St Michael Paternoster Royal is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

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 original building, which was first recorded in the 13th century, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The church was rebuilt under the aegis 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 ...

. However St Michael's was severely damaged 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 opposin ...

. It was restored between 1966 and 1968. In 1423 Richard "Dick" Whittington, the fabled

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...

, was buried within its precincts; although the tomb is now lost.

History

Pre-Great Fire London had seven churches dedicated to the

Archangel Michael Michael (; he, מִיכָאֵל, lit=Who is like El od, translit=Mīḵāʾēl; el, Μιχαήλ, translit=Mikhaḗl; la, Michahel; ar, ميخائيل ، مِيكَالَ ، ميكائيل, translit=Mīkāʾīl, Mīkāl, Mīkhāʾīl), also ...

, all but one (St Michael le Querne) of which were rebuilt after the Great Fire. The earliest record of St Michael's is as ''St Michael of Paternosterchierch'' and is dated 1219. The suffix comes from its location on Paternoster Lane, (now College Hill), which, in turn was named after the sellers of

paternoster ''Pater Noster'', or the Lord's Prayer, is a prayer in Christianity. Pater Noster or Paternoster may also refer to: Places * Paternoster, Western Cape, a fishing village in South Africa * Paternosters, uninhabitable rocks in the Bailiwick of Jer ...

s – or rosaries – based there. The suffix ''Royal'' is first recorded in the next century and refers to another nearby street, now vanished, called ''Le Ryole'', which was a corruption of La Reole, a town in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. This street was so named due to the presence of numerous wine merchants. A local resident in the early 15th century was

Richard Whittington Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423) of the parish of St Michael Paternoster Royal, City of London, was an English merchant and a politician of the late medieval period. He is also the real-life inspiration for the English folk tale ''Dick ...

, four times

. One of his earlier philanthropic acts, made in 1409, was to pay for the rebuilding and extension of St Michael Paternoster Royal after a vacant plot of land was acquired in Le Ryole. He later founded the College of St Spirit and St Mary within the church, so that St Michael's became a

collegiate church In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a ...

, i.e. it was administered by a college of

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

s, in this case five, instead of a

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

. It was commonly known as Whittington's College, or Whittington College. (The college was relocated from College Hill to Highgate Hill c. 1820s, and removed again in 1966 to

Felbridge __NOTOC__ Felbridge is a village and civil parish in the Tandridge district of Surrey with a playing field within its focal area, narrowly in West Sussex. Felbridge village forms a contiguous settlement with East Grinstead and had 829 homes and ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ar ...

.) Adjacent to the church, Whittington also founded an

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

. The college was dissolved by

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 ...

in 1548; but was re-established in a new entity a few years later under Queen Mary. The title seems in any case to have persisted for the church, giving the names of College Street, and College Hill. The almshouse moved to

Highgate Highgate ( ) is a suburban area of north London at the northeastern corner of Hampstead Heath, north-northwest of Charing Cross. Highgate is one of the most expensive London suburbs in which to live. It has two active conservation organisati ...

in 1808 and later to its present location in

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

in 1966. Sir Richard was buried in St Michael's in 1423 on the south side of the altar near his wife, Alice.

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 ...

records that Whittington's body was dug up by the then Rector Thomas Mountain, during the reign of

, in the belief that he had been buried with treasure. He was not, so Mountain took his leaden shroud. The grave was dug up again during the reign of

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. Sh ...

and his body re-covered in lead. An attempt to find his grave in 1949 did uncover a mummified cat, but no Lord Mayor's body. Other worthies buried in the pre-Fire church were

William Oldhall Sir William Oldhall (1390?–1460) was an English soldier and Yorkist supporter, who served as Speaker of the House of Commons of England between 1450 and 1451. Life The eldest son and heir of two-time Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, Sir Edm ...

(d. 1459) Speaker of the House of Commons, the Lord Mayors John Yonge (d. 1466) and William Bayley (d. 1524),

Peter Blundell Peter Blundell (c. 1520–1601) was a prosperous clothier, trading between Tiverton and London. He died in April 1601, never having married and with no known issue. On his death, he left over £32,000 cash to fellow clothiers and their famil ...

(d. 1601) founder of

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the tim ...

, (mentioned in Blackmore's novel ''

Lorna Doone ''Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor'' is a novel by English author Richard Doddridge Blackmore, published in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly ar ...

'') and the Cavalier poet

John Cleveland John Cleveland (16 June 1613 – 29 April 1658) was an English poet who supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. He was best known for political satire. Early life Cleveland was born in Loughborough, the son of Thomas Cleveland, ...

(d. 1658). After the church's destruction in the Fire, the parish was united with that of

St Martin Vintry St Martin Vintry was a parish church in the Vintry ward of the City of London, England. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and never rebuilt. History The church stood at what is now the junction of Queen Street and Upper Thames ...

, also destroyed but not rebuilt. Construction of a new church began in 1685 (one of the last of the 51 churches to be rebuilt) and stopped in 1688 owing to the financial uncertainty associated with the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

. Building began again the next year, supervised and built by Wren's master mason

Edward Strong the Elder Edward Strong the Elder (1652–1724) and Edward Strong the Younger (1676–1741) were a father and son pair of British sculptors mainly working in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. They led a team of 65 masons and were responsible f ...

. It was finished in 1694. Its

steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...

was built between 1713 and 1717. The cost of the rebuilding totalled £8,937. Archway through to Turner's Courtyard, College Hill - geograph

A monument to another Lord Mayor,

Sir Samuel Pennant Sir Samuel Pennant (died May 1750) was a Lord Mayor of London. He was appointed a Sheriff of London for 1745, knighted in the same year, and then elected Lord Mayor for 1749 but died the following year in office, one of a large number of dignitar ...

, sculpted by

Michael Rysbrack Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack, original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack, often referred to simply as Michael Rysbrack (24 June 1694 – 8 January 1770), was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor, who spent most of his career in England where h ...

, survives from 1750. Pennant died from jail fever caught from prisoners in the court dock. St Michael's underwent a number of renovations in the 19th century, by

James Elmes James Elmes (15 October 1782, London – 2 April 1862, Greenwich) was an English architect, civil engineer, and writer on the arts. Biography Elmes was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, and, after studying building under his father, and ar ...

in 1820,

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 1866 and

Ewan Christian Ewan Christian (1814–1895) was a British architect. He is most frequently noted for the restorations of Southwell Minster and Carlisle Cathedral, and the design of the National Portrait Gallery. He was Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commiss ...

in 1894. Their work was lost on 23 July 1944 when the church was hit by a V1 flying bomb, leaving only its walls and tower. Services continued in the remaining shell until 1955. A proposal by the diocese to demolish the walls and preserve the tower only was successfully opposed by the City of London Corporation, and the church restored by Elidir Davies between 1966 and 1968. It is the latest

City A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

church to be restored. St Michael's was reopened by the

Duke of Edinburgh Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, was a substantive title that has been created three times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produc ...

on 19 December 1968 as the Headquarters of the Mission to Seamen (now

Mission to Seafarers The Mission to Seafarers (formerly The Missions to Seamen) is a Christian welfare charity serving merchant crews around the world. It operates through a global Mission 'family' network of chaplains, staff and volunteers and provides practical, em ...

), an Anglican organisation which supports

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

s in ports around the world. It is also supported by City Livery Companies. St Michael Paternoster Royal is a

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

within the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London and since 2018 the office of the

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

has been based there.

Architecture

St Michael's is rectangular in plan, with only the west front on College Hill being slightly out of true. Before the Second World War the south front was hemmed in by buildings. Following bomb damage, these buildings were cleared and Whittington Garden laid out on their site, so that St Michael's main façade is now on the south, along Upper Thames Street. The south front is faced with

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building sto ...

and has six round-headed windows with cherub keystones. The less prominent north and east fronts are of brick. The roof is balustraded. Flagpole outside

The entrance is through the tower in the southwest corner. This has a round-headed window at the lowest level, then a circular window, then a square-headed belfry window. At the top is a pierced parapet with square urns on the corners. The stone

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires are ...

was 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 ...

and is similar to those of St Stephen Walbrook,

St James Garlickhythe St James Garlickhythe is a Church of England parish church in Vintry ward of the City of London, nicknamed "Wren's lantern" owing to its profusion of windows. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London ...

and, to a lesser extent, the west towers 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 ...

. It is an open octagon formed by eight

Ionic column The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite or ...

s, each with its own

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

and topped by an urn. Above this is another, smaller, octagon with another eight columns with urns. Above the second octagon is a tiny dome surmounted by a pennant vane. The height of the tower and steeple is 128 ft. St Michael Paternoster Royal 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.

Interior

St Michael Paternoster Royal, College Hill, London EC4 - Window - geograph

St Michael's interior is partitioned, reflecting the church's dual purpose. The west of the building, roughly corresponding with the plan to the original 13th-century church, accommodates a hall, vestibule and the offices of the

. The chapel is housed in the larger, eastern, part of the church. The east wall includes three stained glass windows designed by John Hayward in 1968. The main window depicts St Michael trampling a red-winged Satan. The windows on either side show the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus''The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches''; Tucker, T. London: Friends of the City Churches, 2006 and Adam and Eve with St Gabriel and the serpent. On the south wall, another stained glass window depicts Dick Whittington with his cat. The

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ex ...

is original, with four

Corinthian column 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 ...

s and two flaming urns. Before it are seventeenth-century

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

statues of

Moses Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...

and

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

, moved here from

All-Hallows-the-Great All-Hallows-the-Great was a church in the City of London, located on what is now Upper Thames Street, first mentioned in 1235. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666, the church was rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. All-Hallo ...

on that church's demolition in 1894: the statues’ hands were blown off in the war and have been replaced; Moses previously held a pointer, indicating the

Decalogue The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

, while Aaron held a censer – he now raises his hands in a blessing. Also from All-Hallows-the-Great is the elaborate chandelier, marked "Birmingham 1644". The organ case is a replica of the 1749 organ case taken from All-Hallows-the-Great but destroyed in the War. It houses a

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 ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, as well as, in front of the organ gallery, a rare contemporary representation of

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the ...

arms Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

. The pulpit,

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 ...

s and lectern date from the seventeenth century, but the rest of the woodwork was installed in the 1960s.

Burials

(c. 1354–1423), though his tomb is now lost * Samuel Pennant

References

External links

St Michael Paternoster Royal
from Friends of the City Churches
www.missiontoseafarers.org

360° panorama inside St Michael Paternoster Royal
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael Paternoster Royal Christopher Wren church buildings in London Church of England church buildings in the City of London English Baroque church buildings Paternoster Royal 17th-century Church of England church buildings Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom Diocese of London Grade I listed churches in the City of London