St Mary Abchurch, London

St Mary Abchurch

St Mary Abchurch is a finely preserved 17th-century church designed by Sir Christopher Wren from the ruins of a medieval church destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The church's history goes back to at least the 12th century, with the current building completed in 1686 in Wren's elegant Baroque style.

History

Records first mention St Mary Abchurch in 1198–1199, though there was almost certainly an earlier church on this site, possibly linked to a Saxon benefactor named Abba or "Up-church" for its position on a hill off Cannon Street.

The church patronage rested with St Mary Overy convent in Southwark before 1455, when Archbishop Parker prevailed upon Elizabeth I to grant it to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. The college has held the patronage since that date. The medieval church was reordered in 1611.

The church interior

Great Fire Rebuild

St Mary Abchurch was one of 107 City churches rebuilt by Wren, whose original design called for a larger building along the lines of St Stephen Walbrook. This ambitious plan was scaled down under Robert Hooke's supervision. By good fortune, Wren's church survived WWII bomb damage with minimal change, though Grinling Gibbons altar screen was badly damaged and had to be restored (see below).

Exterior Design

The church is built of red brick with stone dressings, in accordance with Charles II's orders, and features a four-storey, 51-foot tower topped by a leaded spire.

Wren used Christopher Kempster as his master mason. Kempster also worked with Wren on St Paul's Cathedral, St James Garlickhythe, and on St Stephen Walbrook. Kempster's memorial lies inside the church he helped to build.

The church's plain exterior hides an extraordinary, opulent interior, which has remained essential unchanged since it was built.

The 1708 painted dome

Interior Features

The church layout features an aisleless square chamber under a dome spanning over 40 feet. Unusually, the dome is not supported by columns, but directly on the external walls. The dome is pierced by four elliptical openings to create dormer windows in an eyebrow style.

William Snow, a parishioner, painted the ceiling in 1708, centering the design on a tetragrammaton (the name of God in Hebrew) with angels and monochrome symbols of the Christian virtues. The church retains its original 1675 communion table, 1685–86 pulpit and font.

The exquisite pulpit was carved by William Emmett. The gilded royal arms of Charles II are fixed to the organ gallery and look down on original 17th-century pews reserved for churchwardens. At the rear of the church are a pair of 17th-century poor boxes.

The superb 17th-century pulpit

The church boasts an impressive array of memorials, including that of Sir Patience Ward, Lord Mayor of London in 1680-81. Wrought-iron sword rests attached to pews commemorate two more Lord Mayors.

Set into the floor is a ledger slab in memory of George Fellowes, described as a 'Citizen and Haberdasher of London' and member of the Mercer's Company. A stained-glass panel bears the crest of the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, another of London’s powerful trade guilds.

The Grinling Gibbons reredos

Grinling Gibbons Masterwork

Perhaps the major interest at St Mary Abchurch is the stunning woodcarving by Grinling Gibbons, a frequent collaborator with Wren.

The altar screen is Gibbons' only authenticated work to survive in a City of London church. The carving features limewood swags of fruit, flowers, vegetables, foliage, acanthus whorls, and a gilded pelican in piety symbol. The carving was shattered into thousands of fragments by WWII bombs, but was painstakingly reassembled over the years 1948–1953.

St Mary Abchurch is the home base for The Friends of the City Churches, a charity that looks after historic churches in the City of London. It is no longer a parish church, though it does hold regular services.

Visiting

St Mary Abchurch is set back from Abchurch Lane, off Cannon Street. The nearest tube stations are Cannon Street, Monument, and Bank, all within a five-minute walk. The church is regularly open to visitors, but it is always a good idea to check the official website ahead of time.