The first mention of St Mary Abchurch is in 1199. The word “Abchurch” was once thought to be a corruption of “Up Church” as it stands on one of the two ‘hills’ in the City. The other is the ‘hill’ on which St Pauls stands, with the valley of the River Wallbrook between them. If you stand at one end of Cannon Street you can see this ancient topography clearly.
However, it is now believed that the church was named after a benefactor named Abby or Abbo – hence Abchurch. We have an idea of what this early church looked like from the Copperplate Map of 1555 which shows a squat church with a square tower and a newel stair on the southwest corner.. This building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.
After the fire, Wren was presented with a site that was almost a perfect square. This gave him a great opportunity to explore the architectural problems of “squaring the circle” – putting a dome on square foundations. The inside of the church is a huge dome – forty foot in width – with no aisles, columns or naves. This was an experiment by Wren that prefigures the magnificent dome he created for St Paul’s.
The dome was painted around 1710 by William Snow, a parishioner with illustrations of the virtues. So when you enter the church and look up you feel you are in London’s miniature version of he Sistine Chapel. The church is built of brick, but with corner quoins and doorways picked out in Portland stone which, though cheaper than using stone throughout, actually looks better to my eyes. St Benet Pauls Wharf is another Wren church in this style as is St Mary le Bow (apart from the tower).
The church was hit by a bomb in September 1940 during the Blitz which broke the dome. This was repaired by W. Godfrey Allen in 1953 and repainted by Walter Hoyle in 1952. This unfortunate event brought one benefit however. When the bomb exploded it revealed an unknown vaulted chamber beneath the churchyard dating to the 14th century. This was probably the undercroft of a lost chantry chapel. It is situated to the right of the main entrance as you face the door, underneath the large window on the south side. The entrance to this undercroft was in the middle of the churchyard – now closed over.
There are several old parish boundary markers inside the church itself (numbers 1 & 2). In Nicholas Lane you will find some marked showing the boundary between the lost church of St Nicholas Acons and St Mary Abchurch. Also on the north corner of the church there is a metal marker low down against the wall which I think is to do with fire prevention. This plaque proved that the church had subscribed to the local fire service.
St Mary Abchurch is the headquarters of the Friends of the City Churches. This is architectural heritage charity dedicated to preserving the beautiful and unique churches found within the square mile of the City of London. So if you love these city churches why not make a donation – or join the Society here.
