St. Nicholas Cole Abbey
Encyclopedia
St. Nicholas Cole Abbey is a church in the City of London
located on what is now Queen Victoria Street. Recorded from the twelfth century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London
in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The church suffered substantial bomb damage from German bombs
during the London Blitz in the Second World War and was reconstructed by Arthur Bailey in 1961-2.
St Nicholas of Myra is patron saint of, among other groups, children and fishermen, and the church has special ties with both. An inventory of the church’s possessions taken at the time of the Protestant Reformation
includes vestments for children, suggesting that the church maintained the tradition of electing a boy bishop
on Saint Nicholas Day. Deeds in the reign of Richard I refer to a new fish market near St. Nicholas Cole Abbey. In a Charter of 1272, the church is referred to as ‘St Nick’s behind Fish Street’. During the 16th century, several fishmongers were buried here and John Stow records that during the reign of Elizabeth I, a lead and stone cistern, fed by the Thames, was set up against the north wall ‘for the care and commodity of the Fishmongers in and about Old Fish Street’.
As with all English churches, St. Nicholas Cole Abbey was obliged to conform to Protestant ritual during the Reformation. Upon the accession of Queen Mary I
, it was the first church to celebrate Mass
(on August 23, 1553), with contemporary diarist Henry Machyn recording ‘Mass at St. Nicholas Cole Abbey goodly sung in Latin
, tapers set on the altar and a cross, and all this not by commandment but by the people’s devotion.’ The incumbent rector, Thomas Sowdley, had obtained a licence to marry during the reign of Edward VI
and was deprived of his living as a result. In the same month as the coronation of Mary I, John Strype
recorded “Another priest called sir Tho. Snowdel, [i.e. Sowdley]whom they nicknamed "Parson Chicken", was carted through Cheapside, for assoiling an old acquaintance of his in a ditch in Finsbury field; and was at that riding saluted with chamber-pots and rotten eggs”. Sowdley regained his living on the accession of Elizabeth I
.
A century later, the living of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey was owned by Colonel Francis Hacker
, a Puritan
who commanded the execution detail of Charles I
.
The church was destroyed in the Great Fire. Charles II
promised the site to the Lutheran community but lobbying prevented this from being granted and the parish was combined with that of St Nicholas Olave
, a nearby church also destroyed but not rebuilt. The church was rebuilt between 1672 and 1678 at a cost of £5042. Included in the building accounts are the items: "‘Dinner for Dr Wren and other Company - £2 14s 0d’ and ‘Half a pint of canary for Dr Wren’s coachmen’ – 6d". It was the first church of the fifty-one lost in the Great Fire to be rebuilt.
In 1737, the early Methodist leader George Whitefield
preached a sermon on ‘Profane swearing in church’ at St. Nicholas Cole Abbey.
The post-Fire church was built with its façade to the north on what was then Fish Street (and what is now Distaff Lane) and the east on Old Fish Street Hill. Victorian urban redevelopment changed the local street plan and the south wall of the church, instead of being hemmed in by buildings now overlooked the newly built Queen Victoria Street. This necessitated a reordering of the church, in 1874, with windows being opened up to the south and the main doorway moving from the northwest tower to the south.
Smoke generated by underground trains so blackened the exterior that in the late 19th century, the church became known as “St. Nicholas Cole Hole Abbey”.
In May 1881, church attendance under the Reverend H Stebbing was down to one man and one woman. Then, in 1883, Henry Shuttleworth was appointed rector, a position he held until 1900. Shuttleworth was a Christian Socialist who installed a bar, established a prodigious musical programme and made the church a centre for debate. This had an effect, as by 1891 the St. Nicholas Cole Abbey had the largest congregation of any City church, numbering up to 450 worshippers on a Sunday evening. Recorded a contemporary vicar, "In St. Nicholas Cole Abbey there is good preaching and divine worship is also carried out in the most reverential manner. In other City churches...as a rule, they [the rectors] are themselves the most wretched preachers and bad readers." (Clarke, 1898:434)
On May 10, 1941, London suffered its worst air raid
during the entire War, with 1,436 people killed and several major buildings destroyed or severely damaged. Among them was St. Nicholas Cole Abbey. The church remained a shell until restored under Arthur Bailey and reconsecrated in 1962.
The parish was combined with that of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
. St. Nicholas Cole Abbey became the headquarters of the Diocesan Council for Mission and Unity. Between 1982 and 2003, the church was leased to the Free Church of Scotland
(Presbyterian).
In 2006, the Church of England announced that St. Nicholas Cole Abbey would become a national centre for Religious Education. The Culham Institute, a Church of England educational body which promotes and develops RE in schools, will move its headquarters to St. Nicholas Cole Abbey from Oxford
.
. Some medieval work remains in the south and west walls, the latter of which is of brick and rubble. On top of the body of the church is a balustrade. The windows are arched with square brackets – a favourite device of Wren.
On the northwestern corner of the church is a square tower surmounted by a lead spire in the shape of an upside down octagonal trumpet. On each corner of the tower is a small flaming urn. The spire has two rows of lunettes and a small balcony near the top, resembling a crow's nest. At the very top is a vane in the shape of a three-masted barque in the round. This came from St Michael Queenhithe (demolished 1876) and was added to the spire in 1962. The pre-War vane was in the shape of a pennant with 4 S shapes back to back.
The tower is 135 feet tall and contains one bell.
. They are reminiscent of the work of Marc Chagall
. They replace windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones
which were destroyed in 1941. From left to right they depict St. Nicholas Cole Abbey as the centre of the world with crosses pointing to the four corners of the world; the Rock of Christ with the ark (representing the church) on four rivers (representing the Gospels); seven lamps, representing the extension of the church around the world.
Swags have been recreated over the east windows. The interior is otherwise plain, other than Corinthian pilasters. In the vestry to the north west is crazy paving
made from shattered tombstones.
Surviving from the 17th century are the carved pulpit, (although on a modern base and lacking its tester), the font cover, part of the communion rail, parts of the original Wren era reredos, now installed on the south wall and the Charles II Coat of Arms
Behind a panel near the south door is a medieval stone head found during the restoration.
The organ was built by Noel Mander for the restored church.
In 2006, as part of the redevelopment of the church as a centre for Religious Education, it was announced that a free-standing glass box will be built inside the shell of the church.
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...
located on what is now Queen Victoria Street. Recorded from the twelfth century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London
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 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The church suffered substantial bomb damage from German bombs
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
during the London Blitz in the Second World War and was reconstructed by Arthur Bailey in 1961-2.
History
The church is named after the 4th century St Nicholas of Myra. “Cole Abbey” is derived from “coldharbour”, a medieval word for a traveller’s shelter or shelter from the cold. The earliest reference to the church is in a letter of Pope Lucius II in 1144-5.St Nicholas of Myra is patron saint of, among other groups, children and fishermen, and the church has special ties with both. An inventory of the church’s possessions taken at the time of the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
includes vestments for children, suggesting that the church maintained the tradition of electing a boy bishop
Boy bishop
Boy bishop was a name given to a custom very widespread in the Middle Ages, whereby a boy was chosen, for example among cathedral choristers, to parody the real Bishop, commonly on the feast of Holy Innocents...
on Saint Nicholas Day. Deeds in the reign of Richard I refer to a new fish market near St. Nicholas Cole Abbey. In a Charter of 1272, the church is referred to as ‘St Nick’s behind Fish Street’. During the 16th century, several fishmongers were buried here and John Stow records that during the reign of Elizabeth I, a lead and stone cistern, fed by the Thames, was set up against the north wall ‘for the care and commodity of the Fishmongers in and about Old Fish Street’.
As with all English churches, St. Nicholas Cole Abbey was obliged to conform to Protestant ritual during the Reformation. Upon the accession of Queen Mary I
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, it was the first church to celebrate Mass
Mass
Mass can be defined as a quantitive measure of the resistance an object has to change in its velocity.In physics, mass commonly refers to any of the following three properties of matter, which have been shown experimentally to be equivalent:...
(on August 23, 1553), with contemporary diarist Henry Machyn recording ‘Mass at St. Nicholas Cole Abbey goodly sung in Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, tapers set on the altar and a cross, and all this not by commandment but by the people’s devotion.’ The incumbent rector, Thomas Sowdley, had obtained a licence to marry during the reign of Edward VI
Edward VI of England
Edward VI was the King of England and Ireland from 28 January 1547 until his death. He was crowned on 20 February at the age of nine. The son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, Edward was the third monarch of the Tudor dynasty and England's first monarch who was raised as a Protestant...
and was deprived of his living as a result. In the same month as the coronation of Mary I, John Strype
John Strype
John Strype was an English historian and biographer. He was a cousin of Robert Knox, a famous sailor.Born in Houndsditch, London, he was the son of John Strype, or van Stryp, a member of a Huguenot family whom, in order to escape religious persecution within Brabant, had settled in East London...
recorded “Another priest called sir Tho. Snowdel, [i.e. Sowdley]whom they nicknamed "Parson Chicken", was carted through Cheapside, for assoiling an old acquaintance of his in a ditch in Finsbury field; and was at that riding saluted with chamber-pots and rotten eggs”. Sowdley regained his living on the accession of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
.
A century later, the living of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey was owned by Colonel Francis Hacker
Francis Hacker
Colonel Francis Hacker was an English soldier who fought for Parliament during the English Civil War and one of the Regicides of King Charles I of England....
, a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
who commanded the execution detail of Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
.
The church was destroyed in the Great Fire. Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
promised the site to the Lutheran community but lobbying prevented this from being granted and the parish was combined with that of St Nicholas Olave
St Nicholas Olave
A former church in the City of London, on the west side of Bread Street Hill in Queenhithe Ward.The Mortality Bill for the year 1665, published by the Parish Clerk’s Company, shows 97 parishes within the City of London. By September 6 the city lay in ruins, 86 churches having been destroyed in the...
, a nearby church also destroyed but not rebuilt. The church was rebuilt between 1672 and 1678 at a cost of £5042. Included in the building accounts are the items: "‘Dinner for Dr Wren and other Company - £2 14s 0d’ and ‘Half a pint of canary for Dr Wren’s coachmen’ – 6d". It was the first church of the fifty-one lost in the Great Fire to be rebuilt.
In 1737, the early Methodist leader George Whitefield
George Whitefield
George Whitefield , also known as George Whitfield, was an English Anglican priest who helped spread the Great Awakening in Britain, and especially in the British North American colonies. He was one of the founders of Methodism and of the evangelical movement generally...
preached a sermon on ‘Profane swearing in church’ at St. Nicholas Cole Abbey.
The post-Fire church was built with its façade to the north on what was then Fish Street (and what is now Distaff Lane) and the east on Old Fish Street Hill. Victorian urban redevelopment changed the local street plan and the south wall of the church, instead of being hemmed in by buildings now overlooked the newly built Queen Victoria Street. This necessitated a reordering of the church, in 1874, with windows being opened up to the south and the main doorway moving from the northwest tower to the south.
Smoke generated by underground trains so blackened the exterior that in the late 19th century, the church became known as “St. Nicholas Cole Hole Abbey”.
In May 1881, church attendance under the Reverend H Stebbing was down to one man and one woman. Then, in 1883, Henry Shuttleworth was appointed rector, a position he held until 1900. Shuttleworth was a Christian Socialist who installed a bar, established a prodigious musical programme and made the church a centre for debate. This had an effect, as by 1891 the St. Nicholas Cole Abbey had the largest congregation of any City church, numbering up to 450 worshippers on a Sunday evening. Recorded a contemporary vicar, "In St. Nicholas Cole Abbey there is good preaching and divine worship is also carried out in the most reverential manner. In other City churches...as a rule, they [the rectors] are themselves the most wretched preachers and bad readers." (Clarke, 1898:434)
On May 10, 1941, London suffered its worst 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...
during the entire War, with 1,436 people killed and several major buildings destroyed or severely damaged. Among them was St. Nicholas Cole Abbey. The church remained a shell until restored under Arthur Bailey and reconsecrated in 1962.
The parish was combined with that of St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is a Church of England church located on Queen Victoria Street, London in the City of London, near Blackfriars station.-History:...
. St. Nicholas Cole Abbey became the headquarters of the Diocesan Council for Mission and Unity. Between 1982 and 2003, the church was leased to the Free Church of Scotland
Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)
Free Church of Scotland is that part of the original Free Church of Scotland that remained outside of the union with the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland in 1900...
(Presbyterian).
In 2006, the Church of England announced that St. Nicholas Cole Abbey would become a national centre for Religious Education. The Culham Institute, a Church of England educational body which promotes and develops RE in schools, will move its headquarters to St. Nicholas Cole Abbey from Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
.
Exterior
The church is a stone box with quoinsQuoin (architecture)
Quoins are the cornerstones of brick or stone walls. Quoins may be either structural or decorative. Architects and builders use quoins to give the impression of strength and firmness to the outline of a building...
. Some medieval work remains in the south and west walls, the latter of which is of brick and rubble. On top of the body of the church is a balustrade. The windows are arched with square brackets – a favourite device of Wren.
On the northwestern corner of the church is a square tower surmounted by a lead spire in the shape of an upside down octagonal trumpet. On each corner of the tower is a small flaming urn. The spire has two rows of lunettes and a small balcony near the top, resembling a crow's nest. At the very top is a vane in the shape of a three-masted barque in the round. This came from St Michael Queenhithe (demolished 1876) and was added to the spire in 1962. The pre-War vane was in the shape of a pennant with 4 S shapes back to back.
The tower is 135 feet tall and contains one bell.
Interior
The east wall is dominated by three stained glass windows designed by Keith New, who also helped design the stained glass windows of Coventry CathedralCoventry Cathedral
Coventry Cathedral, also known as St Michael's Cathedral, is the seat of the Bishop of Coventry and the Diocese of Coventry, in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The current bishop is the Right Revd Christopher Cocksworth....
. They are reminiscent of the work of Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Art critic Robert Hughes referred to Chagall as "the quintessential Jewish artist of the twentieth century."According to art historian Michael J...
. They replace windows designed by Edward Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
which were destroyed in 1941. From left to right they depict St. Nicholas Cole Abbey as the centre of the world with crosses pointing to the four corners of the world; the Rock of Christ with the ark (representing the church) on four rivers (representing the Gospels); seven lamps, representing the extension of the church around the world.
Swags have been recreated over the east windows. The interior is otherwise plain, other than Corinthian pilasters. In the vestry to the north west is crazy paving
Crazy paving
Crazy paving is a means of hard-surfacing used outdoors, most frequently in gardens. Paving stones of irregular size and shape are laid in a haphazard manner sometimes with mortar filling the gaps between...
made from shattered tombstones.
Surviving from the 17th century are the carved pulpit, (although on a modern base and lacking its tester), the font cover, part of the communion rail, parts of the original Wren era reredos, now installed on the south wall and the Charles II Coat of Arms
Behind a panel near the south door is a medieval stone head found during the restoration.
The organ was built by Noel Mander for the restored church.
In 2006, as part of the redevelopment of the church as a centre for Religious Education, it was announced that a free-standing glass box will be built inside the shell of the church.
St. Nicholas Cole Abbey in culture
- Henry Shuttleworth is the model for James Morrell, the Socialist preacher in George Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard ShawGeorge Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
’s 1898 play CandidaCandida (play)Candida, a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions...
. - The gutted shell of St. Nicholas Cole Abbey is the scene of the gold bullion heist in the 1951 Ealing comedy The Lavender Hill MobThe Lavender Hill MobThe Lavender Hill Mob is a 1951 comedy film from Ealing Studios, written by T.E.B. Clarke, directed by Charles Crichton, starring Alec Guinness and Stanley Holloway and featuring Sid James and Alfie Bass...
. - The church features in Iris MurdochIris MurdochDame Iris Murdoch DBE was an Irish-born British author and philosopher, best known for her novels about political and social questions of good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious...
’s first novel Under the NetUnder the NetUnder the Net was the first novel of Iris Murdoch, published in 1954. Set in London, it is the story of a struggling young writer, Jake Donaghue. Its mixture of the philosophical and the picaresque has made it one of Murdoch's most popular....
, published in 1954 - St. Nicholas Cole Abbey was used as a location in 1968 Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
serial The InvasionThe Invasion (Doctor Who)The Invasion is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in eight weekly parts from 2 November to 21 December 1968...
.
See also
- List of churches and cathedrals of London
- List of Christopher Wren churches in London
External links
- St. Nicholas Cole Abbey
- St. Nicholas Cole Abbey from Architecture Week
- St. Nicholas Cole Abbey from Church bells of the City of London