St Lawrence Jewry

The church was originally built in the twelfth century and dedicated to St Lawrence; the weathervane of the present church is in the form of his instrument of martyrdom, the gridiron.Bradley, Simon & Pevsner, Nikolaus. London: the City Churches. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002 {{ISBN|0-300-09655-0}} The church is near the former medieval Jewish ghetto,Hibbert, C.; Weinreb, D.; Keay, J. The London Encyclopaedia. London: Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993, 2008) {{ISBN|978-1-4050-4924-5}} which was centred on the street named Old Jewry.Tucker, T. The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches. London: Friends of the City Churches, 2006 {{ISBN|0-9553945-0-3}} From 1280 it was an advowson held by Balliol College, Oxford.

It is thought that the unusual alignment of the church may be because it was built on the site of the London Roman Amphitheatre, which was rediscovered as recently as 1988. Its remains can now be visited beneath the Guildhall Art Gallery.

Sir Thomas More preached in the old church on this site.{{cite web|url=http://www.londontaxitour.com/london-taxi-tour-sights-churches-st-lawrence-jewry.htm |title=St Lawrence Jewry |publisher=London Taxi Tour |access-date=2009-04-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512023128/http://www.londontaxitour.com/london-taxi-tour-sights-churches-st-lawrence-jewry.htm |archive-date=12 May 2008 }}

In 1618 the church was repaired, and all the windows filled with stained glass paid for by individual donors.{{cite book |last1=Godwin |first1= George |author2=John Britton |title=The Churches of London: A History and Description of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of the Metropolis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AtI9AAAAcAAJ |access-date= 8 October 2011 |year=1839 |publisher=C. Tilt |location= London }}

The medieval church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London"The City Churches" Tabor, M. p. 76:London; The Swarthmore Press Ltd; 1917 and built anew by Christopher Wren between 1670 and 1677. The parish was united with that of St Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, which was not rebuilt. The church is entirely faced in stone, with a grand east front, on which four attached Corinthian columns, raised on a basement, support a pediment placed against a high attic.{{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=Simon|last2= Pevsner|first2=Nikolaus |title=London: the City Churches |series=The Buildings of England |year=1998 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-14-071100-7 |pages=995–6 }} George Godwin, writing in 1839, described the details of this facade as displaying " a purity of feeling almost Grecian", while pointing out that Wren's pediment acts only as a superficial adornment to the wall, rather than, as in Classical architecture, forming an extension of the roof.

Inside, Wren's church has an aisle on the north side only, divided from the nave by Corinthian columns, carrying an entablature that continues around the walls of the main body of the church, where it is supported on pilasters."The City of London Churches: monuments of another age" Quantrill, E; Quantrill, M p. 64: London; Quartet; 1975 The ceiling is divided into sunken panels, ornamented with wreaths and branches. The church is 81 feet long and 68 feet wide.

{{cite book |last1=Elmes |first1=James |title=A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Environs |url=https://archive.org/details/atopographicald00elmegoog |access-date=24 September 2011|year=1831 |publisher= Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot|location=London |page=303 }}

File:St Lawrence Jewry Organ.jpg

The church suffered extensive damage during the Blitz on 29 December 1940,Cobb, G. "The Old Churches of London". London: Batsford, 1942 and after the war the City of London Corporation agreed to restore it as Balliol College had no funds to do so. It was restored in 1957 by the architect Cecil Brown to Wren's original design. It is now a guild church which does not have its own parish and is not responsible to the parish authorities in its locality; it does not have to hold Sunday services.{{cite book | last=Jones | first=R. | title=The Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England 2nd edition: A Handbook | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2016 | isbn=978-0-567-52870-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTTRCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA78 | access-date=17 October 2022 | page=78}}{{cite book | last1=Briden | first1=T. | last2=MacMorran | first2=K. | title=A Handbook for Churchwardens and Parochial Church Councillors: New Revised Edition | publisher=Bloomsbury Academic | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4411-5474-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oBpnNm5zFvMC&pg=PA27 | access-date=17 October 2022 | page=27}}

The church was described by Sir John Betjeman as "very municipal, very splendid."Betjeman, J. "The City of London Churches". Andover: Pikin, 1967 {{ISBN|0-85372-112-2}} It was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.{{NHLE |num=1064673 |access-date=23 January 2009}}{{NHLE|num=1064673|desc=Church of St Lawrence Jewry|access-date=23 July 2017}}

It has a ring of eight bells, hung for change ringing, and cast in 1957 by Whitechapel Bell Foundry{{cite web | url=https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/tower/16020 | title=Tower details }}

The church was the burial place of John Tillotson, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1691 to 1694;{{cite book |last1=Elmes |first1=James |title=A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Environs |url=https://archive.org/details/atopographicald00elmegoog|year=1831 |publisher= Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot|location=London |page=263}} and of merchant Francis Levett, as well as the site of the wedding of his niece Ann Levett, daughter of William Levett, Dean of Bristol and former Principal of Magdalen Hall, Oxford.[https://books.google.com/books?id=irgEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA311&dq=levett+leicestershire&lr=&ei=MiX4SOWKLZTetAPj0NymDA Publications of the Harleian Society; Vol. XXVI, London, 1887]

The church is used by the New Zealand Society UK, who celebrate Waitangi Day here in February each year.{{cite web|url=http://distillers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/St-Lawrence-Jewry-Feb-newsletter-16-final.pdf|title=St Lawrence Jewry February 2016 Newsletter|publisher=Company of Distillers|date=February 2016|access-date=9 February 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215195554/http://distillers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/St-Lawrence-Jewry-Feb-newsletter-16-final.pdf|archive-date=15 February 2016}}

Catherine Ennis was the organist here until her death on 24 December 2020.[https://www.rco.org.uk/news_displaystory.php?newsid=340 Catherine Ennis HonRCO (1955-20)]; Royal College of Organists; access date = 2021-01-16[https://www.rhinegold.co.uk/choir_organ/organ-world-mourns-death-of-catherine-ennis/ Catherine Ennis]; Rhinegold

• 1424 Richard Collyng Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; year 1424, image: 4th entry in: (as plaintiff) http://aalt.law.uh.edu/AALT1/H6/CP40no654/aCP40no654fronts/IMG_0087.htm

• 1566–1570 William Palmer{{acad|PLMR555W|Palmer, Stephen}}
• 1578–81 Samuel Perkins{{acad|PRKS567S|Parkens, Samuel}}
• 1650–1656 Richard Vines was minister{{acad|VNS619R|Vines, Richard}}
• 1657–1659 Edward Reynolds[https://www.creeds.net/bios/rynlds.htm Reynolds, Edward, D.D.], creeds.net, accessed 11 June 2021
• 1661–1662 Seth Ward{{acad|WRT632S|Ward, Seth}}
• 1662–1668 John Wilkins{{acad|WLKS639J|Wilkins, John}}
• 1668–1683 Benjamin Whichcote{{acad|WHCT626B|Whichcote, Benjamin}}
• 1686–1721 John Mapletoft{{acad|MPLT648J|Mapletoft, John}}
• 1857–1872 Benjamin Cowie
• 1898–1920 James Stephen Barrass{{acad|BRS884JS|Barrass, James Stephen}}
• 2007–2021 David Parrott{{Cite web|url=http://constructorscompany.org.uk/index.php?page=canon-david-parrot|title=Home}}

{{Portal|Christianity|London}}

• St Lawrence and Mary Magdalene Drinking Fountain
• List of churches and cathedrals of London
• List of Christopher Wren churches in London

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|St Lawrence Jewry}}

• {{Official website|http://www.stlawrencejewry.org.uk/}}
• [http://www.london-city-churches.org.uk/Churches/StLawrenceJewry/index.html St Lawrence Jewry at London City Churches website]

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{{Churches in the City of London}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lawrence Jewry}}

Category:Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom

Category:Christopher Wren church buildings in London

Category:Church of England church buildings in the City of London

Category:Religious buildings and structures completed in 1687

Category:17th-century Church of England church buildings

Category:12th-century church buildings in England

Category:English Baroque church buildings

Lawrence

Category:Grade I listed churches in the City of London

Category:Diocese of London