St Nicholas Acons
| St Nicholas Acons | |
|---|---|
 Current photograph of site | |
 | |
| Location | Nicholas Lane, offLombard Street,London |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Anglican |
St Nicholas Acons[1]was a parish church in the City of London. In existence by the late 11th century, it was destroyed during theGreat Fire of Londonof 1666 and not rebuilt.
History[edit]
The church was situated on the west side of Nicholas Lane inLangbournward of theCity of London.[2]The name 'Acons' was derived from that of a mediaeval benefactor.[3]The church is recorded as early as 1084, when Godwinus and his wife Turund gave itspatronagetoMalmesbury Abbey.It passed to the Crown on thedissolution of the monasteries.[2]
St Nicholas' was destroyed during theGreat Fire of Londonof 1666 and not rebuilt. Instead the parish was united with that ofSt Edmund the King and Martyr,Lombard Street in 1670.[4]The name retained as the name of aprecinctin the south-western part ofLangbourn Ward.[5]
In the 1860s a proposed unification of the benefice of St Edmunds with St Nicholas and that ofSt Mary Woolnothwith St Mary Woolchurch Haw[6]was vigorously defended by St Nicholas Acons' discrete churchwardens.[7][8]In 1964 the churchyard was excavated and important Saxon remains found,[9]but in the last decade of the 20th century Gordon Huelin noted that only a City Corporation commemoration at the site of the old parsonage remained to indicate a church had ever been there.[10]
Present day[edit]
The parish now forms part of the combinedparishof "St Edmund the King and Martyr,and St Mary Woolnoth Lombard Streetwith St Nicholas Acons,All Hallows Lombard Street,St Benet Gracechurch,St Leonard Eastcheap,St Dionis BackchurchandSt Mary Woolchurch Haw"– usually shortened to 'St Edmund and St Mary Woolnoth'. It is part of theChurch of England'sDiocese of London.[11]
Notes and references[edit]
- ^On occasion spelt Acorns
- ^abNewcourt 1708, p.504
- ^Stow, 1890
- ^Hibbert
- ^British History On-line
- ^Times1861
- ^On appeal from the Arches Court of Canterbury. Between the rector and churchwardens of the parish of St. Nicholas Acons, appellants, and the London Diocese, respondents. Lambeth Palace Library H5155.L6
- ^A Fire plaque in nearby St Nicholas Passage reads "E&S Poynder St N.A. 1836
- ^"Recent work on finds"(PDF).Hobley: Lundenwic and Lundenburh.Retrieved12 September2007.
- ^Huelin 1996
- ^Diocese of LondonSt Edmund & St Mary Woolnoth
Bibliography[edit]
- "The Register Book of the parish of St. Nicholas Acons, London, 1539–1812" Brigg, W(Transc) p 160: Leeds, Walker & Laycock, 1890.
- Church of England, Parish of St. Nicholas Acons. – PLAN OF THE PARISH OF SAINT NICHOLAS ACON'S LOMBARD STREET 1875/ George Leg, 1875 ms. plan. – k1264830 cited in "City of London Parish Registers Guide 4" Hallows, A. (Ed): London, Guildhall Library Research, 1974ISBN0-900422-30-0.
- "Vanished churches of the City of London", Huelin, G p21: London Guildhall Library Publishing, 1996ISBN0-900422-42-4
- A Descriptive Account of the Guildhall of the City of London-Its History and Associationsin "The English Historical Review" Price, J.E. pp. 154–158: Oxford, Oxford University Press Jan., 1888 (Vol. 3, No. 9)
- Stow, John (1890).A Survey of London, Vol I.London: A. Fullarton & Co. Originally published 1598. p. 446.
- The Proposed Union Of City Beneficesin "The Times" p 10: London,The TimesNewspaper, 1861 (Wednesday, 20 November; Issue 24095; col C)
- Local Administrative Units: Southern EnglandYoungs, F. p. 302:London, Royal Historical Society, 1979
- "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert, C; Weinreb, D; Keay, J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008)ISBN978-1-4050-4924-5
- Newcourt, Richard(1708)."S. Nicolas Acon".Repetorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense.London.
