Christ Church Greyfriars
Encyclopedia
Christ Church Greyfriars, also known as Christ Church Newgate, was an Anglican church located on Newgate
Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral
in the City of London
. Built first in the gothic style, then in the English Baroque
style by Sir Christopher Wren
, it ranked among the City's most notable pieces of architecture
and places of worship. The church was destroyed in the Second World War; the ruins are now a public garden.
monastery
established on the site. (The Franciscans' practice of wearing grey habits accounts for the word "Greyfriars" in the name.) This church was in the gothic style and ranked as the second-largest in medieval London, measuring 300 feet (91.4 m) long by 89 feet (27.1 m) across. It had at least 11 altars. Extensive royal patronage helped it prosper. Benefactors included Marguerite of France
, second wife of King Edward I
. She was buried at the church, as was Isabella
, widow of Edward II
; the heart of Eleanor of Provence
, wife of Henry III
, was interred there as well.
Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries
, in 1538, King Henry VIII
gifted the church to the City. The building and fittings suffered heavy damage in this period. Tombs disappeared, sold for their marble and other valuable materials; monuments were defaced. Neighbouring monastery buildings were later used by Christ's Hospital
, for whose students the church became the principal place of worship
.
The Gothic church was destroyed by the Great Fire of London
in 1666. Reconstruction was assigned to Wren, who oversaw a decades long-program that rebuilt St. Paul's Cathedral and approximately 50 parish churches in the fire zone. There appears to have been some debate about the form the new Christ Church should take. An unused design that would have created a structure considerably larger than what was eventually built has survived.
Parishioners raised 1,000 pounds to begin work on the design that in the end was selected. To save time and money, the foundations of the gothic church were partially reused. The new church and tower (without steeple) were completed in 1687, at a total cost of 11,778 pounds, 9 shillings and 7 ¼ pence. Smaller than the gothic structure, the building measured 113 feet (34.4 m) long, covering what was the choir area of the old church's eastern side; the area of the former nave became the churchyard. The new creation was a prime example of the neo-classical style that came to be known as the English Baroque.
The tower, rising from the west end of the church, had a simple round-arched main entranceway and, above, windows decorated with neoclassical pediments. Large carved pineapples, symbols of welcome, graced the four roof corners of the main church structure. Unique among the Wren churches, the east and west walls had buttresses.
Inside, the overall sense was of greater ornamentation. The nave had two rows of five grand columns, topped with elaborate capitals, running east to west, with pilasters on the east and west walls. The north and south walls had large round-arched windows of clear glass, which allowed for a brightly-lit interior. The east end had trinity windows, a large wooden altar screen and a carved hexagonal pulpit, reached by stairs. There was elaborate carved wainscoting. Pavement of reddish brown and grey marble to the west of the altar rails was said to date from the original gothic church. Galleries stood over the north and south aisles, built at special request of the officers of Christ's Hospital as seating for the school's students. Pews were said to have been made from the timbers of a wrecked Spanish galleon
.
The organ, located on the west wall over the main nave door, was built by Renatus Harris
in 1690, according to a pre-war guide to the church.
The steeple, standing about 160 feet (48.8 m) tall, was finished in 1704 at an additional cost of 1,963 pounds, 8 shillings and 3½ pence. It is an ornate series of receding squares, with decorative urns at one of its stages.
Over the course of the church’s life, significant modifications were made. In 1760, a vestry house was built flush against the facade’s south side and part of the church's south wall. At some point, rooms were enclosed in the north and south aisles beneath the galleries. Stained glass
depicting Jesus
with the children was installed in the centre trinity window to replace the original clear glass.
The church functioned as an important centre of City of London
society and music. The Lord Mayor
attended an annual service to hear the Ancient Spital Sermon on the second Wednesday after Easter, placing his ceremonial sword in a special holder. Felix Mendelssohn
played Bach
's A minor fugue and other works on the organ in 1837. Samuel Wesley
also performed at the church.
The Christ's Hospital boys continued to attend services, sitting in the galleries. According to the pre-war guide book to the church, they included the young Samuel Coleridge and Charles Lamb. Sixth Form boys tasked with maintaining order sat in special seats placed over those of the younger students. A few boys carved initials in the woodwork.
, West Sussex
, ending the Sunday influx of its schoolboys. A new vicar, T.R. Hine-Haycock, took over in 1912. A July 1922 Christ Church newsletter preserved at Guildhall Library
shows that at that time it had an 8:30 a.m. Holy Communion service every Sunday, and musical services at 11 a.m. every first and third Sunday. The church was open daily for private prayer from noon to 3 p.m. In its final years, the congregation continued to drop in size, a common trend for City churches as people relocated to suburban neighborhoods of London
. Parish records at the Guildhall Library
show there were 112 members in April 1933, most of them residents of places outside the parish boundaries. Many of those who made their homes in the parish were "housekeepers," people who lived in and looked after commercial buildings. In April 1937, the membership had dropped to 77.
on December 29, 1940, during the Second World War, in one of the war's fiercest air raid
s on London. A firebomb struck the roof and tore into the nave. Much of the surrounding neighbourhood was also set alight—a total of eight Wren
churches burned that night. At Christ Church, the only fitting known to have been saved was the cover of the finely carved wooden font, recovered by an unknown postman who ran inside as the flames raged. The roof and vaulting collapsed into the nave; the tower and four main walls, made of stone, remained standing but were smoke-scarred and gravely weakened. A photograph taken in the light of the following day shows two firemen hosing down smouldering rubble in the nave
.
parishes in London, authorities decided not to rebuild. In 1954, its parish was merged with that of the nearby St Sepulchre-without-Newgate
. The spire, still standing after the wartime fire, was disassembled in 1960 and put back together using modern construction methods. The surviving east wall was demolished in 1962 to make way for a widening of King Edward Street
. In 1981, neo-Georgian brick offices were constructed against the southwest corner of the ruins, in imitation of the 1760 vestry house that had been in that place. In 1989, the former nave area became a public garden and memorial. The tower functioned as commercial space, although it has now been converted into a private residence .
In 2002, the financial firm Merrill Lynch
completed a regional headquarters complex on land abutting to the north and the west. In conjunction with that project, the Christ Church site got a major renovation and archeological examination. Construction workers put King Edward Street back to its former course so that the site regained its pre-war footprint. The churchyard was spruced up, its metal railings restored. In 2006, work was completed to convert the tower and spire into a modern twelve-level private residence. The nave area continues as a memorial; the wooden font cover, topped by a carved angel, can today be seen in the porch of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.
The remains of the church were designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
Newgate
Newgate at the west end of Newgate Street was one of the historic seven gates of London Wall round the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. From it a Roman road led west to Silchester...
Street, opposite St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
in the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. Built first in the gothic style, then in the English Baroque
English Baroque
English Baroque is a term sometimes used to refer to the developments in English architecture that were parallel to the evolution of Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London and the Treaty of Utrecht ....
style by Sir Christopher Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
, it ranked among the City's most notable pieces of architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and places of worship. The church was destroyed in the Second World War; the ruins are now a public garden.
Gothic church
The first church was constructed between 1306 and 1348 as the conventual church of a FranciscanFranciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
monastery
Greyfriars, London
In London, the Greyfriars was a Franciscan friary that existed from 1225 to 1538 on a site at the North-East of the City of London by Newgate in the parish of St Nicholas in the Shambles. It was the second Franciscan religious house to be founded in the country...
established on the site. (The Franciscans' practice of wearing grey habits accounts for the word "Greyfriars" in the name.) This church was in the gothic style and ranked as the second-largest in medieval London, measuring 300 feet (91.4 m) long by 89 feet (27.1 m) across. It had at least 11 altars. Extensive royal patronage helped it prosper. Benefactors included Marguerite of France
Marguerite of France (born 1282)
Margaret of France , a daughter of Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant, was Queen of England as the second wife of King Edward I, who was her father's first cousin.-Early life:...
, second wife of King Edward I
Edward I of England
Edward I , also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England from 1272 to 1307. The first son of Henry III, Edward was involved early in the political intrigues of his father's reign, which included an outright rebellion by the English barons...
. She was buried at the church, as was Isabella
Isabella of France
Isabella of France , sometimes described as the She-wolf of France, was Queen consort of England as the wife of Edward II of England. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre...
, widow of Edward II
Edward II of England
Edward II , called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed by his wife Isabella in January 1327. He was the sixth Plantagenet king, in a line that began with the reign of Henry II...
; the heart of Eleanor of Provence
Eleanor of Provence
Eleanor of Provence was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Henry III of England from 1236 until his death in 1272....
, wife of Henry III
Henry III of England
Henry III was the son and successor of John as King of England, reigning for 56 years from 1216 until his death. His contemporaries knew him as Henry of Winchester. He was the first child king in England since the reign of Æthelred the Unready...
, was interred there as well.
Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries
Dissolution of the Monasteries
The Dissolution of the Monasteries, sometimes referred to as the Suppression of the Monasteries, was the set of administrative and legal processes between 1536 and 1541 by which Henry VIII disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland; appropriated their...
, in 1538, King Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
gifted the church to the City. The building and fittings suffered heavy damage in this period. Tombs disappeared, sold for their marble and other valuable materials; monuments were defaced. Neighbouring monastery buildings were later used by Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital
Christ's Hospital is an English coeducational independent day and boarding school with Royal Charter located in the Sussex countryside just south of Horsham in Horsham District, West Sussex, England...
, for whose students the church became the principal place of worship
Worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity. The word is derived from the Old English worthscipe, meaning worthiness or worth-ship — to give, at its simplest, worth to something, for example, Christian worship.Evelyn Underhill defines worship thus: "The absolute...
.
Wren's church
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
in 1666. Reconstruction was assigned to Wren, who oversaw a decades long-program that rebuilt St. Paul's Cathedral and approximately 50 parish churches in the fire zone. There appears to have been some debate about the form the new Christ Church should take. An unused design that would have created a structure considerably larger than what was eventually built has survived.
Parishioners raised 1,000 pounds to begin work on the design that in the end was selected. To save time and money, the foundations of the gothic church were partially reused. The new church and tower (without steeple) were completed in 1687, at a total cost of 11,778 pounds, 9 shillings and 7 ¼ pence. Smaller than the gothic structure, the building measured 113 feet (34.4 m) long, covering what was the choir area of the old church's eastern side; the area of the former nave became the churchyard. The new creation was a prime example of the neo-classical style that came to be known as the English Baroque.
The tower, rising from the west end of the church, had a simple round-arched main entranceway and, above, windows decorated with neoclassical pediments. Large carved pineapples, symbols of welcome, graced the four roof corners of the main church structure. Unique among the Wren churches, the east and west walls had buttresses.
Inside, the overall sense was of greater ornamentation. The nave had two rows of five grand columns, topped with elaborate capitals, running east to west, with pilasters on the east and west walls. The north and south walls had large round-arched windows of clear glass, which allowed for a brightly-lit interior. The east end had trinity windows, a large wooden altar screen and a carved hexagonal pulpit, reached by stairs. There was elaborate carved wainscoting. Pavement of reddish brown and grey marble to the west of the altar rails was said to date from the original gothic church. Galleries stood over the north and south aisles, built at special request of the officers of Christ's Hospital as seating for the school's students. Pews were said to have been made from the timbers of a wrecked Spanish galleon
Galleon
A galleon was a large, multi-decked sailing ship used primarily by European states from the 16th to 18th centuries. Whether used for war or commerce, they were generally armed with the demi-culverin type of cannon.-Etymology:...
.
The organ, located on the west wall over the main nave door, was built by Renatus Harris
Renatus Harris
Renatus Harris was a master organ maker in England in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.During the period of the Commonwealth, in the mid seventeenth century, Puritans controlled the country and organ music was banned in churches. Many organ makers left England for the continent,...
in 1690, according to a pre-war guide to the church.
The steeple, standing about 160 feet (48.8 m) tall, was finished in 1704 at an additional cost of 1,963 pounds, 8 shillings and 3½ pence. It is an ornate series of receding squares, with decorative urns at one of its stages.
Over the course of the church’s life, significant modifications were made. In 1760, a vestry house was built flush against the facade’s south side and part of the church's south wall. At some point, rooms were enclosed in the north and south aisles beneath the galleries. Stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
depicting Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
with the children was installed in the centre trinity window to replace the original clear glass.
The church functioned as an important centre of City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
society and music. The Lord Mayor
Lord Mayor
The Lord Mayor is the title of the Mayor of a major city, with special recognition.-Commonwealth of Nations:* In Australia it is a political position. Australian cities with Lord Mayors: Adelaide, Brisbane, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Parramatta, Perth, Sydney, and Wollongong...
attended an annual service to hear the Ancient Spital Sermon on the second Wednesday after Easter, placing his ceremonial sword in a special holder. Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
played Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
's A minor fugue and other works on the organ in 1837. Samuel Wesley
Samuel Wesley
Samuel Wesley was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart and was called by some "the English Mozart."-Personal life:...
also performed at the church.
The Christ's Hospital boys continued to attend services, sitting in the galleries. According to the pre-war guide book to the church, they included the young Samuel Coleridge and Charles Lamb. Sixth Form boys tasked with maintaining order sat in special seats placed over those of the younger students. A few boys carved initials in the woodwork.
Final years of the congregation
Around the turn of the 20th century, Christ's Hospital moved out of the City to HorshamHorsham
Horsham is a market town with a population of 55,657 on the upper reaches of the River Arun in the centre of the Weald, West Sussex, in the historic County of Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester...
, West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, ending the Sunday influx of its schoolboys. A new vicar, T.R. Hine-Haycock, took over in 1912. A July 1922 Christ Church newsletter preserved at Guildhall Library
Guildhall Library
The Guildhall Library is administered by the Corporation of London, the government of the City of London, which is the historical heart of London, England. It was founded in the 1420s under the terms of the will of Lord Mayor Dick Whittington...
shows that at that time it had an 8:30 a.m. Holy Communion service every Sunday, and musical services at 11 a.m. every first and third Sunday. The church was open daily for private prayer from noon to 3 p.m. In its final years, the congregation continued to drop in size, a common trend for City churches as people relocated to suburban neighborhoods of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Parish records at the Guildhall Library
Guildhall Library
The Guildhall Library is administered by the Corporation of London, the government of the City of London, which is the historical heart of London, England. It was founded in the 1420s under the terms of the will of Lord Mayor Dick Whittington...
show there were 112 members in April 1933, most of them residents of places outside the parish boundaries. Many of those who made their homes in the parish were "housekeepers," people who lived in and looked after commercial buildings. In April 1937, the membership had dropped to 77.
Destruction
The church was severely damaged in the BlitzThe Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
on December 29, 1940, during the Second World War, in one of the war's fiercest air raid
Strategic bombing
Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in a total war with the goal of defeating an enemy nation-state by destroying its economic ability and public will to wage war rather than destroying its land or naval forces...
s on London. A firebomb struck the roof and tore into the nave. Much of the surrounding neighbourhood was also set alight—a total of eight Wren
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...
churches burned that night. At Christ Church, the only fitting known to have been saved was the cover of the finely carved wooden font, recovered by an unknown postman who ran inside as the flames raged. The roof and vaulting collapsed into the nave; the tower and four main walls, made of stone, remained standing but were smoke-scarred and gravely weakened. A photograph taken in the light of the following day shows two firemen hosing down smouldering rubble in the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
.
Post-war period
In 1949, in a reorganisation of Church of EnglandChurch of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
parishes in London, authorities decided not to rebuild. In 1954, its parish was merged with that of the nearby St Sepulchre-without-Newgate
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, also known as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre , is an Anglican church in the City of London. It is located on Holborn Viaduct, almost opposite the Old Bailey...
. The spire, still standing after the wartime fire, was disassembled in 1960 and put back together using modern construction methods. The surviving east wall was demolished in 1962 to make way for a widening of King Edward Street
King Edward Street
King Edward Street is a street running between the High Street to the north and Oriel Square to the south in central Oxford, England.To the east is the "Island" site of Oriel College, one of the colleges of Oxford University...
. In 1981, neo-Georgian brick offices were constructed against the southwest corner of the ruins, in imitation of the 1760 vestry house that had been in that place. In 1989, the former nave area became a public garden and memorial. The tower functioned as commercial space, although it has now been converted into a private residence .
In 2002, the financial firm Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch
Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...
completed a regional headquarters complex on land abutting to the north and the west. In conjunction with that project, the Christ Church site got a major renovation and archeological examination. Construction workers put King Edward Street back to its former course so that the site regained its pre-war footprint. The churchyard was spruced up, its metal railings restored. In 2006, work was completed to convert the tower and spire into a modern twelve-level private residence. The nave area continues as a memorial; the wooden font cover, topped by a carved angel, can today be seen in the porch of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate.
The remains of the church were designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
Burials
- Elizabeth BartonElizabeth BartonSr. Elizabeth Barton was an English Catholic nun...
(the 'mad maid of Kent') - Richard BaxterRichard BaxterRichard Baxter was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he made his reputation by his ministry at Kidderminster, and at around the same time began a long...
(theologian) - Venetia StanleyVenetia StanleyVenetia Anastasia Stanley Digby was a celebrated beauty of the Stuart period , renowned for her racy good looks and mysterious death...
(Society beauty) - Isabella of FranceIsabella of FranceIsabella of France , sometimes described as the She-wolf of France, was Queen consort of England as the wife of Edward II of England. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre...
(Queen of England) - Thomas Mallory (author)
- Marguerite of FranceMarguerite of France (born 1282)Margaret of France , a daughter of Philip III of France and Maria of Brabant, was Queen of England as the second wife of King Edward I, who was her father's first cousin.-Early life:...
(Queen of England) - Joan of The TowerJoan of The TowerJoan of England , known as Joan of The Tower, was the first wife and Queen consort of king David II of Scotland.-Birth:...
(Queen of Scotland) - Margaret, Duchess of Norfolk (noblewoman)
- Isabella de CoucyIsabella de CoucyIsabella of England, also known as Dame Isabella de Coucy , was the eldest daughter of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault and the wife of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy, by whom she had two daughters.She was made a Lady of the Garter in 1376.-Early years:Isabella was the royal...
(princess)
See also
- List of Christopher Wren churches in London
- List of churches rebuilt after the Great Fire but since demolished