If you walk down Nicholas Lane in the City you will find a blue plaque on the wall stating “Site of the parsonage of St Nicholas Acons where scientific life assurance began in 1762” . It commemorates the first office of Equitable Life, the world oldest mutual insurer, which pioneered scientific life assurance by basing […]
Lost London Churches Blog
St Michael le Querne
The lost church of St Michael le Querne stood at the north east corner of St Pauls churchyard, near Paternoster Row and Panyer Alley, roughly where St Pauls tube station is now. The word “querne” means a handmill for grinding wheat and the church was close to the corn market – part of the great […]
St Mary Mounthaw
The little church of St Mary Mounthaw stood halfway up Old Fish Street Hill (now Lambeth Hill), a mere 50 yards away from four other churches: St Nicholas Cole Abbey, St Mary Somerset, St Peter Pauls Wharf and St Nicholas Olave. You can see their relative positions on the parish map and the map from […]
St Margaret New Fish Street
This lost church was dedicated to St. Margaret the Virgin of Antioch and stood on the corner of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill. There were two fish markets in the city in medieval times – one near St Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street and St Paul’s in the west and one just up the […]
A Forest of Spires
You are all probably familiar with the panoramic illustrations of the City of London from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries showing a forest of church spires. In those days, they were the tallest buildings so the view was filled with church towers and steeples. See below some examples by Hollar in 1647 and by Kipps […]
St Margaret Moses
The lost church of St Margaret Moses is one of the most elusive when it comes to tracing remains. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and the parish was united with St Mildred Bread Street. However, that church was destroyed by bombs in World War 2, so the parishes of […]
St Leonard Foster Lane
The lost church of St Leonard Foster Lane originally belonged to the College of St Martin le Grand. The Dean and canons of St Martins used to worship at the altar of St Leonard inside that collegiate church but then built the separate small church of St Leonard in their courtyard in 13th century. It […]
Secret Santa ideas for City workers
We are heading into Christmas season and that means presents! If you have friends or colleagues who work in the City of London and are drawing a blank when it comes to presents – secret Santa or otherwise – there here is an idea. As you may know, the Lost London Churches project has put […]
St Leonard Eastcheap
This lost church stood at the corner of Fish Street Hill and Eastcheap. The first mention of St Leonard Eastcheap was in 1177 in the reign of King John. In John Stow’s survey of London he says it was called St Leonard Milke Church after the builder William Melker: “Up higher on this hill is […]
St Laurence Pountney
The first mention of the church of St Laurence Pountney is in 1067 when it is called “St Laurence cum cimiterio”. In 1275 it is recorded as “St Laurence by the Thames”. The name “Pountney” became associated with the church around 1334 when John de Poulteney erected the chapel of Corpus Christi and College of […]