St. Mary Abchurch

St. Mary Abchurch stands in Abchurch Lane, which runs between Cannon Street and King William Street. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. The meaning of the suffix in its name is unclear. The Tudor-era historian John Stow wrote:

…the parish church there, called St. Mary Abchurch, or Upchurch, as I have read it standeth somewhat near unto the south end [of Abchurch Lane], on a rising ground.

It was first mentioned in the 12^th century. Queen Elizabeth I gave the patronage of St. Mary’s to the Master of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, who retained the right to appoint a rector until 1952. Since then it has been a City of London Guild church, without its own parish.

The medieval church had two aisles, mural paintings, chantry chapels, and a bell tower. Stow said of it:

It is a fair church. Simon de Winchcombe founded a chantry there the 19^th [year of the reign] of Richard II; John Littleton founded another, and Thomas Hondon another: and hath the monuments of J. Long, esquire, of Bedfordshire, 1442; William Wikenson, alderman, 1519; William Jawdress, tailor, 1440; Sir James Hawes, mayor 1574; Sir John Branch, mayor 1580; John Miners; William Kettle, &c.

Dame Helen Branch, buried here, widow of Sir John Branch, Knt, Lord Mayor of London a.1580, gave £50 to be lent to young men of the Company of Drapers, from four years to four years, for ever, £50. Which lady also gave to poor maids’ marriages, £10. To the poor of Abchurch, £10. To the poor prisoners in and about London, £20. Besides, for twenty-six gowns to poor men and women, £26. And many other worthy legacies to the Universities.

The church was destroyed in the Great Fire. A temporary church was erected in the ruins until the rebuilding took place in 1681 to Wren’s design. The new building is in Dutch-influenced red brick with stone quoins and dressings, similar to St. Benet Paul’s Wharf. The tower is in the north-west corner, somewhat hidden in the back alley where Abchurch Yard meets Sherborne Lane. It is topped by a lead spire on a square domed base. Many of Wren’s best craftsmen worked on the rebuilding and it is one of his finer churches. The main building was completed in 1686.

Wren’s interior dome, decorated by William Snow.

The interior of the church is almost square, with windows on the south and east sides. As Wren was creating its design he was experimenting with the concept of a dome prior to that of St. Paul’s Cathedral, as he did at St. Stephen Walbrook. For St. Mary’s he created a 40-feet diameter interior dome, illuminated by oval ‘lunette’ windows, supported by the exterior walls. Its inclusion provides an illusion of space, making the interior larger than it would otherwise seem for its size. The dome’s painting, long thought to be by Sir James Thornhill who decorated that of St. Paul’s, was added in 1708 by parishioner William Snow, a painter-stainer, and is unique in any City church. It features the Divine name in Hebrew characters, surrounded by a chorus of angels. The oak altar-piece is the largest in the City. Its limewood embellishments are carvings of fruit, flowers and a gilded pelican by Grinling Gibbons from 1686, the only ones of his in a City church (other than St. Paul’s and the font cover at All Hallows by the Tower) for which there is documentary evidence.

St. Mary’s was largely spared by the Blitz but survived and was restored by Godfrey Allen. The former burial ground on the south side of the church is now a paved area, laid with tables for drinkers of the adjacent pub. Since becoming a Guild church in the 1950s its parish united with that of St. Stephen Walbrook.