Pity the poor Gherkin. When it was first completed in 2004, it was hailed as an architectural marvel and instantly became an iconic symbol of the London skyline alongside the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and St Pauls. It stood out in the landscape of the City, with the Nat West Tower and the brutalist Barbican flats being the only competition as vertical landmarks. Neither of these could match its elegant majesty, and soon direct copies of the Gherkin popped up in other cities around the world – Bangkok, Barcelona, and Shenzen.
But now? The city skyline has changed beyond all recognition in the last 10 years. The Gherkin is now shielded from view. It has disappeared behind a forest of less notable skyscrapers, dwarfed by 22 Bishopsgate – a skyscraper so dull it does not even have a nickname. But – plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose – as they say. The city skyline is always changing. Look at Kip’s panorama of the City from 1720 below. It’s a veritable forest of church spires, most of which are now lost or hidden behind modern buildings. Which brings us to the lost church of St Alban Wood Street. If you walk up Gresham Street, past the Guildhall and glance up Wood Street to your right, you will see the old tower of St Alban’s, dwarfed by the surrounding office blocks. It is now shielded from view, much as the Gherkin is, by lesser buildings.
A church has been there for more than 1000 years. It is believed to have first been built in 930 AD and dedicated to Saint Alban by Offa, the King of Mercia (now the Midlands). He had a palace on this site, and probably the church was originally its chapel. The first written mention is as “St. Alban Wudestrate” in the reign of King John around 1200 AD. We know what it looked like as it is shown on the Agas map of 1560 (see the top of this post). It also appears in the Morgan Panorama of 1682, as one in another forest of spires.
In John Strype’s “Survey of the City of London” published in 1720 (an updated version of John Stow’s original), he mentions Roman brickwork as proof of its antiquity :
“One Note of the great Antiquity of it, is the Name; by which it was at first dedicated to St. Albane; the first Martyr of England. Another Character of the Antiquity of it, is to be seen in the manner of the turning of the Arches in the Windows, and Heads of the Pillars. A third Note appears in the Roman Bricks, here and there inlaid amongst the Stones of the Building. Very probable it is, that this Church is, at least, of as ancient a standing, as King Adelstane the Saxon”
He goes on to say that “This Church, being wonderfully decayed and perished…was found to be too far gone for Repair” and so it was pulled down in 1633 and rebuilt by Inigo Jones. This new building was not to last for long, as it was completely destroyed in the Great Fire of London some 30 years later. It was then rebuild by Sir Christopher Wren, whose Gothic style tower is the only part of the church still standing today. Gilbert Scott restored the church in 1858 and added an apse. Disaster was to strike again when the church was burnt out and not rebuilt in the Blitz in 1940. The parish was united with St Vedast Foster Lane in 1954. Wren’s tower became a Grade II listed building in 1950 and the rest of the church was demolished in 1965.
The diagram below shows how the church developed over time and it is notable that all three of Britain’s most famous architects – Jones, Wren and Scott – made contributions to the building. Now that there’s only the square tower left, it’s quite hard to figure out where the rest of the church lay – which side of the symmetrical tower was it attached to? A second diagram shows the original layout, with the body of the church to the east and a road, known as Little Love Lane running around the church yard to the north. The lane got its name from the wantons and prostitutes that hung out there, incongruously close to a church.
You can see two different photos of the church before it was demolished below. The tower has since been converted into a private house, although I don’t think it’s occupied at present and is rumored only to be used for storage. It won brief fame in 2009 when it featured in the movie St Trinian’s II: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold.
You can find an old parish boundary marker on the wall in Love Lane showing the dividing line between the parish of St Alban’s and that of St Mary Aldermanbury.
To find out more about the history of this church here is the wikipedia page and here the John Strype survey of 1720