Thursday 21 June, 7pm
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Storm and Refuge
​
St Giles-without-Cripplegate
Fore Street, Barbican
London EC2Y 8DA
​It is thought that there has been a church on this spot for one thousand years. St Giles' Cripplegate is one of the few remaining medieval churches in the City of London, and claims attendance by, among countless others, Oliver Cromwell (married there in 1620), John Milton (buried there in 1674), Thomas Morley (organist around 1589) and William Shakespeare (lodged nearby in Cripplegate).
The church was damaged by fire and extensively rebuilt on three occasions, but astonishingly survived the Great Fire of London in 1666. During the Second World War, however, Cripplegate was so extensively bombed that barely any buildings remained standing in the entire ward and the church was devastated. Fortunately, restoration plans from 1545 were found in Lambeth Palace, and were used to make the restored church as much as possible like the original.
The name 'Cripplegate' refers to one of the gates through the old Roman City wall. It is likely that the word comes from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning a covered way or tunnel, which would have run from the town gate to the Barbican, a fortified watchtower on the City wall. It now sits at the heart of the brutalist architecture of the modern Barbican development.
​
Please visit the church's website for more information.
St Mary Abchurch
Abchurch Yard, London EC4N 7BA
St Mary Abchurch is one of the City’s jewels: a masterpiece of design both in its architecture and its interior, and remarkable for having barely changed since its rebuilding after the Great Fire of London. Situated in one of the City’s little side-streets just off Cannon Street, the church was one of 107 that existed in the Square Mile before the Great Fire of 1666. Like so many others, it was destroyed by the Fire and was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in the 1680s.
Consisting of a single square room, it boasts a dome: a characteristically clever piece of engineering by Wren because it is not, for the most part, supported on columns, but directly on the walls of the building. The dome was painted in 1708 by a parishioner, William Snow. In the centre, the tetragrammaton (the name of God in Hebrew) is surrounded in full colour by the rays of a Glory, a chorus of worshipping angels and, in monochrome, the figures of the Christian virtues.​
​
However, the main feature of the church is the magnificent array of wood-carvings by the celebrated 17th century woodcarver, Grinling Gibbons. There are more carvings, many of them by master mason and carver William Emmett, on the pulpit, the doorcases, the font cover and the Royal Arms on the organ gallery, below which are original 17th century churchwardens’ pews.
St Mary Abchurch is one of the very few City churches to have avoided substantial damage in the Second World War.
​
Please visit the church's website for more information.
St James Garlickhythe
Garlick Hill, London EC4V 2AF
​​
It is thought a church has stood on Garlick Hill since Anglo-Saxon times. The name Garlickhythe refers to a nearby landing place (hythe) where garlic was imported and sold in medieval times.
The small medieval church was replaced in the 14th fourteenth century by the vintners Richard de Rothing and his son John. St James Garlickhythe remains the church of the Worshipful Company of Vintners, and is situated directly across Upper Thames Street from Vintners’ Hall.
After the Great Fire of London, Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt the Church with the highest ceiling of any City church. Wren was known for his preference for clear glazing over the colourful glass that had become popular in earlier Gothic churches, in the firm belief that light, and clear glass windows in particular, enhanced the beauty of a building and the worship experience. So successful was his mission in St James Garlickhythe that it became known as Wren's Lantern. The church suffered less than many of the City churches in World War II, but one result of Blitz damage was that all the stained glass introduced by the Victorians was blown out (though some shards can still be seen in the north and south rose windows).
The tower and spire were completed later (1714-17) by Wren’s colleague and former apprentice, Nicholas Hawksmoor, whose design survives in the British Library.
Please visit the church's website for more information.
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate
​
Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3TL
St Botolph was one of the earliest and most revered of East Anglian Saints, and became known as the patron saint of wayfarers. The Churches at the entrance to the four City gates (Aldersgate, Bishopsgate, Aldgate and Billingsgate) were named after him after his relics passed through them.
Christian worship has probably been offered in this place since Roman days, and the present church, the fourth on the site, was completed in 1729 to the designs of James Gold, under the supervision of George Dance. Having survived the Great Fire of London unscathed, and only lost one window in the Second World War, St Botolph’s was ironically one of the many buildings to be damaged by the IRA bombs of 1992 and 1993. After the second bomb, the restoration took several years to complete, but the Georgian splendour of the interior was finally restored in 2015.​​​
​
The registers record connections with many notable persons, including the baptisms of the great actor Edward Alleyn, Shakespeare’s contemporary and the founder of Dulwich College (1566), and Emilia Bassano, the first English professional woman poet (1569); the writer, Mary Wollstonecraft, was baptised here in 1759, and the poet John Keats in 1795. The names of the church’s main benefactors from 1481 are engraved on marble tablets beneath the windows, and the names of the Rectors from 1323 are recorded on panels at the foot of the galleries.
​
Please visit the church's website for more information.
%20Charles%20Gervais%202.jpeg)
Photo credit: Charles Gervais
All of our venues are wheelchair accessible. If you do require space for a wheelchair, a companion ticket, or have any other enquiries relating to accessibility, please send us a message.
Due to the nature of these buildings, toilet facilities are very limited. We advise you to use public facilities in the City of London, such as in the Barbican Centre. Thank you for your understanding.