St.Peter upon Cornhill

St. Peter’s is one of two churches, almost back-to-back, on Cornhill on the highest point of the City (the other is St. Michael Cornhill). It has ancient origins but the date of its foundation is unclear. There has been a claim that it was during the Roman period, over 400 years earlier than the arrival of St. Augustine, and the foundation of St. Paul’s, which would make it by far the earliest Christian church in London. The claim led to a dispute between several City churches in the 15^th century as to whose rector should have precedent in religious celebrations, which was settled in favour of St. Peter’s due to its supposed antiquity. The theory continued during the 16^th century because John Stow, in his ‘Survey of London’ of 1598 wrote:

There remaineth in this church a table whereon it is written, I know by what authority, but of a late hand, that King Lucius founded the same church to be an archbishop’s see metropolitan, and chief church of his kingdom, and that it so endured the space of four hundred years, unto the coming of Augustin the monk.

The claim to ancient foundation on the wall within the church.

In the church today, a brass tablet on the wall to the left of the altar makes the claim that it was founded in 179AD by King Lucius. While it is possible that a small number of Christian Romans were in London at that time, there was certainly no known king of that name in Roman Britain. More likely is that St. Peter’s was founded in the Saxon period, and the earliest definitive record was in the early 11^th century.

The medieval church had two towers, one of which was a battlemented turret, and seven altars. Until the Reformation it had a great deal of plate and fine vestments. Says Stow at the end of the 16^th century:

…the parish church of St. Peter upon Cornhill, which seemeth to be an ancient building, but not so ancient as fame reporteth, for it hath been lately repaired, if not all new built except the steeple, which is ancient. The roof of this church and glazing were finished in the reign of Edward IV., as appeareth by arms of noblemen and aldermen of London then living.

During the medieval period it had a grammar school and library. Of the library Stow says:

[It] hath been of late time, to wit, within these fifty years, well furnished of books; John Leland viewed and commended them; but now these books be gone, and the place is occupied by a schoolmaster and his usher, over a number of scholars learning their grammar rules, &c.

St. Peter’s is shown standing on the south-west corner of the crossroads in this detail from Civitas Londinum (the ‘Agas map’) of about 1561, located immediately to the east of St. Michael Cornhill (which is marked ‘27’).

St. Peter’s stands on the corner of the important City crossroads where Cornhill, Bishopsgate, Leadenhall Street and Gracechurch all meet. By the 16^th century a conduit stood in the middle of the junction. Yet, the corner position of the building is obscured because the north Cornhill-facing side is almost entirely hidden by shops and offices, other than the church door.

Wren put great effort into the Classical east exterior (similar to the east walls of St. Mary at Hill and St. Lawrence Jewry) but it needs to be seen from across Gracechurch Street to be appreciated. The best way to view the exterior of St. Peter’s is from the churchyard at the rear in St. Peter’s Alley, (described by Charles Dickens in ‘A Mutual Friend’ as “where the dead are raised above the living”). It is today a small park from there one sees the stuccoed south wall and red brick tower.

The ancient building was largely destroyed in the Great Fire and rebuilt by Wren, with assistance from Robert Hooke between 1677 and 1681. The east end was shortened by ten feet to allow for the widening of Gracechurch Street. Hooke’s 140 feet-high tower was rebuilt in red brick on the pre-Great Fire base. The upper part of the tower has three round-headed openings on each side. Above that is a small leaded dome supporting a lantern and copper-clad spire. The weathervane is of St. Peter’s keys to heaven.

There is an attractive interior with fine plasterwork. It is a barrel-vaulted interior of five bays and two narrow aisles. Many of the internal furnishings were removed during the Victorian period but it does still contain an original Wren screen, said to have been designed by Wren’s teenage daughter. It is one of only two Wren screens in the City (see St. Margaret Lothbury) and the only one still in its original position. Also of note is the reredos featuring the Lamb of Sacrifice.

The organ was built by Barnard Schmitt and installed in 1681, although much repaired since. When Mendelssohn played on it in 1840 he described it as the finest in London. Below the organ gallery are 17^th century shelves that held bread to be distributed to the poor, similar to those found at St. Clement Eastcheap and St. Martin Ludgate.

St. Peter’s is now a church without a parish, a satellite of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate. The pews have been removed and it is no longer used for services but for Bible studies.