City of London Churches

The loss of the City of London Churches happened in three main waves. The first was the Great Fire of 1666 In total, 87 churches in the centre and west of the city were damaged or destroyed. After the fire, Parliament created a new coal tax to pay for the rebuilding of the City churches and Sir Christopher Wren was appointed as the King’s Surveyor of Works to oversee the reconstruction. It was decided that 34 churches should not be rebuilt but the others are known as ‘Wren’ churches since he oversaw their rebuilding even if other architects who assisted Wren, such as Robert Hooke or Nicholas Hawksmoor, did the designs. On the cards, I give the date that the “rebuilding by Wren” was completed. 

The second wave of demolition was triggered by the Union of Benefices Act of 1860 which sought to combine parishes and free up commercial space for the swelling capital of the British Empire. The result was the 19th Century proved to be almost as damaging to the city churches as the Great Fire. Lastly, London suffered badly in the Blitz in Word War 2, which took its toll on these ancient buildings though most were painstakingly restored. Even though the church buildings were lost, their parishes remained and can still be explored today through their wall plaques and parish boundary markers mounted high on the office buildings around the City.

Wikipedia has some very good pages on these City of London Churches. Here is a list of the churches that were rebuilt after the Great Fire, and here is a list of the Wren Churches

Cards exist for 78 of the City of London Churches on this list (including 2 for St Pauls). If you are ordering specific cards then check that the card column says “yes”. There are only a few cards for the churches lost in the Great Fire and not rebuilt because I have found no images of those buildings so far. Maybe I will publish a second edition of some of these after further research…

NO.	Church Name	Lost Date	Card?
1	All Hallows by the Tower	Extant	yes
2	All Hallows Bread Street	1878	yes
3	All Hallows Honey Lane	1666	no
4	All Hallows Lombard Street	1939	yes
5	All Hallows London Wall	Extant	yes
6	All Hallows Staining	1870	yes
7	All Hallows the Great	1894	yes
8	All Hallows the Less	1666	yes
9	Christchurch, Newgate Street	1940	yes
10	Holy Trinity Minories	1899	yes
11	Holy Trinity the Less	1666	no
12	St Alban Wood Street	1940	yes
13	St Alphage London Wall	1923	yes
14	St Andrew Hubbard	1666	no
15	St Andrew Undershaft	Extant	yes
16	St Andrew by the Wardrobe	Extant	yes
17	St Ann Blackfriars	1666	yes
18	St Anne and St Agnes	Extant	yes
19	St Antholin, Budge Row	1875	yes
20	St Augustine Watling Street	1941	yes
21	St Bartholomew the Great	Extant	yes
22	St Bartholomew the Less	Extant	yes
23	St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange	1840	yes
24	St Benet Fink	1846	yes
25	St Benet Gracechurch	1868	yes
26	St Benet Paul’s Wharf	Extant	yes
27	St Benet Sherehog	1666	no
28	St Botolph Aldersgate	Extant	yes
29	St Botolph Aldgate	Extant	yes
30	St Botolph Billingsgate	1666	no
31	St Botolph Bishopsgate	Extant	yes
32	St Bride’s Church	Extant	yes
33	St Christopher le Stocks	1782	yes
34	St Clement Eastcheap	Extant	yes
35	St Dionis Backchurch	1878	yes
36	St Dunstan in the East	1941	yes
37	St Dunstan in the West	Extant	yes
38	St Edmund the King and Martyr	Extant	yes
39	St Ethelburga	Extant	yes
40	St Faith under St Paul’s	1666	no
41	St Gabriel Fenchurch	1666	no
42	St George Botolph Lane	1904	yes
43	St Giles Cripplegate	Extant	yes
44	St Gregory by St Paul’s	1666	no
45	St Helen’s Bishopsgate	Extant	yes
46	St James Duke’s Place	1874	yes
47	St James Garlickhythe	Extant	yes
48	St John the Baptist	1666	no
49	St John the Evangelist	1666	no
50	St John Zachary	1666	no
51	St Katharine Cree	Extant	yes
52	St Katherine Coleman	1926	yes
53	St Laurence Pountney	1666	no
54	St Lawrence Jewry	Extant	yes
55	St Leonard, Eastcheap	1666	no
56	St Leonard, Foster Lane	1666	no
57	St Magnus the Martyr	Extant	yes
58	St Margaret Lothbury	Extant	yes
59	St Margaret Moses	1666	no
60	St Margaret Pattens	Extant	yes
61	St Margaret, New Fish Street	1666	no
62	St Martin Orgar	1820	no
63	St Martin Outwich	1874	yes
64	St Martin Pomaroy	1666	no
65	St Martin Vintry	1666	no
66	St Martin, Ludgate	Extant	yes
67	St Mary Abchurch	Extant	yes
68	St Mary Aldermanbury	1940	yes
69	St Mary Aldermary	Extant	yes
70	St Mary Bothaw	1666	no
71	St Mary Colechurch	1666	no
72	St Mary Magdalen Milk Street	1666	no
73	St Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street	1893	yes
74	St Mary Mounthaw	1666	no
75	St Mary Somerset	1871	yes
76	St Mary Staining	1666	no
77	St Mary Woolchurch Haw	1666	no
78	St Mary Woolnoth	Extant	yes
79	St Mary at Hill	Extant	yes
80	St Mary le Bow	Extant	yes
81	St Matthew Friday Street	1885	yes
82	St Michael Bassishaw	1900	yes
83	St Michael Paternoster Royal	Extant	yes
84	St Michael Queenhithe	1876	yes
85	St Michael Wood Street	1897	yes
86	St Michael, Cornhill	Extant	yes
87	St Michael, Crooked Lane	1831	yes
88	St Michael le Querne	1666	yes
89	St Mildred, Bread Street	1941	yes
90	St Mildred, Poultry	1872	yes
91	St Nicholas Acons	1666	no
92	St Nicholas Cole Abbey	Extant	yes
93	St Nicholas Olave	1666	no
94	St Olave Hart Street	Extant	yes
95	St Olave Old Jewry	1888	yes
96	St Olave’s, Silver Street	1666	no
97	St Pancras, Soper Lane	1666	no
98	St Peter Cornhill	Extant	yes
99	St Peter le Poer	1907	yes
100	St Peter, Paul’s Wharf	1666	no
101	St Peter, Westcheap	1666	no
102	St Sepulchre	Extant	yes
103	St Stephen Coleman Street	1940	yes
104	St Stephen Walbrook	Extant	yes
105	St Swithin, London Stone	1940	yes
106	St Thomas the Apostle	1666	no
107	St Vedast Foster Lane	Extant	yes
108	St Andrew Holborn	Extant	yes
109	St Pauls Cathedral (2 cards)	Extant	yes
110	St Nicholas Shambles	1547	no
111	St Audoen (Ewen) Newgate	1583	no
112	St Mary Axe	1561	no
113	St Augustine Papey	1541	no