St Lawrence Jewry
Encyclopedia
Church 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...
guild church 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...
on 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...
, next to the Guildhall
Guildhall, London
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Gresham and Basinghall streets, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London and its Corporation...
.
History
The church was originally built in the twelfth century and dedicated to St Lawrence (the instrument of whose martyrdom, the gridiron, can still be seen on the present church's weathervane.) The church is near the former medieval Jewish ghetto, which was centred on the street named Old JewryOld Jewry
Old Jewry is the name of a street in the City of London, in Coleman Street Ward, linking Gresham Street with The Poultry.William the Conqueror encouraged Jews to come to England soon after the Norman Conquest; some settled in cities throughout his new domain, including in London. According to Rev....
.
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...
and rebuilt by 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...
between 1670 and 1687. The church is entirely faced in stone, with a grand east front on which four attached Corinthian columns support a pediment.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...
described the details of this facade as displaying " a purity of feeling almost Grecian", while pointing out that Wren's pediment acts only as a superficial adornment to the wall, rather than, as in Classical architecture, being integrated into the structure of the building.
Inside,the new church was built with an aisle on the north side only, divided from the nave by Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
columns, carrying an entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
that continued around the walls of the main body of the church, where it was supported on pilasters. The ceiling was divided into sunken panels, ornamented with wreaths and branches.
The church suffered extensive damage during 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 December 29, 1940. It was restored in 1957 by Cecil Brown to Wren's original design. It is no longer a parish church
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....
but a guild church
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
, and the official church of the City of London Corporation.
The church was described by Sir John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...
as "very municipal, very splendid." It was designated a Grade I listed building on January 4, 1950.
Sir Thomas More preached in the older church on this site.. The church was the burial place of merchant Francis Levett
Francis Levett (merchant)
Francis Levett was an early London merchant who, in partnership with his brother Sir Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London, built an early trading empire, importing and distributing tobacco and other commodities...
, as well as the site of the wedding of his niece Ann Levett
Levett
Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of...
, daughter of William Levett
William Levett (dean)
The Very Rev. Dr. William Levett was the Oxford-educated personal chaplain to Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, whom he accompanied into exile in France, then became the rector of two parishes, and subsequently Principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford and the Dean of Bristol.Levett was born in...
, Dean of Bristol and former Principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford (today's Hertford College).
Vicars (incomplete list)
- 1566-1570 William Palmer
- 1578-81 Samuel Perkins
- 1650-1656 Richard VinesRichard VinesRichard Vines was an English clergyman, one of the Presbyterian leaders of the Westminster Assembly. He became Master of Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, from 1644 to 1650.-Life:...
was minister - 1661-1662 Seth WardSeth Ward (bishop)Seth Ward was an English mathematician, astronomer, and bishop.-Early life:He was born in Hertfordshire, and educated at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1636 and M.A. in 1640, becoming a Fellow in that year...
- 1662-1668 John WilkinsJohn WilkinsJohn Wilkins FRS was an English clergyman, natural philosopher and author, as well as a founder of the Invisible College and one of the founders of the Royal Society, and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death....
- 1668-1683 Benjamin WhichcoteBenjamin WhichcoteBenjamin Whichcote was a British Establishment and Puritan divine, Provost of King's College, Cambridge, and leader of the Cambridge Platonists.-Life:...
- 1686-1721 John MapletoftJohn Mapletoft-Life:His father was Joshua Mapletoft, vicar of Margaretting and rector of Wickford, Essex, and his mother Susanna, daughter of John Collet by Susanna, sister of Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding. She afterwards married James Chedley, and, dying on 31 October 1657, was buried at Little Gidding....
- 1898-1920 James Stephen Barrass
See also
- List of churches and cathedrals of London
- List of Christopher Wren churches in London
