The Great Fire of London wiped out three quarters of the City in 1666. It started in a bakery in Pudding Lane around midnight on Sunday 2 November. The site is marked by the famous Monument – a tall stone column with a golden representation of the fire at its peak. The fire raged until […]
Lost London Churches Blog
The 13 Dragon Walk
The 13 dragon walk of 12km takes you around the boundaries of the City of London past all of the cast iron, dragon headed columns that mark the edges of the City like the one on the right here. The arrow symbols on the map mark the dragons. Although the boundary line actually runs down […]
Sir Christopher Wren
Despite being a sickly child when he was born in 1632 in Wiltshire, Sir Christopher Wren survived to the ripe old age of 91. When he died in 1723, he was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral – the crowning glory of his architectural career. The Latin inscription on his memorial famously reads LECTOR SI MONUMENTUM […]
St Andrew Undershaft
St Andrews Undershaft is dwarfed by the three iconic buildings in the City of London which surround it; the Gherkin, The Cheesegrater and the Scalpel. There has been a church on this site since the 12th Century. It is dedicated to St Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. The name “Undershaft” comes from a famous […]
St Benet Fink
Benet is a shortened form of the name Benedict. The benefactor who paid for the church to be rebuilt in the 13 Century was Robert Fink ( or Finch). A lane just off Threadneedle Street called Finch Lane is named after the same person. So the church was known a St Benet Fink. The Church […]