Visit-a-Church
Key Image St Bride Fleet Street
Fleet Street
EC4Y 8AU London (City of London)
United Kingdom
Denomination: Anglican
Congregation: St. Bride, Fleet Street with Bridewell and Trinity, Gough Sq (Diocese of London, Archdeaconry of London, The City)
Geogr. Coordinates: 51.51372° N, 0.10567° W
Geo Location
Reference year: 1678
Architectural style: Baroque
Building type: Basilica
Description: Modern basilica with west tower, reconstructed according to plans by Christopher Wren.
Name derivation: From the Irish St Brigid (abbess, 5th cent.) and its location near Fleet Street (therefore strong links to the printing and newspaper industries since the 16th cent.)
Tower
  • Tallest church tower by Wren, and a model for many wedding cakes
Altar
  • Memorial altar for violently killed journalists
Noteworthy
  • Biographically completely documented skeletons from several centuries (esp. 244 skeletions from 1740–1852; still used for research purposes today)
  • Trompe-l’œil mural painting on the east wall (Glyn Jones; 1957)
  • Church museum in the crypt
History:
About 200:   Roman mansion, probably already used for Christian services
6th cent.:   Construction of the first church (possibly founded by St Brigid herself)
1135:   Construction of a Norman church (the tower contained one of London’s four “curfew bells”, which indicated the mandatory start of the nightly curfew)
14th cent.:   Chapel in the crypt
15th cent.:   Construction of a church with seven altars
Sep 1666:   Destroyed in the Great Fire of London
19/12/1675:   Wiedereröffnungsgottesdienst
1678:   Completion of the current church (architect Christopher Wren; begun in 1671)
1703:   Completion of the tower by Christopher Wren after two-year construction work
29/12/1940:   Destroyed again in World War II (tower and exterior walls surviving), leading to the discovery of seven sealed charnel houses and the remains of the six precursor churches
19/12/1957:   Completion of the reconstruction work by Godfrey Allen (started in 1955; retainment of the dimensions of the Wren church, modern reinterpretation of Wren’s style)
Important persons:
Architect:  Wren, Christopher (1632–1723, British astronomer and architect)
Patron:  Brigid of Kildare (451–525, abbess in Kildare (Ireland))
Dimensions:
Tower Height [m]:  69
Sources
Jenkins, Simon: England's Thousand Best Churches, Penguin Press, London 1999
Johnson, Malcolm: Crypts of London, The History Press, Stroud 2013
Kenyon, Nicholas (Hg.): The City of London – Architectural Tradition & Innovation in the Square Mile, Thames & Hudson, London 2012
St Bride Fleet Street: Kirchenführer „St Bride Fleet Street“, London 2004
Tucker, Tony: City of London Churches, Guidelines Books, Stoke-on-Trent 2013, pp. 40–41
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TuK Bassler
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