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In the period from the Great Fire of London in 1666, to the Blitz in 1940, a number of neighbouring City churches have been destroyed or passed out of parochial use, and so St. Vedast has become united with thirteen neighbouring parishes.

St. Alban Wood Street:

This parish is thought to date back to Saxon times, and there is a possibility that it was originally built on the site of King Offa's palace chapel. In the early seventeenth century, the church was rebuilt, possibly by the Palladian architect Inigo Jones, only to be destroyed in 1666 in the Great Fire of London. Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt St. Alban Wood Street in the 1680s, in a Gothic design, and in 1687 Sir Gilbert Scott completely refitted the church's interior. However, during the Blitz the building took very heavy damage, and after World War II was demolished, leaving only the tower, which has now been converted into offices.

St. Anne and St. Agnes:

This church is first mentioned in 1137, and since then it has been twice destroyed by fire, in 1548 and 1666. Following the Great Fire, Wren undertook the rebuilding, in the shape of a Greek cross. During the nineteenth century the interior was altered several times, until Braddock and Martin-Smith worked on the post-World War II restoration of the church. St. Anne and St. Agnes is one of the few of the united parishes whose church is still in use, and the building is now leased to the Lutheran Church.

St. Lawrence Jewry:

Though it is thought that there was a church on the site in the tenth century, the first mention of St. Lawrence Jewry is not until 1136. After the Great Fire, in which the building was destroyed, Wren rebuilt the church, a project which turned out to be one of the most expensive of all his City churches. Until it became the Guild Church of the Corporation of the City of London, following a post-war restoration project carried out by Cecil Brown, the patronage of St. Lawrence's parish was held by Balliol College Oxford for over seven hundred years.

St. Mary Aldermanbury:

Only the twelfth century foundations of the building of this church remain today. The church was rebuilt by Wren after the medieval building was lost in the Great Fire, but it was badly damaged in December 1940, and was pulled down. However, it was shipped to the USA, where the building was re-erected as the chapel to Westminster College, at the University of Fulton in Missouri, and stands as a memorial to Winston Churchill, who made his famous 'iron curtain' speech there in March 1946. The church's foundations in London have now been set out as a garden.

St. Michael-le-Querne:

The mediaeval church was situated in a prominent position at the end of Cheapside (the City's medieval market place), but was destroyed in the Great Fire of London, and was not rebuilt afterwards. The ending 'le Querne' referred to a large corn market that lay within the parish. Following the Great Fire, St. Michael's parish was united with St. Vedast's, but the only evidence of the church's existence today is a parish boundary mark on the Choir School building.

St. Matthew Friday Street:

This church took its name from the street in which the Friday fish market was held, and was first mentioned in 1261. In the seventeenth century, the parish became notorious due to two events which took place. Henry Burton, a Puritan minister of the church was appointed, and had his ears cut off in 1629 after preaching a controversial sermon. After the church's destruction in the Great Fire, the church was rebuilt by Christopher Wren, but was demolished in 1881.

St. Peter Cheap:

Also known as St. Peter West Cheap, this church was situated off Cheapside, on the south-west corner of Wood Street. The Lord Mayor of London in 1505, Sir John Shaw (or Shaa), left money in his will to rebuilt the church's steeple 'with a flat roof', and it was from that roof that a cleric lowered a Holy Bible on a long ribbon down to Queen Elizabeth I as she was riding by. The church building was burnt down in the Great Fire in 1666, and was not rebuilt afterwards, and so today all that remains on the site is an open space with wrought iron railings around the perimeter, showing St. Peter holding the keys to heaven, and a protected plane tree, which features in Wordsworth's poem 'Poor Susan'.

St. Olave Silver Street:

The church and the street it was named after have both disappeared from their former sites; the church building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt, and post-World War II developments eradicated the street. In the Middle ages, St. Olave Silver Street was the church of the silversmiths, and featured a celebrated image of Christ wearing silver shoes. Today, however, all that marks the site is an open space and a single stone tablet.

St. Michael Wood Street:

The original medieval church building was lost to the Great Fire in 1666, following which wren rebuilt it, but in 1894 the church was demolished, and the parish united with St. Alban Wood Street. According to John Stow, the head of James IV of Scotland was carried to London after the battle of Flodden in 1513, and was laid to rest at St. Michael's. William the Priest, the first rector of the church, was appointed in 1150.

St. Mary Staining:

The first mention of the church of St. Mary Staining comes in the twelfth century, from which time onwards, throughout the middle ages, the Prioress and Convent of St. Mary of Clerkenwell held the patronage. It was totally destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, and was never rebuilt. The word 'staining' is thought to come either from the word 'stein', a Saxon term meaning 'stone', or from the fact that there were members of the Painter Stainers Company living close to the site. Today, a small rose garden at the side of the Worshipful Company of Pewterers' Hall is all that marks the church's former location.

St. Mary Magdalene Milk Street:

This small church dates back to the twelfth century, after which time no further significant mention is made of it until the fourteenth century, when the parish joined a small number of 'select' City parishes, who established the Pope as their patron, causing the appointment of two priests to the parish. There were, according to records, several monuments from the sixteenth century inside the church, dedicated to Lord Mayors and Sheriffs of the City of London. However, St. Mary Magdalene was lost in the Great Fire of London, and was not subsequently rebuilt, although the church's former site was later occupied by the City of London School for Boys.

St. John Zachary:

The church of St. John Zachary was situated at the corner of Noble and Gresham Street, and surviving records date its construction to the twelfth century, when a certain Zachary was given the parish by the canons of St. Paul's cathedral, who lent his name to the church's title. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, and today a garden marks the place where the old church building once stood, in which the paths are partly made up of headstones from the old churchyard.

St. Michael Bassishaw:

The medieval church building of St. Michael Bassishaw, which was burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666, was founded in about 1141. The task of rebuilding the church was taken up by Wren, but, towards the end of the nineteenth century, excavations weakened the building, and it was deemed unsafe. It was demolished in 1900.

Other Churches Dedicated to St. Vedast

Although there were once two other churches in England dedicated to St. Vedast, only one still exists today. St. Vedast's church at Tathwell, in Lincolnshire, remains with its original dedication and is in use, but the other church, in Norwich, was demolished.

 

 

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