The Great London Church Crawl

Today I decided to go and see some of the less popular churches in the City of London.  London, as it is now, includes the cities of London and Westminster, as well as many boroughs including Camden, Islington, Kensington and Notting Hill.  So today was in London.  Everyone knows St. Paul's Cathedral as the largest one in England, and even the people who don't probably recognize it as the place to feed the birds for tuppence a bag in Mary Poppins.  I did not go there.  It's expensive and crowded.  Most likely, the interior is stunning, but I just couldn't justify paying ten pounds when there were so many other free churches in the area with histories just as rich.  First, I tried to go to Temple Church, but its hours are weird, so I'll have to do that another day.  I looked for other ones that were set back a little from the main street.

My first stop was St. Bride's, a stunning church that has existed in that location in some form for two thousand years.  It was the site of one of the original churchs of the Roman city of Londinium.  Sadly, the crypt where the remains of the original church as well as a few hundred old Roman graves can be seen was closed for some restoration processes.  I'll have to return to see that another time.  The remains were actually only found after Blitz bombs nearly destroyed the church during WWII.  The current church is quite beautiful.  This was also the only church I visited today that had anyone else inside!

 

 

My next stop was St. Martin within Ludgate, constructed by Christopher Wren, who also built St. Paul's.  Wren was commissioned to design a large number of churches after the Great Fire of London, which destroyed most of the city in 1666.  The only other person in this church was the pastor, who talked to me for a little while about the church.  Hundreds of people were pouring in and out of St. Paul's, just a block away.  I think I made the correct choice here.  William Penn, the founder of my home state of Pennsylvania, was actually married in this church.  St. Martin's is also the chapel of the Honourable Society of the Knights of the Round Table.  In case you weren't aware, that was the Knight order thought to be founded by King Arthur (though evidence of them does not exist before 1720).  The symbol of this church is a pelican breastfeeding her young, which represents peity.  The baptismal font has inscribed on it, Niyon Anomha mh monan oyin, which means, "cleanse my sin, not only my face," in Greek.  That phrase, if you did not notice, is a palindrome.

 

 

 

 

The next church I visited was St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe. This one was really off the beaten path.  It was down a side street and then in a little alcove up a flight of stairs.  But, it was worth it.  The church has been in existence in some form since 1170.  So why on earth is it called by-the-Wardrobe?  Well.  Edward III purchased the house right next to this church, formerly known as St. Andrew Juxta Baynard, and turned it into his Royal Wardrobe.  All of the Crown Jewels were moved from the Tower of London into this building.  St. Andrews was then colloquially known as being by the wardrobe.  At some point, this officially became the name.  Most interestingly, however, this was Shakespeare's parish of attendance while he lived in London.  Sadly, the church was completely gutted on December 30 1940 during the Blitz.  The interior was reconstructed in 1961.  No one else was in this building, not even anyone working.  The heat wasn't even on.  But, it was open! Once again, I was pretty sure that I had hit the historical jackpot.

My next stop was St. Clement Danes Church, the official church of the Royal Air Force.  It was originally built by a small group of Danish immigrants around the year 850.  It did not burn down in the Great Fire of London, but was rebuilt by Christopher Wren around that time anyway due to the ancient fashion no longer being in taste.  It was seen as garish to have a church that old.  In 1941, like so many of the other churches, St. Clement was a Blitzkrieg targt, and was almost destroyed.  It was then abandoned until 1958, when the Royal Air Force provided funding to reconstruct the church to its former splendor.  Plaques and statues commemorating various air forces around the world are present all over the church, as well as remnants of its Danish beginnings.  There was also a cross stitched version of Da Vinci's "Last Supper," which was quite nifty.