the City of London which takes its name from Mansion House, the residence of the Lord Mayor of London. It opened in 1871 as the eastern terminus of the Metropolitan District Railway. Today, Mans ...

. Edmund Allen,

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was foun ...

, is said to have been buried in the church.

References

External links

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 {{London-church-stub