Another in the occasional series on churches built by Wren after the Great Fire of 1666 that have been lost since …
St Mary Aldermanbury, also known as St Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, was originally built in around 1181, and extended in 1438. It was burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666, and rebuilt by Wren in 1671-5, and further modified in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, only to be substantially destroyed by incendiary bombing on 29th December, 1940, after which the parish was eventually merged with St Vedast-alias-Foster.
Only the foundations remain at the site today, together with a city garden created in 1966.
Surviving foundations of church
Much of the building material salvaged from the church survives, in the remarkable recent reconstruction, true to Wren’s design, in the grounds of Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri (where Winston Churchill made his famous “iron curtain” speech).
Image of reconstructed church in Fulton, Missoury
St Alban Wood Street and St Mary the Virgin Aldermanbury parish boundary markers, Love Lane
The site of the church is visited on our “Lost Wren churches” themed special.
Further details of all our walks are available in the “Guided Walks” section of this web-site.
Bookings may be made through the “Contact/Booking” section of the web-site, by e-mail (lostcityoflondon@sky.com), or by phone (020-8998-3051).
You’re welcome …
What Happened to the graves in the chancel. Were the bodies moved and to where?
I read in Malcolm Johnson’s “Crypts of London” (History Press, 2013) that “the remains from below the church were taken to the City of London cemetery in 1965”.
Bob,
Thank you. – one of those people was Dr William Babington who has a statue in St Pauls Catheral. Another was Benjamin Fayle his friend and someone I am writing a book about.
John