St Mary Woolnoth

St Mary Woolnoth
St Mary Woolnoth
Saint Mary (Woolnoth) of the Nativity
	The view from the Bank end of Lombard Street (2017)
Location	London,EC3
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Previous denomination	Roman Catholic
Architecture
Functional status	Regular worship
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	1950
Architect(s)	Nicholas Hawksmoor
Style	Baroque
Groundbreaking	1716
Completed	1727
Specifications
Bells	3
Administration
Diocese	London
Episcopal area	Two Cities
Archdeaconry	London
Deanery	City of London
Clergy
Rector	Jeremy Crossley

St Mary Woolnothis an Anglican church in theCity of London,located on the corner ofLombard StreetandKing William StreetnearBank junction.^[1]The present building is one of theQueen Anne Churches,designed byNicholas Hawksmoor.^[2]Theparish churchcontinues to be actively used for services, withHoly Communionevery Tuesday. St Mary Woolnoth lies in thewardofLangbourn.

History[edit]

Early history[edit]

Romanremains were found under the site during the rebuilding by Hawksmoor, and there is speculation that there was a large Roman building in the immediate vicinity.^[3]This has led some to believe that the site has been used for worship for at least 2,000 years. This is based on the guess that the Roman remains were of a religious nature, and 'under the remains of anAnglo-Saxonwooden structure'. However, its name is first recorded in 1191 asWilnotmaricherche.

It is believed that the name "Woolnoth" refers to a benefactor, possibly one Wulnoth de Walebrok who is known to have lived in the area earlier in the 12th century, or perhapsWulfnoth Cild,aSouth Saxonnobleman and grandfather of KingHarold Godwinson.^[4]Its full (and unusual)dedicationis to Saint Mary of theNativity.

The present building is at least the third church on the site. TheNormanchurch survived until 1445, when it was rebuilt, with a spire added in 1485. It was badly damaged in 1666 in theGreat Fire of Londonbut was repaired by SirChristopher Wren.Two new bells (the treble and the tenor) were cast in 1670, and in 1672 the middle bell was cast. The patched-up structure proved unsafe, however, and had to be demolished in 1711.

Hawksmoor[edit]

The church was rebuilt by theCommission for Building Fifty New Churches.Work began in 1716^[5]and the new church was reopened for worship on Easter Day 1727. It was commissioned fromNicholas Hawksmoor,^[6]who had responded with one of his most distinctive and original designs. He benefited greatly from having an unusually open area in which to work. The old church had been hemmed in by shops and houses, like many other City churches, but these were demolished at the same time as the church. Hawksmoor was thus able to fully exploit the unobstructed front of the site. St Mary Woolnoth is Hawksmoor's only City of London church.

The resultant church was something of an architectural statement on Hawksmoor's part. Its unusually imposing façade, inEnglish Baroquestyle, is dominated by two flat-topped turrets supported by columns of theCorinthian order,which are used throughout the church. The west side of the façade, facing Lombard Street, has distinctive recesses bearing an inset forward-curving pediment resting on skewed columns.

The interior of the church is surprisingly spacious, despite its relatively small size. The layout is typical Hawksmoor, forming a "cube within a cube"^[7]– a square enclosed by three rows of four columns which is itself enclosed by a wider square. It is dominated by a baroquebaldaquin,modelled on that ofBerniniinSt. Peter's Basilicain Rome.

Threatened demolition[edit]

The church underwent major changes in the late 19th century and the turn of the 20th century; it was proposed for demolition on several occasions but was saved each time. Its galleries were removed byWilliam Butterfieldin 1876,^[8]who thought they were unsafe, and a number of other significant (and not entirely successful) changes were made at the same time.

Between 1897 and 1900 theCity & South London Railway(C&SLR) builtBank Underground stationbeneath the church. The C&SLR were given permission to demolish it, but public outcry forced them to reconsider: the company undertook to use only the subsoil instead. The crypt was sold to the railway and the bones were removed for reburial atIlford.The walls and internal columns of the church were then supported on steel girders while the lift shafts and staircase shaft for Bank station were built directly beneath the church floor. At this time, the bells were also rehung with new fittings. No cracks formed in the plasterwork, and no settlement of the structure occurred; the company later claimed that the edifice of the church was considerably stronger than before.

Mid-twentieth century[edit]

St Mary Woolnoth was designated a Grade Ilisted buildingon 4 January 1950,^[9]and in 1952 became aguildchurch.

Present day[edit]

St Mary Woolnoth is the activeparish churchfor the combinedparishofSt Edmund the King and Martyr,and St Mary Woolnoth Lombard Street withSt Nicholas Acons,All Hallows Lombard Street,St Benet Gracechurch,St Leonard Eastcheap,St Dionis BackchurchandSt Mary Woolchurch Haw– usually shortened to "St Edmund & St Mary Woolnoth" (the only two aforementioned churches to have survived). It is part of theChurch of England'sDiocese of London.^[10]

It is currently used by London's German-speakingSwisscommunity, and is also the official church in London of the government ofBritish Columbia,Canada.^[11]

The 2013 boundary changes to theCity's wardskept the church within Langbourn, despite the surrounding buildings being transferred to Candlewick and Walbrook wards, because of the church's strong connections with the ward.

Notable people associated with the church[edit]

Memorial plaque to John Newton and his wife in the church.

SirMartin Bowes,Lord Mayor (1545–46) and Mint Master, was married and buried here, and his children and grandchildren baptized.
Thomas Kyd,Elizabethan dramatist, was baptised here; his father Francis was also achurchwarden.
Josias Shutewas rector here from 1611.
Ralph Robinsonwas presbyterian minister here in the 1640s.
William Owtramwas rector here.
Thomas Busbythe composer was organist here from 1798.
John Newton,evangelical, anti-slavery campaigner and hymnist, was incumbent here from 1780 to 1807.
William Wilberforce,anti-slavery campaigner, worshipped here.
Edward Lloyd, founder ofLloyd's of London,is memorialised here.
William Josiah Ironsthe theologian was rector here from 1872.
SirWilliam Phipswas buried here.18 February 1694/5
Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson,noted American colonial woman, marriedWilliam Hutchinsonhere in 1612.
Thomas Ritchie, born 23 March 1809, a founder of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, was baptised here.

Literary reference[edit]

T. S. Eliotrefers to this church in a famous passage of his 1922 poemThe Waste Land,Part 1, 'The Burial of the Dead':

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,
I had not thought death had undone so many.
Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled,
And each man fixed his eyes before his feet.
Flowed up the hill and down King William Street,
To where Saint Mary Woolnoth kept the hours
With a dead sound on the final stroke of nine.
There I saw one I knew, and stopped him, crying, "Stetson!
You who were with me in the ships at Mylae!

In his notes to the poem Eliot remarks that the "dead sound on the final stroke of nine" was "A phenomenon which I have often noticed."^[12]

St Mary Woolnoth is an important historical site inPeter Ackroyd's 1985 novelHawksmoorwhere it is the scene of one of a series of murders all taking place at churches redesigned by Nicholas Hawksmoor, who is given the fictional name Nicholas Dyer.^[13]

Notes[edit]

^"St Margaret Lothbury & St Mary Woolnoth | Church of England Parish Churches at the Heart of the City of London".stml.org.uk.Retrieved14 May2020.
^"The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert, C; Weinreb, D; Keay, J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993, 2008)ISBN 978-1405049245
^seehttps://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1064620
^"The City of London Churches: monuments of another age" Quantrill, E; Quantrill, M p. 106: London; Quartet; 1975
^"The City Churches" Tabor, M. p. 125: London; The Swarthmore Press Ltd; 1917
^Pevsner, Nikolaus;Bradley, S (1998).London:the City Churches.New Haven: Yale.ISBN 0300096550.
^"The Old Churches of London" Cobb,G: London, Batsford, 1942
^"The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches" Tucker, T: London, Friends of the City Churches, 2006ISBN 0955394503
^British Listed BuildingsChurch of St Mary Woolnoth, City of London
^Diocese of LondonSt Edmund & St Mary Woolnoth
^"Elizabethan Flagons from the Church of St Mary Woolnoth".Mutual Art.Retrieved10 February2016.
^Blanton, C. D. (31 March 2011)."London".In Jason Harding (ed.).T. S. Eliot in Context.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 39.ISBN 978-1139500159.
^Peter Ackroyd,Hawksmoor,Hamish Hamilton, 1985 '

Betjeman, John(1967).The City of London Churches.Pitkin Pictorials.ISBN 0853721122.

External links[edit]

St Margaret Lothbury and St Mary Woolnoth
Detailed history of the bells Archived17 October 2016 at theWayback Machine

51°30′46.01″N0°5′17.19″W/ 51.5127806°N 0.0881083°W/51.5127806; -0.0881083

[1] "St Margaret Lothbury & St Mary Woolnoth | Church of England Parish Churches at the Heart of the City of London".stml.org.uk.Retrieved14 May2020.

[2] "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert, C; Weinreb, D; Keay, J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993, 2008)ISBN 978-1405049245

[3] seehttps://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1064620

[4] "The City of London Churches: monuments of another age" Quantrill, E; Quantrill, M p. 106: London; Quartet; 1975

[5] "The City Churches" Tabor, M. p. 125: London; The Swarthmore Press Ltd; 1917

[6] Pevsner, Nikolaus;Bradley, S (1998).London:the City Churches.New Haven: Yale.ISBN 0300096550.

[7] "The Old Churches of London" Cobb,G: London, Batsford, 1942

[8] "The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches" Tucker, T: London, Friends of the City Churches, 2006ISBN 0955394503

[9] British Listed BuildingsChurch of St Mary Woolnoth, City of London

[10] Diocese of LondonSt Edmund & St Mary Woolnoth

[11] "Elizabethan Flagons from the Church of St Mary Woolnoth".Mutual Art.Retrieved10 February2016.

[Harding-12] Blanton, C. D. (31 March 2011)."London".In Jason Harding (ed.).T. S. Eliot in Context.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 39.ISBN 978-1139500159.

[13] Peter Ackroyd,Hawksmoor,Hamish Hamilton, 1985 '

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v t e Churches in the City of London
extant churches	All Hallows-by-the-Tower All Hallows-on-the-Wall City Temple Dutch Church, Austin Friars St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe St Andrew, Holborn St Andrew Undershaft St Anne and St Agnes St Bartholomew-the-Great St Bartholomew-the-Less St Benet, Paul's Wharf St Botolph, Aldersgate St Botolph, Aldgate St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate St Bride, Fleet Street St Clement, Eastcheap St Dunstan-in-the-West St Edmund, King and Martyr St Ethelburga, Bishopsgate St Giles, Cripplegate St Helen, Bishopsgate St James, Garlickhythe St Katharine Cree St Lawrence Jewry St Magnus the Martyr St Margaret Lothbury St Margaret Pattens St Martin, Ludgate St Mary Abchurch St Mary Aldermary St Mary Moorfields St Mary Woolnoth St Mary-at-Hill St Mary-le-Bow St Michael, Cornhill St Michael, Paternoster Royal St Nicholas, Cole Abbey St Olave, Hart Street St Paul's Cathedral St Peter upon Cornhill St Sepulchre-without-Newgate St Stephen Walbrook St Vedast alias Foster Temple Church
churches of which only the tower remains	All Hallows Staining Christ Church, Greyfriars St Alban, Wood Street St Alphage London Wall St Augustine, Watling Street St Dunstan-in-the-East St Martin Orgar St Mary Somerset St Olave, Old Jewry
churches rebuilt after the Great Fire but since demolished	All Hallows Bread Street All Hallows Lombard Street All-Hallows-the-Great St Antholin, Budge Row St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange St Benet Fink St Benet Gracechurch St Christopher le Stocks St Dionis Backchurch St George Botolph Lane St Katherine Coleman St Mary Aldermanbury St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street St Matthew Friday Street St Michael Bassishaw St Michael, Crooked Lane St Michael Queenhithe St Michael Wood Street St Mildred, Bread Street St Mildred, Poultry St Stephen Coleman Street St Swithin, London Stone
churches destroyed in the Great Fire and not rebuilt	All Hallows Honey Lane All-Hallows-the-Less Holy Trinity the Less St Andrew Hubbard St Ann Blackfriars St Benet Sherehog St Botolph Billingsgate St Faith under St Paul's St Gabriel Fenchurch St Gregory by St Paul's St John the Baptist upon Walbrook St John the Evangelist Friday Street St John Zachary St Laurence Pountney St Leonard, Eastcheap St Leonard, Foster Lane St Margaret Moses St Margaret, New Fish Street St Martin Pomary St Martin Vintry St Mary Bothaw St Mary Colechurch St Mary Magdalen Milk Street St Mary Mounthaw St Mary Staining St Mary Woolchurch Haw St Michael-le-Querne St Nicholas Acons St Nicholas Olave St Olave, Silver Street St Pancras, Soper Lane St Peter, Paul's Wharf St Peter, Westcheap St Thomas the Apostle
other former churches	College of Minor Canons Holy Trinity Gough Square Holy Trinity Priory, Aldgate Hospital of St Thomas of Acre Old St Paul's Cathedral St Audoen within Newgate St Augustine Papey St James Duke's Place St Martin Outwich St Mary Axe St Nicholas Shambles St Peter le Poer