St Nicholas Cole Abbey is a 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 f ...

located on what is now Queen Victoria Street. Recorded from the twelfth century, the church 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 th ...

in 1666 and rebuilt by the office 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 churche ...

. The church suffered substantial bomb damage from German bombs 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 ...

in 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 opposi ...

and was reconstructed by Arthur Bailey in 1961–2.

History

The church is dedicated to the 4th century

St Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra, ; la, Sanctus Nicolaus (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greek descent from the maritime city of Myra in Asia Minor (; modern-day Dem ...

of Myra. The name "Cole Abbey" is derived from "coldharbour", a medieval word for a traveller's shelter or shelter from the cold. The church was never an

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The c ...

. The earliest reference to the church is in a letter of Pope

Lucius II Pope Lucius II (died 15 February 1145), born Gherardo Caccianemici dal Orso, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 March 1144 to his death in 1145. His pontificate was notable for the unrest in Rome associated wi ...

in 1144–5. Spire of St Nicholas Cole Abbey

St Nicholas of Myra is patron saint of, among other groups, children and fishermen, and the church has special ties with both. An inventory of the church's possessions taken at the time of the

Protestant 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 i ...

includes vestments for children, suggesting that the church maintained the tradition of electing a boy bishop on

Saint Nicholas Day Saint Nicholas Day, also called the Feast of Saint Nicholas, observed on 5 December or on 6 December in Western Christian countries, and on 19 December in Eastern Christian countries using the old church Calendar, is the feast day of Saint Ni ...

. Deeds in the reign of

Richard I Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 until his death in 1199. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy, Aquitaine and Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, and Count of Poitiers, Anjou, Maine, and Nantes, and was ...

refer to a new fish market near St Nicholas Cole Abbey. In a Charter of 1272, the church is referred to as "St Nick's behind Fish Street". During the 16th century, several fishmongers were buried here and

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 ...

records that, during the reign of

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

, a lead and stone cistern, fed by the Thames, was set up against the north wall "for the care and commodity of the Fishmongers in and about Old Fish Street". Like all English churches, St Nicholas Cole Abbey became Protestant during 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 ...

. Upon the accession of Queen

Mary I Mary I (18 February 1516 – 17 November 1558), also known as Mary Tudor, and as "Bloody Mary" by her Protestant opponents, was Queen of England and Ireland from July 1553 and Queen of Spain from January 1556 until her death in 1558. She ...

, it was the first church to celebrate

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different ele ...

(on 23 August 1553). The incumbent rector, Thomas Sowdley, had obtained a licence to marry during the reign of

Edward VI Edward VI (12 October 1537 – 6 July 1553) was King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death in 1553. He was crowned on 20 February 1547 at the age of nine. Edward was the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour and the first E ...

and was deprived of his living as a result. In the same month as the coronation of Mary I,

John Strype John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) was an English clergyman, historian and biographer from London. He became a merchant when settling in Petticoat Lane. In his twenties, he became perpetual curate of Theydon Bois, Essex and lat ...

recorded "Another priest called sir Tho. Snowdel, .e. Sowdleywhom they nicknamed 'Parson Chicken', was carted through Cheapside, for assoiling an old acquaintance of his in a ditch in Finsbury field; and was at that riding saluted with chamber-pots and rotten eggs". Sowdley regained his living on the accession of

. A century later, the living of St Nicholas Cole Abbey was owned by Colonel

Francis Hacker Colonel Francis Hacker (died 19 October 1660) was an English soldier who fought for Parliament during the English Civil War and one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England. Biography Hacker was third son of Francis Hacker of East Bridgfo ...

, a

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

who commanded the execution detail of

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 ...

. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire. Charles II promised the site to the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

community but lobbying prevented this from being granted and the parish was combined with that of St Nicholas Olave, a nearby church also destroyed but not rebuilt. The church was rebuilt between 1672 and 1678 at a cost of £5042. Included in the building accounts are the items "Dinner for Dr Wren and other Company – £2 14s 0d" and "Half a pint of canary for Dr Wren's coachmen – 6d". It was the first church of the fifty-one lost in the Great Fire to be rebuilt. In 1737, the early

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

leader

George Whitefield George Whitefield (; 30 September 1770), also known as George Whitfield, was an Anglican cleric and evangelist who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated at Pembroke College at th ...

preached a sermon on "Profane swearing in church" at St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The post-Fire church was built with its façade to the north on what was then Fish Street (and what is now Distaff Lane) and the east on Old Fish Street Hill. Victorian urban redevelopment changed the local street plan and the south wall of the church, instead of being hemmed in by buildings now overlooked the newly built Queen Victoria Street. This necessitated a reordering of the church, in 1874, with windows being opened up to the south and the main doorway moving from the northwest tower to the south. Smoke generated by underground trains so blackened the exterior that in the late 19th century, the church became known as "St Nicholas Cole Hole Abbey". In May 1881,

church attendance Church attendance is a central religious practice for many Christians; some Christian denominations, such as the Catholic Church require church attendance on the Lord's Day (Sunday); the Westminster Confession of Faith is held by the Reformed Ch ...

under the Reverend

Henry Stebbing Henry Stebbing (1687–1763) was an English churchman and controversialist, who became archdeacon of Wilts. Life Baptised at Walton, Suffolk on 19 August 1687, he was the fourth son of John Stebbing (1647–1728), a grocer of Walton, by his wife ...

was down to one man and one woman. Then, in 1883, Henry Shuttleworth was appointed rector, a position he held until 1900. Shuttleworth was a

Christian Socialist Christian socialism is a religious and political philosophy that blends Christianity and socialism, endorsing left-wing politics and socialist economics on the basis of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. Many Christian socialists believe capi ...

who installed a bar, established a prodigious musical programme and made the church a centre for debate. This had an effect, as by 1891 St Nicholas Cole Abbey had the largest congregation of any City church, numbering up to 450 worshippers on a Sunday evening. A contemporary vicar commented: "In St. Nicholas Cole Abbey there is good preaching and divine worship is also carried out in the most reverential manner. In other City churches ... as a rule, they he rectorsare themselves the most wretched preachers and bad readers." On 10 May 1941 London suffered its worst air raid during the entire

, with 1,436 people killed and several major buildings destroyed or severely damaged. Among them was St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The church remained a shell until restored under Arthur Bailey and reconsecrated in 1962.

Recent history

The parish was combined with that of

St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is a Church of England church located on Queen Victoria Street, London in the City of London, near Blackfriars station. History First mentioned around 1170, St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe was almost certainly founded conside ...

. St Nicholas Cole Abbey became the headquarters of the Diocesan Council for Mission and Unity. Between 1982 and 2003, the church was leased to the Free Church of Scotland (Presbyterian). In 2006, the Church of England announced that St Nicholas Cole Abbey would become a national centre for Religious Education: the Culham Institute, a Church of England educational body which promotes and develops RE in schools, would move its headquarters to St Nicholas Cole Abbey from

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. This did not come to pass. In 2014 the building reopened as the home of the St Nicholas Cole Abbey Centre for Workplace Ministry, with a supporting cafe known as The Wren.

Present day

In November 2016, Sunday services re-started, alongside midweek meetings, under the name St Nick's Church. The parish is within the

conservative evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual exper ...

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

of the Church of England, and it has passed resolutions to reject the

ordination of women The ordination of women to ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain Christian traditions and most denominations in which "ordina ...

and/or female leadership. In November 2022, St. Nicholas announced that it was making a "visible differentiation" from the Church of England's

House of Bishops The House of Bishops is the third House in a General Synod of some Anglican churches and the second house in the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in the United States of America.

, in protest at the bishops' engagement with the Living in Love and Faith process which considered the possibility of blessing same-sex sexual relationships. In March 2023, after the church's General Synod approved the principle of blessings for same-sex couples, the Senior Minister of St Nicholas, along with the guild vicar of

St Botolph's, Aldersgate St Botolph without Aldersgate (also known as St Botolph's, Aldersgate) is a Church of England church in London dedicated to St Botolph. It was built just outside Aldersgate; one of the gates on London's wall in the City of London. The churc ...

, announced they had established a new "

deanery A deanery (or decanate) is an ecclesiastical entity in the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Anglican Communion, the Evangelical Church in Germany, and the Church of Norway. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residenc ...

chapter", separate from the official diocesan structures, for clergy who felt "compelled to resist all episcopal leadership from the House of Bishops". This move was described by the

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 ...

as a "unilateral move" with "no legal substance", and by the

Church Times The ''Church Times'' is an independent Anglican weekly newspaper based in London and published in the United Kingdom on Fridays. History The ''Church Times'' was founded on 7 February 1863 by George Josiah Palmer, a printer. It fought for the ...

as " schismatic".

Architecture

The church 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.

Exterior

The church is a stone box with

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

. Some medieval work remains in the south and west walls, the latter of which is of brick and rubble. On top of the body of the church is a balustrade. The windows are arched with square brackets – a favourite device of Wren. On the northwestern corner of the church is a square tower surmounted by a lead spire in the shape of an upside down octagonal trumpet. On each corner of the tower is a small flaming urn. The spire has two rows of lunettes and a small balcony near the top, resembling a crow's nest. At the very top is a vane in the shape of a three-masted

barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...

in the round. This came from

St Michael Queenhithe St. Michael Queenhithe was a church in the City of London located in what is now Upper Thames Street. First recorded in the 12th century, the church was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher W ...

(demolished 1876), and was added to the spire in 1962. The pre-War vane was in the shape of a pennant with 4 "S" shapes back to back. The tower is 135 feet tall and contains one bell.

Interior

The east wall is dominated by three stained glass windows designed by Keith New, who also helped design the stained glass windows of

Coventry Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Michael, commonly known as Coventry Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry within the Church of England. The cathedral is located in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The curren ...

. They are reminiscent of the work of

Marc Chagall Marc Chagall; russian: link=no, Марк Заха́рович Шага́л ; be, Марк Захаравіч Шагал . (born Moishe Shagal; 28 March 1985) was a Russian-French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with se ...

. They replace windows designed by

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman Hun ...

which were destroyed in 1941. From left to right they depict St Nicholas Cole Abbey as the centre of the world with crosses pointing to the four corners of the world; the Rock of Christ with the ark (representing the church) on four rivers (representing the Gospels); seven lamps, representing the extension of the church around the world. Swags have been recreated over the east windows. The interior is otherwise plain, other than Corinthian pilasters. In the vestry to the north west is

crazy paving Crazy paving is a means of hard-surfacing used outdoors, most frequently in gardens. Paving stones of irregular size and shape are laid in a haphazard manner sometimes with mortar filling the gaps between. The method originated in ancient R ...

made from shattered tombstones. Surviving from the 17th century are the carved pulpit, (although on a modern base and lacking its tester), the font cover, part of the

communion rail The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and oth ...

, parts of the original Wren era reredos, now installed on the south wall and the Charles II coat of arms. Behind a panel near the south door is a medieval stone head found during the restoration. The organ was built by

Noel Mander Noel or Noël may refer to: Christmas * , French for Christmas * Noel is another name for a Christmas carol Places * Noel, Missouri, United States, a city *Noel, Nova Scotia, Canada, a community * 1563 Noël, an asteroid *Mount Noel, Britis ...

for the restored church. In 2006, as part of a planned redevelopment of the church as a centre for Religious Education, it was announced that a free-standing glass box would be built inside the shell of the church. This redevelopment did not come to pass.

Services and other activities

St Nick's Church meets each Sunday at 11am. Services are contemporary in style and there are Sunday clubs and a crèche for youth and children. Before the service, coffee and pastries are served from 10.30 and there is an informal lunch afterwards. Small groups are held on Wednesday evenings, at 6.15pm for a meal and 7pm for bible study and prayer. St Nick's Talks run every Thursday lunchtime at 1.05pm. The aim of the talks is to explain, from the Bible, the good news of Jesus Christ to those working nearby.

St Nicholas Cole Abbey in culture

* Henry Shuttleworth is the model for James Morrell, the Socialist preacher in

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

's 1898 play '' Candida''. * The gutted shell of St Nicholas Cole Abbey is the scene of the gold bullion heist in the 1951 Ealing comedy ''

The Lavender Hill Mob ''The Lavender Hill Mob'' is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T. E. B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass. The title refers to Lavender Hil ...

''. * The church features in

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...

's first novel ''

Under the Net ''Under the Net'' is a 1954 novel by Iris Murdoch. It was Murdoch's first published novel. Set in London, it is the story of a struggling young writer, Jake Donaghue. Its mixture of the philosophical and the picaresque has made it one of Murdoc ...

'', published in 1954. * St Nicholas Cole Abbey was used as a location in 1968 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' serial '' The Invasion''.

References

*Bradley, Simon & Pevsner, Nikolaus. ''The Buildings of England: London 1: The City of London'', Penguin Books 1997 *Clarke, Rev. Henry. ''The City Churches'', Simpkin, Marshall, Kent & Co., 1898 *Cobb, Gerald. ''London City Churches'', B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1977 *Jeffery, Paul. ''The City Churches of Sir Christopher Wren'', Hambledon Press, 1996 *Middleton, Paul & Hatts, Leigh. ''London City Churches'', Bankside Press, 2003 *Weinreb, Ben & Hibbert, Christopher (eds.) . ''The London Encyclopedia'', Macmillan, 1992

External links

St Nicholas Cole Abbey

from Architecture Week

from Church bells of the City of London
360° panorama inside St Nicholas Cole Abbey

St Nick's Church

St Nick's Talks (the St Nicholas Cole Abbey Centre for Workplace Ministry)

The Wren coffee shop
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Nicholas Cole Abbey Christopher Wren church buildings in London Church of England church buildings in the City of London English Baroque church buildings Grade I listed churches in the City of London 17th-century Church of England church buildings Cole Abbey Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom Diocese of London Conservative evangelical Anglican churches in England