Another in the occasional series on churches built by Wren after the Great Fire of 1666 that have been lost since …
St Dionis Backchurch was originally built at the turn of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, on the south-eastern corner of the Roman Basilica and Forum, and using robbed Roman building materials, and added to in the sixteenth and early seventeenth. It was burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666, and rebuilt by Wren, in 1670-86, only to be demolished in 1878, when the parish was merged with All Hallows Lombard Street. A Corporation “Blue Plaque” marks its former site.
The salvaged communion table, font and pulpit also survive, in the church of St Dionis in Parsons Green. A “squirt”, or fire extinguisher, from the vestry can be seen in the Museum of London.
Dionis, or more properly Denys, is the patron saint of France, who was beheaded after attempting to convert Paris to Christianity in the third century. The church on, or rather just off, Fenchurch Street dedicated to him became commonly designated “backchurch”; that dedicated to St Gabriel, “forechurch”.
St Dionis Backchurch parish boundary marker
Thanks for your continuing support! There are still another dozen lost Wren churches in this series, after which I’ll have to find something else to write about!
They are wonderful posts, both interesting and informative.
I had no idea there were so many churches in London or that were so many lost during the big fire. Thanks for your continuing information.