I would guess that this first set of churches and ruins was somewhere between 4.5 and 5 miles, door-to-door. I’ll get on and do some more ASAP.
The City of London churches (live and ruins) wander
- Thread starter Wapping
- Start date
Brilliant thread. I do love old religious buildings even though I'm a confirmed heathen 
. To be fair the Churches secured a great deal of history before governments and learned establishments were organised enough to do the same. 
. To be fair the Churches secured a great deal of history before governments and learned establishments were organised enough to do the same. 
With a name like that on Wapping’s guide, I had go for a pootle on the bike, pass through here twice a day on my commute and the names are too close for coincidenceChurch 2 - 48 St Olave Hart Street
View attachment 381865View attachment 381867View attachment 381870View attachment 381871
St Olave's Church, Hart Street - Wikipedia
en.m.wikipedia.org
St Olaves, Norfolk
Another nine. More sights that I didn’t expect and a throwback in history.
Five miles, apparently.
More to follow……
Five miles, apparently.
More to follow……
Last edited:
Church 12 - English Martyrs (Roman Catholic)
Strictly speaking, this church is not in the City of London, situated not far from the eastern edge, with a E1 post code. But it’s on the map, so I’ll include it.
en.wikipedia.org
Strictly speaking, this church is not in the City of London, situated not far from the eastern edge, with a E1 post code. But it’s on the map, so I’ll include it.
Tower Hill Mission – Church of The English Martyrs
parish.rcdow.org.uk
English Martyrs Church, Tower Hill - Wikipedia
Last edited:
Church 13 - St Botolph without Aldgate
en.wikipedia.org
St Botolph without Aldgate
Welcome to St Botolph without Aldgate. St Botolph’s, a Church of England parish in the Diocese of London, sits on the boundary of the City of London and the East End.
www.stbotolphs.org.uk
St Botolph's Aldgate - Wikipedia
Church 14 - St Katherine Cree
Another City Guild Church.
Another church that I thought was going to be closed, but was occupied by a Chinese Christian group. They meet regularly, apparently.
www.stkatharinecree.org
en.m.wikipedia.org
Another City Guild Church.
Another church that I thought was going to be closed, but was occupied by a Chinese Christian group. They meet regularly, apparently.
Home | The Guild Church of St Katharine Cree
www.stkatharinecree.org
St Katharine Cree - Wikipedia
Last edited:
Same as that. I find the workmanship incredible in some of them. Especially if you consider the cost when many parishioners hadn't an arse in their trousers. Pure vanity projects for the local church authorities - 'our church is bigger/better than yours'I do love old religious buildings even though I'm a confirmed heathen
Yip they did tend to suck a lot of wealth out of the locals. I often think about that particularly in France and Spain where even small towns often have big ostentatious Cathedrals. It must have been a fair old drain on the local economies.
St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe
Awaiting yourride wander report!
Awaiting your
Church 15 - St Andrew Undershaft
Another, and this time much larger gathering of seemingly assorted nationalities at some sort of lunch meeting.
en.wikipedia.org
Another, and this time much larger gathering of seemingly assorted nationalities at some sort of lunch meeting.
St Andrew Undershaft - Wikipedia
Church 16 - Bevis Marks Synagogue
There was of course a very large Jewish population (now all but gone) in the Aldgate / Spitalfields area. We’ll meet reference again to them later.
en.wikipedia.org
There was of course a very large Jewish population (now all but gone) in the Aldgate / Spitalfields area. We’ll meet reference again to them later.
Bevis Marks Synagogue - Wikipedia
Church 17 - St Helen Bishopsgate
In the fourth picture down, at the doorway to the left, you can see a fellow kneeling in prayer. This is a Moslem, facing near enough towards Mecca. As he explained, Moslems can take their ‘church’ with them and pray anywhere.
www.st-helens.org.uk
en.wikipedia.org
In the fourth picture down, at the doorway to the left, you can see a fellow kneeling in prayer. This is a Moslem, facing near enough towards Mecca. As he explained, Moslems can take their ‘church’ with them and pray anywhere.
St Helen's Bishopsgate
One thing matters. In the Bible, Jesus tells us that one thing matters more than anything else: listening to his teaching. Every time we meet together at St Helen’s we open the Bible and listen to what God has to say to us. As we encounter Jesus Christ our living saviour we encourage one another...
www.st-helens.org.uk
St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate - Wikipedia
Church 18 - St Ethelburga
This was hosting an event that I really wasn’t expecting. A whole group of highly costumed Chinese girls, all celebrating the Chinese New Year.
stethelburgas.org
en.wikipedia.org
This was hosting an event that I really wasn’t expecting. A whole group of highly costumed Chinese girls, all celebrating the Chinese New Year.
Our story - St Ethelburga's
stethelburgas.org
St Ethelburga's Bishopsgate - Wikipedia
Church 19 - St Botolph without Bishopsgate
Which has what is believed to be the first memorial cross in London, erected in 2016 following the Battle of Jutland. It is if you like a very ‘local’ war memorial, as it recognises the fallen of the immediate Bishopsgate area and of the Honourable Artillery Company, whose headquarters are still not far away at Old Street. The story of Jack Cornwall VC and that of his family, whose name is recorded on the memorial cross is passably interesting.
en.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
Which has what is believed to be the first memorial cross in London, erected in 2016 following the Battle of Jutland. It is if you like a very ‘local’ war memorial, as it recognises the fallen of the immediate Bishopsgate area and of the Honourable Artillery Company, whose headquarters are still not far away at Old Street. The story of Jack Cornwall VC and that of his family, whose name is recorded on the memorial cross is passably interesting.
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate - Wikipedia
Jack Cornwell - Wikipedia
Last edited:
I am not sure that this is entirely true. The churches, many on sites that date back to Roman times, were built because the people that lived there for well over a thousand years believed in them. In a way, they (along with all the hundreds of other churches, chapels and mighty cathedrals) each tell a story of their own, in an all but unbroken line back down the years. Somehow, despite wars, upheavals of nature, terrorist outrages and other calamities they have survived and been rebuilt. Short of a nuclear bomb blast, it is easy to imagine them still being here in 3025, long after today’s glass tower blocks are gone.
I do not know (though I should try to find out) why religious faith in the sense of church going, reduced so significantly within the last 100 years. In other words, within only the lifetimes of our own immediate grandparents and great grandparents. Who knows, it might yet make a resurgence, as nothing seems to have killed it off so far.
Church 20 - Christ Church Spitalfields
This one is interesting as the multiple tablets inside record the the efforts made to convert the large local Jewish population to Christianity. Jews (believed by many to have been the murderers of Christ) were seen as people who needed to be ‘saved’, sitting outside of conventional Christian life. Within 100 years of these tablets, the same ‘Them’ and ‘Us’ would take a much different form in Europe.
spitalfields.church
en.wikipedia.org
PS I think I might have found the inscription I’d like on my own gravestone, when the time comes. I spotted it on one of the memorial tablets: ‘Ask for the old paths’.
I guessed that it was biblical in origin, so I looked it up. It’s Old Testament, Jeremiah 6:16 “Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is; then walk in it… “ It seems to fit with looking for the wiggly lines on a Michelin map.
This one is interesting as the multiple tablets inside record the the efforts made to convert the large local Jewish population to Christianity. Jews (believed by many to have been the murderers of Christ) were seen as people who needed to be ‘saved’, sitting outside of conventional Christian life. Within 100 years of these tablets, the same ‘Them’ and ‘Us’ would take a much different form in Europe.
Christ Church Spitalfields
spitalfields.church
Christ Church, Spitalfields - Wikipedia
PS I think I might have found the inscription I’d like on my own gravestone, when the time comes. I spotted it on one of the memorial tablets: ‘Ask for the old paths’.
I guessed that it was biblical in origin, so I looked it up. It’s Old Testament, Jeremiah 6:16 “Stand by the roads and look; ask for the ancient paths, Where the good way is; then walk in it… “ It seems to fit with looking for the wiggly lines on a Michelin map.
Last edited:
You don't even have to look that far afield. Many of our small towns have religious edifices far greater than their small population would suggest
The Catholic Church here held far too much sway over the State for far too long & I think some of the reduction in church going is a rebellion against this by the younger people. And the revelations about the mother & baby homes, Magdalen laundries & kiddie fiddling has only exacerbated that.
Anyway, enough of all that. Let's get back to your brilliant Wander
Anyway, enough of all that. Let's get back to your brilliant Wander
Thank you. Still plenty more to go.
It has got me thinking about what the City of London might have looked like today, had the Great Fire of 1666, not ripped across it. Germany still had many of its ‘Old Towns’ until they were burned down in firestorms of a different sort. I am not sure that much of ours would have survived, not least as the Victorians (at the height and wealth of Empire) were masters at ripping stuff down.
Last edited:
Similar threads
