St. Benet Paul’s Wharf church
The attractive St. Benet’s is unique in the City of London in holding services in the Welsh language.
St. Benet’s stands on the north side of Thames Street, close to Paul’s Wharf, as shown in Civitas Londinum (the ‘Agas map’) from about 1561.
St. Benet on Upper Thames Street is one of four City churches that were dedicated to the 6th century Saint Benedict, founder of the Benedictine monastic code. It was previously known as St. Benet by the Thames, or St. Benet Hithe, and stood beside the riverside wharf that once belonged to St. Paul’s Cathedral. It is mentioned in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night: “or the bells of Saint Benet, sir, may put you in mind – one, two, three”. The Welsh-born architect Inigo Jones was buried in the church in 1652 and there is still a memorial to him.
The original building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and its attractive replacement completed under Sir Christopher Wren in 1684, helped by his friend and assistant Robert Hooke. It was rebuilt in dark red and blue brick with stone quoins, and festoons over the round-headed windows. It is described as Dutch in style, similar to St. Mary Abchurch. There is a tower in the north-west corner with a lead dome, lantern and a small spire. The small interior has galleries on the north and west sides. Unusually for a Wren church the ceiling is flat instead of curved or domed. Galleries are supported by Corinthian columns.
St. Benet’s is largely unaltered since the 17th century, having survived unscathed in the Second World. A fire in 1971 caused by vandals, however, did damage to the east corner of the north gallery.
The church has strong connections with the College of Arms, which stands opposite. The building gradually became separated from the river by a widening embankment and is now somewhat isolated by roads.
Threatened with demolition in the 19th century, instead St. Benet’s was in 1879 given over to the Welsh Episcopalian Church. It is now the Metropolitan Welsh Church and is unique in the City in holding services in the Welsh language. When it became the Welsh church it ceased to be parochial and its former parish is united with St. Andrew by the Wardrobe.
Sources include:
- Stephen Millar ‘London’s City Churches’
- R.G. Ellen ‘A London Steeplechase’
- Tony Tucker ‘City of London Churches’
- Paul Rabbitts ‘Sir Christopher Wren’
