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 […]
Lost London Churches Blog
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 […]
St John Zachary
This lost church stood on the north side of Maiden Lane at the junction with Noble street. It is one of the three lost churches in the City that were dedicated to St John. There is some disagreement over the origin of the name ‘Zachary’. The priest Zachariah is venerated in both Christianity and Islam […]
St John the Evangelist Friday Street
The lost church of St John the Evangelist stood on the east side of Friday Street at its junction with Watling Street, in Bread Street Ward. It seems its original dedication was to St Werburgh. She was an Anglo-Saxon princess, born ca 650 AD, who became a nun at the convent founded by her great […]
St John the Baptist Walbrook
The earliest mention of this church was in 1162 as “St. John upon Walebroc” and the west end of the church stood right on the banks of the river Walbrook. This river which ran right through the centre of the City of London was the main water supply for the Romans. The Temple of Mithras […]
St Gregory by St Paul’s
St Gregory by St Pauls – as the name suggests – was a parish church right next to Old St Pauls Cathedral. There is some uncertainty as to what it looked like. The Agas map from 1555 shows a traditional square towered church building – but many other churches on the map look exactly the […]