St Gabriel Fenchurch

The church stood between Rood Lane and Mincing Lane, with the churchyard extending north beyond present day Fenchurch Street to Fen Court.{{cite web |url=https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/green-spaces/city-gardens/visitor-information/Pages/Fen-Court.aspx |title=Fen Court |publisher=City of London |date=21 August 2018 |access-date=26 February 2019}}

At the beginning of the 17th century, John Stow wrote in his description of Fenchurch Street: "In the midst of this street standeth a small parish church called St Gabriel Fen Church, corruptly Fan church".{{cite book |last1= Stow|first1=John |title=The Survey of London |edition=revised |year= 1956 |publisher=J.M. Dent & Sons |location= London |page=180 }} The dedication to St Gabriel is first recorded in 1517. Before that it had been known as St Mary's. Richard Newcourt wrote:

...this Church hath all along in the London Registry been recorded by the Name of S. Mary Fencherch, till the Year 1517. for then is the first time I find it there call'd by the Name of S. Gabriel Fencherch; and the next

Year after All Saints Fencherch; whence, I conjecture, it may, probably, be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the Holy Angel Gabriel, and to All Saints.{{cite book|title=Repetorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense|author-link=Richard Newcourt (historian)|last=Newcourt|first=Richard|location=London|pages=350–1|year=1708}}

The church was lengthened by nine feet in 1631. This and other improvements were done at a cost to the parish of £587 10s. Thomas Clark, a glazier, gave the church an east window, with the Royal Arms and the motto "Touch Not Mine Anointed"..{{cite book |title=The Churches and Chapels of Old London |last=White |first= James George |year=1901 |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/churcheschapelso00whituoft/page/49 49]–50 |url=https://archive.org/details/churcheschapelso00whituoft }}

Along with the majority of the parish churches in the City, St Gabriel's was destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666. A Rebuilding Act was passed in 1670 and a committee set up under Sir Christopher Wren.{{cite book|title=Wren|author=Whinney, Margaret|location=London|publisher=Thames & Hudson|year=1971|isbn=0-500-20112-9|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/wren00whin}} It decided to rebuild 51 of the churches, but St Gabriel's was not among them."The City of London Churches" Betjeman, J. Andover, Pitkin, 1967 (rpnt 1992) {{ISBN|0-85372-565-9}} Instead the parish was united to that of St Margaret Pattens, although its land holding was not finally resolved until 13 years later,"Deeds and documents concerning nos. 143-149 Fenchurch Street (north side) 1679." - v185779x cited in City of London Parish Registers Guide 4 Hallows,A.(Ed) : London, Guildhall Library Research, 1974 {{ISBN|0-900422-30-0}} and charitable bequests continued to be made using the old name.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y-IHAAAAQAAJ&dq=st+gabriel+fenchurch&pg=PA321 The Endowed Charities of the City of London,1829] The land on which the church had stood was incorporated into the roadway, but part of the churchyard survived in Fen Court.{{cite web| url = http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.asp?ID=COL025| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160523164444/http://www.londongardensonline.org.uk/gardens-online-record.asp?ID=COL025| archive-date = 2016-05-23| title = London Gardens Online}}

Notable tombs in the church included that of Benedict Spinola, the Genoese Elizabethan banker.John Bennell, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/52156, Spinola, Benedict (1519/20–1580)] in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), online ed., January 2008, accessed 21 December 2010 (subscription required)

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{{Churches in the City of London}}

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Category:12th-century church buildings in England

Category:1666 disestablishments in England

Category:Churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt

Category:Churches in the City of London

Category:Former buildings and structures in the City of London