St. Stephen Coleman Street
Encyclopedia
St. Stephen's Church, Coleman Street was a church in the City of London
, at the corner of Coleman Street and what is now Gresham Street
, first mentioned in the 13th century. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London
of 1666, it was rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The church was destroyed again, by bombing in 1940, and was never rebuilt.
protomartyr St. Stephen
who, by tradition, suffered lapidation
in Jerusalem in about 35 AD. Coleman Street itself is named after the charcoal
burners who used to live there. During the reign of Henry III
, the church is recorded as St. Stephen in the Jewry owing to its situation in the quarter of London inhabited by many Jews. John Stow
asserted that the building had been used as a synagogue
, although this is incorrect.
The earliest surviving reference to the church is to “the parish
of St. Stephen colemanstrate” during the reign of King John
. Two centuries later, the church is recorded as a chapel of ease
to St. Olave Old Jewry
. It regained parochial
status in the middle of the 15th century.
In 1431, John Sokelyng, who owned a neighbouring brewery called ‘La Cokke
on the hoop’, died and left a bequest
to St. Stephen’s on the condition that Mass
be sung on the anniversary of his death and that of his two wives. The gift was commemorated by a cock in a hoop motif that would decorate the church until 1940 and can still be seen in parish boundary markers.
Early in the 17th century, St. Stephen's became a Puritan
stronghold. John Davenport
, the vicar
appointed in 1624, later resigned to become a Nonconformist
pastor
. His successor, John Goodwin
, was also a prominent Puritan preacher
. Goodwin was ejected from St Stepehn's in 1645 for setting up a covenanted community within his parish and was briefly imprisoned after the Restoration
for his political views. The five Members of Parliament
impeached by Charles I
repaired to Coleman Street in early 1642 when his troops were searching for them, and during the Commonwealth
, communion
was only allowed to those passed by a committee comprising the vicar and 13 parishioners – 2 of whom had signed the death warrant
of Charles I.
It was during the Puritan incumbency that the playwright
and Shakespeare
collaborator Anthony Munday
was buried in the church.
in 1666, the church was rebuilt on its old foundations. Work on the church exterior was completed in 1677. In 1691, further funds were provided from the coal tax to build a gallery and a burial vault
. The combined cost of restoration was £4517.
The Wren church retained its predecessor's medieval plan, forming an irregular quadrilateral that tapered towards the east. The walls were made from brick and rubble covered with stucco, only the south and east fronts being exposed. The main façade, on Coleman Street to the east, was faced with Portland stone
with rusticated corners, and had a circular pediment
between two pineapples. Underneath the pediment and above the large round headed window, was a carving of a cock between two swags. The south façade had five large round headed windows.
The tower was on the north west, barely visible from the street. It had a small leaded bell lantern, on top of which was a gild
ed vane
in the form of a cock. The height of the tower to the top of the lantern was 85 ft.
The interior was described by George Godwin
as “ nothing more than a low room with a flat ceiling formed into one panel, and coved at the sides”. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the only gallery was at the west end, containing the organ. Later, however, further galleries, supported on iron columns, were added; first on the south side, and then, in 1827, on the north side, with another, for children, over the organ gallery.
There was a small graveyard to the north of the church and a paved yard to the south. Over the gateway to the latter was a relief depicting the last judgement.
in the Blitz
on 29 December 1940. The parish was combined with that of St Margaret Lothbury
.
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...
, at the corner of Coleman Street and what is now Gresham Street
Gresham Street
Gresham Street, in the City of London, is named after Thomas Gresham and runs from St. Martin's Le Grand near St Paul's Cathedral in the west, past Guildhall, to Lothbury in the east...
, first mentioned in the 13th century. 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...
of 1666, it was rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The church was destroyed again, by bombing in 1940, and was never rebuilt.
Early history
St. Stephen's was one of two City churches dedicated to the ChristianChristian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
protomartyr St. Stephen
Saint Stephen
Saint Stephen The Protomartyr , the protomartyr of Christianity, is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches....
who, by tradition, suffered lapidation
Stoning
Stoning, or lapidation, is a form of capital punishment whereby a group throws stones at a person until the person dies. No individual among the group can be identified as the one who kills the subject, yet everyone involved plainly bears some degree of moral culpability. This is in contrast to the...
in Jerusalem in about 35 AD. Coleman Street itself is named after the charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
burners who used to live there. During the reign 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...
, the church is recorded as St. Stephen in the Jewry owing to its situation in the quarter of London inhabited by many Jews. John Stow
John Stow
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian.-Early life:The son of Thomas Stow, a tallow-chandler, he was born about 1525 in London, in the parish of St Michael, Cornhill. His father's whole rent for his house and garden was only 6s. 6d. a year, and Stow in his youth fetched milk every...
asserted that the building had been used as a synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
, although this is incorrect.
The earliest surviving reference to the church is to “the parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of St. Stephen colemanstrate” during the reign of King John
John of England
John , also known as John Lackland , was King of England from 6 April 1199 until his death...
. Two centuries later, the church is recorded as a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
to St. Olave Old Jewry
St. Olave Old Jewry
St Olave, Old Jewry sometimes known as Upwell Old Jewry was a church in the City of London located between the street called Old Jewry and Ironmonger Lane. Destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, the church was rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren...
. It regained parochial
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
status in the middle of the 15th century.
In 1431, John Sokelyng, who owned a neighbouring brewery called ‘La Cokke
Rooster
A rooster, also known as a cockerel, cock or chanticleer, is a male chicken with the female being called a hen. Immature male chickens of less than a year's age are called cockerels...
on the hoop’, died and left a bequest
Mass bequest
A bedquest for a Mass is when a person leaves a bequest in their will for a Mass to be said for the repose of their soul....
to St. Stephen’s on the condition that Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
be sung on the anniversary of his death and that of his two wives. The gift was commemorated by a cock in a hoop motif that would decorate the church until 1940 and can still be seen in parish boundary markers.
Early in the 17th century, St. Stephen's became 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...
stronghold. John Davenport
John Davenport (clergyman)
John Davenport was an English puritan clergyman and co-founder of the American colony of New Haven.-Early life:Born in Manchester, Warwickshire, England to a wealthy family, Davenport was educated at Oxford University...
, the vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
appointed in 1624, later resigned to become a Nonconformist
Nonconformism
Nonconformity is the refusal to "conform" to, or follow, the governance and usages of the Church of England by the Protestant Christians of England and Wales.- Origins and use:...
pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
. His successor, John Goodwin
John Goodwin (preacher)
John Goodwin was an English preacher, theologian and prolific author of significant books.-Early life:Goodwin was born in Norfolk and educated at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. and obtained a fellowship on 10 November 1617. He left the university and married, took orders and...
, was also a prominent Puritan preacher
Preacher
Preacher is a term for someone who preaches sermons or gives homilies. A preacher is distinct from a theologian by focusing on the communication rather than the development of doctrine. Others see preaching and theology as being intertwined...
. Goodwin was ejected from St Stepehn's in 1645 for setting up a covenanted community within his parish and was briefly imprisoned after the Restoration
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
for his political views. The five Members of Parliament
Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...
impeached by 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...
repaired to Coleman Street in early 1642 when his troops were searching for them, and during the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of England
The Commonwealth of England was the republic which ruled first England, and then Ireland and Scotland from 1649 to 1660. Between 1653–1659 it was known as the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland...
, communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
was only allowed to those passed by a committee comprising the vicar and 13 parishioners – 2 of whom had signed the death warrant
Warrant (law)
Most often, the term warrant refers to a specific type of authorization; a writ issued by a competent officer, usually a judge or magistrate, which permits an otherwise illegal act that would violate individual rights and affords the person executing the writ protection from damages if the act is...
of Charles I.
It was during the Puritan incumbency that the playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
and Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
collaborator Anthony Munday
Anthony Munday
Anthony Munday was an English dramatist and miscellaneous writer. The chief interest in Munday for the modern reader lies in his collaboration with Shakespeare and others on the play Sir Thomas More and his writings on Robin Hood.-Biography:He was once thought to have been born in 1553, because...
was buried in the church.
Rebuilding
After its destruction in the Great Fire of LondonGreat 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, the church was rebuilt on its old foundations. Work on the church exterior was completed in 1677. In 1691, further funds were provided from the coal tax to build a gallery and a burial vault
Burial vault (tomb)
A burial vault is a structural underground tomb.It is a stone or brick-lined underground space or 'burial' chamber for the interment of a dead body or bodies. They were originally and are still often vaulted and usually have stone slab entrances...
. The combined cost of restoration was £4517.
The Wren church retained its predecessor's medieval plan, forming an irregular quadrilateral that tapered towards the east. The walls were made from brick and rubble covered with stucco, only the south and east fronts being exposed. The main façade, on Coleman Street to the east, was faced with Portland stone
Portland stone
Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...
with rusticated corners, and had a circular pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
between two pineapples. Underneath the pediment and above the large round headed window, was a carving of a cock between two swags. The south façade had five large round headed windows.
The tower was on the north west, barely visible from the street. It had a small leaded bell lantern, on top of which was a gild
Gilding
The term gilding covers a number of decorative techniques for applying fine gold leaf or powder to solid surfaces such as wood, stone, or metal to give a thin coating of gold. A gilded object is described as "gilt"...
ed vane
Vane
Vane may refer to:* Cooper vane* Vane anemometer* Weather vaneA vane is also each of the parts besides the shaft in a pennaceous feather...
in the form of a cock. The height of the tower to the top of the lantern was 85 ft.
The interior was described by George Godwin
George Godwin
George Godwin FRS was an influential architect, journalist, and editor of The Builder magazine.He was one of nine children of the architect George Godwin senior and trained at his father's architectural practice in Kensington where he set up in business with his brother Henry Godwin .Encouraged...
as “ nothing more than a low room with a flat ceiling formed into one panel, and coved at the sides”. At the beginning of the nineteenth century the only gallery was at the west end, containing the organ. Later, however, further galleries, supported on iron columns, were added; first on the south side, and then, in 1827, on the north side, with another, for children, over the organ gallery.
There was a small graveyard to the north of the church and a paved yard to the south. Over the gateway to the latter was a relief depicting the last judgement.
Destruction
The church suffered slight damage from bombing in 1917. It was destroyed, along with all its fittings, during a German bombingNazi 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...
in the Blitz
The 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 29 December 1940. The parish was combined with that of St Margaret Lothbury
St Margaret Lothbury
St. Margaret Lothbury is a Church of England parish church in the City of London; it spans the boundary between Coleman Street Ward and Broad Street Ward. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren....
.
See also
- List of Christopher Wren churches in London
- List of churches rebuilt after the Great Fire but since demolished