St Mary-at-Hill
St Mary-at-Hill | ||
---|---|---|
Style Baroque | | |
Administration | ||
Diocese | London | |
Parish | St Mary-at-Hill with St Andrew Hubbard, Eastcheap; St George, Botolph Lane; and St Botolph by Billingsgate | |
Clergy | ||
Bishop(s) | Sarah Mullally, Bishop of London | |
Priest in charge | vacant | |
Laity | ||
Director of music | Robert Mingay-Smith |
St Mary-at-Hill is a Church of England parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap. 51°30′36″N 0°05′01″W / 51.510069°N 0.08374°W
It was founded in the 12th century
The Church of St Mary-at-Hill is situated among some of the city's most ancient lanes: St Mary at Hill EC3, in which has a large double-faced clock extending several feet into the street and which provides the best view of the church's elegant exterior; a narrow alleyway running alongside, but with no
History and architecture
St Mary-at-Hill dates to 1336. The north aisle was rebuilt at the end of the 15th century, and a south aisle and steeple were added a little later. John Stow, writing at end of the 16th century, described it as "the fair church of Saint Marie, called on the Hill, because of the ascent from Billingsgate".
The Great Fire of 1666 started in the neighbouring street of Pudding Lane severely damaging the church.[5] After the blaze, the parish of St Mary's was united with that of St Andrew Hubbard, whose church was not rebuilt.
A hoard of coins (now known as the Mary Hill Hoard) was found in a basement near St Mary-at-Hill in the 18th century.[8] The hoard included the only known example of a coin from the Horndon mint.
There have been considerable further alterations since the 17th century. In 1787–88, George Gwilt rebuilt the west wall and replaced the tower in brick and in 1826–27 James Savage installed round-headed iron-framed windows in the north wall and replaced the vaults, ceilings and plasterwork.[9] In 1848–49 he added a cupola to the dome and cut windows through the chancel vault. In 1849, the 17th century woodwork was sympathetically augmented and adapted by W. Gibbs Rogers. In 1904 the church's parish was united with that of St George Botolph Lane (to which had already been united St Botolph Billingsgate), and St Mary-at-Hill received the sword rests, plate, royal arms, ironwork, organ and organ case from St George.[10] In 1939, the writer Dornford Yates used the church as a setting for some of the action in his thriller Gale Warning, calling it “St. Ives”. Use is made of the open-work screens on the roof.
The church survived the Blitz in the Second World War unscathed, but was severely damaged by a fire in 1988, after which its roof and ceiling required rebuilding. At first it was proposed to make the church redundant, but a full restoration was soon promised and the roof, the plaster vaults and the dome were put back in 1990–91. Most of the interior fittings and woodwork survived the fire and were not destroyed. To date, the interior otherwise remains a bleak shell as the fine woodwork which includes the pulpit, reredos and other pieces of furniture, have not been reinstated and remain in storage even though the church has been in use again for two decades, despite pressure from preservationists and the Georgian Group. [11]
Writing before St Mary's 1988 fire, John Betjeman said of the church: "This is the least spoiled and the most gorgeous interior in the City, all the more exciting by being hidden away among cobbled alleys, paved passages, brick walls, overhung by plane trees…"[12]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.[13] On the street St Mary at Hill, there is an adjacent Grade II brick and stone rectory of 1834 designed by James Savage, incorporating a vestry of the late 17th century.[14]
Music and traditions
From 1510 the Chapel Royal choir sang here. The organ-builder Mighaell Glocetir worked at St Mary-at-Hill from 1477 to 1479. He is possibly the same person as Myghell Glancets who worked on St Michael, Cornhill, in 1475.
The composer Thomas Tallis was organist at St Mary-at-Hill between 1538–1539.[15]
A William Hill organ was installed in 1848 and partly restored after the 1988 fire, but its complete restoration did not commence until 2000.[16] The church is a popular venue for its regular concerts and recitals.
In several books on English folklore, or about ceremonies of London, there is mention of the Costermongers' Festival held here every October. It also goes by the name "Fish Harvest Festival" or "Harvest of the Sea", associated with the fishmarket that was held at Billingsgate. Another notable ceremony is
Burials
Parliament outlawed new burials in the City of London during the Victorian era, forcing the closure of its churchyards; in 1847 the Church purchased burials rights 'in
The London Borough of Lambeth subsequently compulsorily-purchased the main cemetery and removed the memorials in this section during 1990–91. A subsequent Chancery Court hearing found this to be illegal and ordered a mechanism be set up to restore those monuments at the request of descendants.[18]
Notable people
- Richard Beearde, hymn writer, was Rector of St Mary-at-Hill, 1560–1574
- Night Thoughts, was married at St Mary-at-Hill in 1731
- Sarah Elizabeth Utterson, translator and author, was born in 1781 in the parish
- John Brand, an antiquarian, was appointed Rector of St Mary-at-Hill in 1784
- William Turner Alchin, another antiquarian, was born 1790 in the parish
- Wilson Carlile, founder of the Church Army, was a minister at the church in the late 19th/early 20th century[19]
- priest-in-charge, was also Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons[20] and is now, at November 2019, Bishop of Dover, the first black woman to be consecrated a bishop in the Church of England.
See also
- List of churches and cathedrals of London
- List of Christopher Wren churches in London
References
- ISBN 0-300-09655-0.
- ^ Henry A Harben (1918). "Mary (St.) at Hill – Mary (St.) de Cricherche, Chapel". A Dictionary of London. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
- ^ "History of the Church". St Mary-at-Hill. Archived from the original on 8 June 2023. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
- ^ "St Anne's Lutheran Church – Welcome, Worship, and Witness to Jesus Christ".
- ISBN 0-9553945-0-3.
- ^ Tabor, Margaret E. (1917). The City Churches: a short guide. London: Swarthmore Press. p. 89.
- ^ Godwin, George; Britton, John (1839). The Churches of London: A History and Description of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of the Metropolis. London: C. Tilt. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
- ^ Metcalf, David Michael (1998). An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon and Norman Coin Finds, c.973–1086. London: Royal Numismatic Society. p. 222.
- ^ "The City of London Churches: monuments of another age" Quantrill, E; Quantrill, M p80: London; Quartet; 1975
- ^ Weinreb, Ben; Hibbert, Christopher (1992). The London Encyclopaedia (reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 728.
- ^ Stamp, Gavin (2 September 2016). "The unhappy fate of Christopher Wren's City churches". Apollo. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
- ^ "The Parish Church of St Mary-at-Hill Eastcheap".
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1064600)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 23 January 2009.
- ^ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1285645)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 January 2009.
- )
- ^ William Hill's organ Mander Organs
- ^ English Heritage Survey of London: volume 26 St Mary-at-Hill in West Norwood
- ^ Friends of West Norwood Cemetery, Newsletter No 17, Jan 1994
- ^ "History". St Mary at Hill.
- ^ "Clergy Moves October 2014". Diocese of London. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2015.