St Peter upon Cornhill is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church on the corner of Cornhill and

Gracechurch Street Gracechurch Street is a main road in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London, England, which is designated the A1213. It is home to a number of shops, restaurants, and offices and has an entrance to Leadenhall Market, ...

in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

of medieval, or possibly Roman origin. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt to the designs of Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...

. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. It is now a satellite church in the parish of

St Helen's Bishopsgate St Helen's Bishopsgate is an Anglican church in London. It is located in Great St Helen's, off Bishopsgate. It is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London. Several notable figures are buried there, and it contains more monuments ...

and home of St Helen's 10am congregation, which meets here for regular services on Sunday mornings and for mid-week Bible studies.

Early history

Roman location

The church stands on the highest point of the City of London, directly above the foundations of the great London Roman

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...

(built c. AD90–120). The east end of the church, and its high altar, are also positioned above the area where some basilicas of the period had a pagan shrine room (also known as an

aedes ''Aedes'' (also known as the tiger mosquito) is a genus of mosquitoes originally found in tropical and subtropical zones, but now found on all continents except Antarctica. Some species have been spread by human activity: ''Aedes albopictus'', ...

St Peter upon Cornhill church and location above London Roman Forum

The possible existence of the shrine room is supported by nineteenth-century excavations under Gracechurch Street, immediately adjacent to the church's eastern end. These unearthed an adjoining room covered in yellow panels with a black border, 'with a tessellated floor, suggesting it may have had a higher status than normal, possibly acting as an antechamber for the

or shrine-room'. The alignment of the church is close to the lines of the basilica, being off by just two degrees and it is feasible for the understructure to have utilized the dry solid 2nd-century basilica wall fabric for support. A tradition grew up that the church was founded by

Lucius Lucius is a masculine given name derived from Lucius (Latin ; ), abbreviated L., one of the small group of common Latin forenames () found in the culture of ancient Rome. Lucius probably derives from Latin word ( gen. ), meaning "light" (<

, the first Christian king in Britain sometime after his conversion in AD179. He dedicated it to St Peter the Apostle and the church became the seat of an

archbishop In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdi ...

until the coming of the Saxons in the 5th century, after which London was abandoned and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

became the seat for the 6th-century

Gregorian mission The Gregorian missionJones "Gregorian Mission" ''Speculum'' p. 335 or Augustinian missionMcGowan "Introduction to the Corpus" ''Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature'' p. 17 was a Christian mission sent by Pope Pope Gregory I, Gregory the Great ...

to the

Kingdom of Kent The Kingdom of the Kentish (; ), today referred to as the Kingdom of Kent, was an Early Middle Ages, early medieval kingdom in what is now South East England. It existed from either the fifth or the sixth century AD until it was fully absorbed i ...

. If St Peter's was built in the Roman era, it would make the church possibly contemporaneous to the Romano-British church at

Silchester Silchester is a village and civil parish about north of Basingstoke in Hampshire. It is adjacent to the county boundary with Berkshire and about south-west of Reading. Silchester is most notable for the archaeological site and Roman town of ...

, similarly built adjacent to the Roman Basilica and most likely pre-Constantine in age. The London Roman basilica, with most of the forum to the south, is thought to have been largely demolished around 300 AD, with building material being removed (possibly for other projects) and the land levelled and eventually covered with a thick layer of dark soil. Whether St Peter's was in existence at this point, and continued to serve as a place of worship, or whether the Lucius story is a fable and the first St Peter's was only established many centuries later may only be determined by future archaeological investigation under the present church. Two other facts however, may give credence to a Roman past. The first is that it is known that London sent a bishop,

Restitutus Restitutus () was a Romano-British bishop, probably from Londinium (London), one of the British delegation who attended the church synod or Council held at Arles (Arelate), in Gaul, in AD 314. The list of those who signed the ''Acta'', the decis ...

, to the

Council of Arles Arles (ancient Arelate) in the south of Roman Gaul (modern France) hosted several councils or synods referred to as ''Concilium Arelatense'' in the history of the early Christian church. Council of Arles in 314 The first council of Arles"Arles, S ...

in 314 AD. Restitutus must have had a church base serving a local christian community. The only other suggested alternative to St Peter's is an enormous aisled building excavated in 1993 near Tower Hill. This however dates to 350-400AD, several decades after Bishop Resitutus. The Tower Hill building was big, and similar in size and lay-out to the 4th-century Cathedral of St Tecla in Milan, the largest church in the Roman Empire at the time. Although the identity of this building is still subject to speculation, the evidence seems to favour it being a church. Interestingly it was built a few decades after the great Roman Basilica in London was demolished, and was constructed from re-used material, so the defunct Basilica seems an obvious source. Secondly, there are two medieval references to the church having Roman roots in the way that the three other medieval churches also sited on the basilica / forum site did not. A long lost book by

Jocelyn of Furness Jocelin of Furness (fl. 1175–1214) was an English Cistercian hagiographer, known for his Lives of Saint Waltheof, Saint Patrick, Saint Kentigern and Saint Helena of Constantinople. He is probably responsible for the popular legendary associa ...

(1175–1214), cited by

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

, and perhaps written just over 150 years after our first known reference to St Peters (1038), states that St Peter's was built by King Lucius. In 1417, the Mayor of London also determined (during a dispute) that St Peter's was the first church founded in London. Given that

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

was founded in 604, this clearly implies that Londoners in 1417 considered St Peters to have been founded pre-600. There is, however, some conflicting evidence to the theory that St Peter's was deliberately cited above a pagan shrine room. Current research suggests it very rare for early English Christian churches to be founded in pagan temples, and that when temples were turned into churches, this occurred later, in the late sixth century and onwards. This was also true elsewhere in the Roman Empire; for example in Rome. By this time the former associations of the sites had probably died down. Nonetheless there is precedent for early Christian churches and cathedrals to be built over Roman imperial structures and also on hills and geographic high points. Shortly after the London Basilica was demolished the Emperor

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

authorised new major church buildings in Rome including St John's Lateran on the

Lateran Hill 250px, Basilica and Palace - side view Lateran and Laterano are names for an area of Rome, and the shared names of several buildings in Rome. The properties were once owned by the Lateranus family of the Roman Empire. The Laterani lost their p ...

(AD 313) and Saint Peter's on the

Vatican Hill Vatican Hill (; ; ) is a hill in Rome, located on the right bank (west side) of Tiber river, opposite to the traditional seven hills of Rome. The hill also gave the name to Vatican City. It is the location of St. Peter's Basilica. Etymology ...

(AD 318).

King Lucius plaque

The London historian

, writing at the end of the 16th century, reported "there remaineth in this church a table whereon is written, I know not by what authority, but of a late hand, that King Lucius founded the same church to be an archbishop's see metropolitan, and chief church of his kingdom, and that it so endured for four hundred years". The "table" (tablet) seen by Stow was destroyed when the medieval church was burnt 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 Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

, but before this time a number of writers had recorded what it said. The text of the original tablet as printed by

John Weever John Weever (1576–1632) was an English antiquary and poet. He is best known for his ''Epigrammes in the Oldest Cut, and Newest Fashion'' (1599), containing epigrams on Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and other poets of his day, and for his ''Ancient ...

in 1631 began:

Be hit known to al men, that the yeerys of our Lord God an clxxix D 179 ''Lucius'' the fyrst christen kyng of this lond, then callyd Brytayne, fowndyd the fyrst chyrch in London, that is to sey, the Chyrch of Sent ''Peter'' apon Cornhyl, and he fowndyd ther an Archbishoppys See, and made that Chirch the Metropolitant, and cheef Chirch of this kingdom...

A replacement, in the form of an inscribed brass plate, was set up after the Great Fire and still hangs in the church vestry. The text of the brass plate has been printed several times, for example by George Godwin in 1839, and an engraving of it was included in Robert Wilkinson's ''Londina Illustrata'' (1819–25).

Medieval church

Regardless of the Lucius connection, St Peter's is clearly one of the earliest churches in London. The date of the medieval church is uncertain but the first definitive reference was around 1038, when

Ælfric II __NOTOC__ Ælfric II was a medieval Bishop of Elmham. Ælfric was consecrated between 1023 and 1038 and died in December 1038. Notes References External links * Bishops of Elmham 1038 deaths Year of birth unknown { ...

bishop of Elmham The Bishop of Norwich is the Ordinary (Catholic Church), ordinary of the Church of England Anglican Diocese of Norwich, Diocese of Norwich in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers most of the county of Norfolk and part of Suffolk. Th ...

, left a

messuage In law, conveyancing is the transfer of legal title of real property from one person to another, or the granting of an encumbrance such as a mortgage or a lien. A typical conveyancing transaction has two major phases: the exchange of contracts ...

(a dwelling with adjacent buildings and land) in his will to "St. Peter binnon Lunden" (St Peter in London). In 1156 it is mentioned in a charter of Henry II. By 1226 it was of sufficient importance to have three chaplains. They were referred to as co-conspirators in the somewhat gruesome murder of a deacon of St Peter's, Amise, who had been stabbed to death by the vicar of St. Paul's, London. A list of vicars in the church records the first known appointment as one John de Cabanicig in 1263, with the patronage being claimed by

Pope Urban IV Pope Urban IV (; c. 1195 – 2 October 1264), born Jacques Pantaléon, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1261 to his death three years later. He was elected pope without being a cardinal; he was the fi ...

for 'long voidance'. In 1444 a " horsemill" was given to St Peter's. The bells of St Peter are mentioned in 1552, when a bell foundry in

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. The gate gave its name to ''Aldgate High Street'', the first stretch of the A11 road, that takes that name as it passes through the ancient, extramural Portsoken ...

was asked to cast a new bell.

Medieval school & scriptorium

In addition to its early foundation, St Peter's was clearly an important church in London. In 1447 Parliament under Henry VI ordained that it should host one of the four parochial schools in London; the other schools included the cathedral schools of St Paul's and Westminster. It also possessed a fine and ancient library and scriptorium, in use up to circa 1548. Sir John Crosby (died 1475) left money for the repairing of the library in his will. It also contained a manuscript copy of the St. Jerome Vulgate that was written there in 1290. However, this adjoining library 'is no longer extant and its exact location is not certain'.

Present building

The medieval church was badly damaged in the

in 1666. The parish tried to patch it up, but between 1677 and 1684 it was rebuilt to a design by Christopher Wren at a cost of £5,647. The new church was shorter than its predecessor, the eastern end of the site having been given up to widen Gracechurch Street. St Peter's was described by

Ian Nairn Ian Douglas Nairn (24 August 1930 – 14 August 1983) was a British architectural critic who coined the word "Subtopia" to indicate drab suburbs that look identical through unimaginative town-planning. He published two strongly personalised cr ...

as having "three personalities inextricably sewn into the City". The eastern frontage to

is a grand stone-faced composition, with five arched windows between Ionic pilasters above a high

stylobate In classical Greek architecture, a stylobate () is the top step of the crepidoma, the stepped platform upon which colonnades of temple columns are placed (it is the floor of the temple). The platform was built on a leveling course that fl ...

(column base). The pilasters support an entablature; above that is a blank attic storey, then a gable with one arched window flanked by two round ones. The north and south sides are stuccoed and much simpler in style. Unusually, shallow 19th-century shops have survived towards Cornhill, squeezed between the church and the pavement. The tower is of brick, its leaded cupola topped with a small spire, which is in turn surmounted by a weather vane in the shape of St Peter's key.Bradley, Simon and Pevsner, Nikolaus. London: The City Churches. New Haven, Yale, 1998. p.123 The interior is aisled, with square arcade piers resting on the medieval pier foundations. The nave is barrel vaulted, while the aisles have transverse barrel vaults. Unusually for a Wren church, there is a screen marking the division between nave and chancel. This was installed at the insistence of the rector at the time of rebuilding,

William Beveridge William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge, (5 March 1879 – 16 March 1963) was a British economist and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was a Progressivism, progressive, social reformer, and eugenicist who played a central role ...

. St Peter's was formerly the regimental church of the

Royal Tank Regiment The Royal Tank Regiment (RTR) is the oldest tank unit in the world, being formed by the British Army in 1916 during the World War I, First World War. Today, it is an Armoured warfare, armoured regiment equipped with Challenger 2 main battle tanks ...

, having been adopted as such in 1954 at the suggestion of the then rector, Douglas Owen, who had served as a Padre with the regiment. Since 2007 the regimental church has been

St Mary Aldermary St Mary Aldermary (or St Mary Elder Mary) is an Anglican church located on Bow Lane at the junction with Watling Street, in the City of London within the United Kingdom. Of medieval origin, rebuilding began in 1510 and was not finished until ...

. The church was designated a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

on 4 January 1950. It is now a satellite church in the parish of

and is used for staff training, Bible studies and a youth club. The St Helen's church office controls access to St Peter's.

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

mentions the churchyard in ''

Our Mutual Friend ''Our Mutual Friend'', published in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by English author Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. ...

''. A theatre group called The Players of St Peter were formed at the church in 1946 and performed there until 1987. They are now based at

St Clement Eastcheap St Clement Eastcheap is a Church of England parish church in Candlewick Ward of the City of London. It is located on Clement's Lane, off King William Street and close to London Bridge and the River Thames. Clement was a disciple of St Peter the ...

where its members perform medieval

mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...

s each November.

Features and points of interest

Music

In June 1834 14-year-old Elizabeth Mounsey became the organist of St Peter's. She remained in the position for 48 years, until her resignation in 1882. The organ in the gallery of St Peter's has an autographed souvenir quote from a J.S. Bach

passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is typically based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin Th ...

on display, which

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

gave to Mounsey on 30 September 1840 after he gave an

impromptu An impromptu (, , loosely meaning "offhand") is a free-form musical composition with the character of an ''ex tempore'' improvisation as if prompted by the spirit of the moment, usually for a solo instrument, such as piano. According to ''Allgeme ...

performance on the church's organ.

Jowett

In the 1830s, the notable

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thoma ...

William Jowett was a lecturer at the church.Goodwin, G., revised by H. C. G. Matthew, 'Jowett, William (1787–1855), missionary', in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004)

Burials

John Waugh (bishop) John Waugh (1656–1734) was an English clergyman, bishop of Carlisle from 1723. Life He was born in Appleby, and entered The Queen's College, Oxford in 1679. He became a Fellow there in 1688, and a Proctor in 1695. He was rector of St. Peter ...

File:St Peter upon Cornhill 1.JPG, Churchyard seats File:St Peter upon Cornhill 2.JPG, Small garden File:St_Peter_upon_Cornhill.JPG, From corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street

Notes

External links

*
St Peter upon Cornhill
from Friends of the City Churches * *

*
Set of 60 photographs of St Peter upon Cornhill Church
by Rex Harris *

*
St Helen's Bishopsgate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peter upon Cornhill Church of England church buildings in the City of London Christopher Wren church buildings in London English Baroque church buildings Grade I listed churches in the City of London 17th-century Church of England church buildings Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom Diocese of London