with more added during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, dwindling population, wartime destruction and redevelopment mean that now only 38 remain – still a phenomenal number for such a small area. Rather like St Mary le Strand, the City’s churches passed
through a period of being unloved during the mid-20th century. Now, they are widely recognised as being among its finest treasures, and a hugely important part of its history, they enjoy a much higher profile. This is thanks, again, in no small part, to the former poet laureate Sir John Betjeman who tirelessly championed their cause. “All silvery on frosty Sunday nights. Were City steeples white against the stars,” he wrote in Summoned by Bells, his autobiography, continuing to dwell upon what he then perceived as the hopelessness of the situation: “…Some lazy Rector living in Bexhill. Who most unwillingly on Sunday came. To take the statutory services.” The hand of Wren, it seems, is apparent on every street
corner – sometimes being outwardly ostentatious, such as St Bride’s Fleet Street, famous for its ‘wedding cake’ steeple (more correctly four octagon-shaped arcades), Wren’s tallest. The church took seven years to build; then a further 17 to rebuild after it was all but destroyed by a wartime bomb.
Confronted with restricted space, Wren built it from the inside out. The result is St Paul’s Cathedral in miniature, complete with dome Other Wren churches, if not outwardly ostentatious,
are certainly so inside. City workers scuttle daily past St Stephen Wallbrook unaware, even, of its existence. It’s an easy church to miss, next-to-nothing being visible from the outside – yet is widely considered Wren’s ultimate masterpiece. Tradition says that, confronted with restricted space, he built it from the inside out. The result is St Paul’s Cathedral in miniature, complete with dome. The marble altar, however, is a later addition by Henry Moore, and reputedly weighs eight tons. Cheapside is home to one of the City’s most famous
churches – St Mary-le-Bow, or Bow Bells. (Tradition dictates that all Cockneys are born in an area within the sound of its bells.) It took Wren a mere three years to rebuild it after the fire, although it, too, suffered wartime damage – and fame: the BBC broadcast recordings of its bells to occupied Europe. Another easy-to-miss church is St Bartholomew-the-
Great in Smithfield. Hidden behind a row of buildings, it is one of London’s oldest, and is approached via a Tudor gatehouse. On its half-timbered front is a statue of Rahere, founder of the Norman priory and hospital that stood on this site. His tomb is inside. William Hogarth was christened here, while more recently the church was used for scenes in the film Four Weddings and a Funeral. The far smaller St Bartholomew-the-Less, nearby, also pre-dates the Great Fire – being founded in 1184.
www.britain-magazine.com BRITAIN 31
Clockwise from top: St Paul's cathedral; St Bride's; St Stephen Walbrook
PHOTOS: ©VISITBRITAIN/ERIC NATHAN/ST STEPHEN WALBROOK/ST BRIDES
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