[This is the second of 10 articles briefly describing the 39
functioning historic Anglican churches in the City of London]
The area around The Bank of England (always known simply as
“Bank”) is a rather untidy hub of disparate buildings; the 1753 Palladian
Mansion House by George Dance the Elder for the Lord Mayor, the Victorian Royal
Exchange, currently a rather under-used if up-market retail centre, and the
Bank itself, once a building of consummate elegance by Sir John Soane from the
1790s, devastated by Sir Herbert Baker’s clumsy rebuilding in the 1920s.
However within a stone’s throw of the Bank are four notable
churches which give the area a unique distinction, namely St Mary Woolnoth, St Mary Abchurch, St Stephen Walbrook and St
Margaret, Lothbury.
St Mary Woolnoth, completed
in 1727, is the masterpiece of
Wren’s pupil and equal Nicholas Hawksmoor.
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| St Mary Woolnoth |
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Nearby in Abchurch
Lane, deep in banks, sits St Mary Abchurch, whose painted dome gives a welcome dash of colour
to the sober Protestantism of the City – you could almost be in Flanders.
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| St Mary Abchurch |
Founded in the 12th century, it was destroyed in
the Great Fire of 1666 and rebuilt to designs by Wren and completed by his
assistant Robert Hooke. It is built a little back from the narrow alley and has
a charming courtyard where lunch-break workers linger. A lead covered spire
completes the attractive exterior. Inside, the dome is the most notable
feature, modestly painted by William Snow depicting the Virtues: there are now
some rare box-pews, but it is really the 17th century woodwork that most
attracts – a lovely reredos by Grinling Gibbons and a splendid pulpit.
A direct hit by a
1940 Blitz bomb blew the altarpiece into 2,000 pieces, but it was carefully
restored along with the rest of the fabric by Godfrey Allen. This is a
typically understated, uplifting and airy City church.
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By the side of the Mansion House on Walbrook stands St Stephen Walbrook, generally reckoned
to be Wren’s finest church in the City, dating from 1677.
It is certainly architecturally adventurous with a cube of
16 Corinthian columns supporting a large beautifully plastered dome – some say
even finer than St Paul’s.
David Piper in his unrivalled Companion
Guide to London extols its “almost abstract lucidity and elegance, yet also
the most subtly sensuous delight”. The vista of the columns create a complex
architectural effect and, says Simon Jenkins in his magisterial England’s Thousand Best Churches, this is where the appeal of St Stephen
lies. I have to admit that as an unschooled layman I find the church confusing
and untidy; I cannot share in the general critical admiration. My
dissatisfaction is compounded by the introduction of a large lump of Travertine
stone by Henry Moore, supposedly an altar, imposed upon the church by Lord
Palumbo, paymaster of the church’s restoration, after an acrimonious court case
in 1987. It is ugly and incongruous. I have to acknowledge that my
unresponsiveness to St Stephen is most likely a simple, sad, aesthetic
blind-spot on my part.
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| St Stephen Walbrook with its fine dome and controversial Henry Moore altar ------------------------------------------------ |
I am more enamoured by the homely merits of my final church St Margaret, Lothbury, by Wren in 1686, tucked behind the Bank’s back door where
heavily escorted gold deliveries used to be made (before Gordon Brown sold most
of them).
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| St Margaret Lothbury interior |
Lothbury is a prime banking area, once housing the head
office of NatWest, but historically there were many more churches hereabouts.
St Margaret has been a beneficiary as it has acquired furnishings from other,
now redundant or demolished churches. Most striking is the magnificent wooden
screen stretching the whole breadth of the church: a massive eagle with
outstretched wings is suspended from the central broken pediment, which is
crowned by the coat of arms of William and Mary.
Other fine furnishings include its delicate pulpit, marble
font and excellent reredos add to the attractions of St Margaret. I recall
years ago attending lunchtime organ recitals here, a welcome haven of
civilisation.
Externally St Margaret is of white Portland stone with a
distinctive Wren spire and a grand classical portico attributed to Robert Hooke
– a comforting sight.
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| St Margaret Lothbury exterior |
SMD
3.03.13
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2013
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