Wren 300: City Churches
Werner leading his traditional Boxing Day ride. This year looking at the many chuirches designed by Christopher Wren to replace those destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. Here is his report.
Simon counted 15 riders, two dropped out later because they had other commitments but everybody afterwards looked happy. Maybe because we got back five minutes early or because of the long coffee stop in Paternoster Square.
The traditional Boxing Day ride was perfectly timed, sandwiched between two very wet days. Ponds pretending to be just puddles on Tower Bridge and slightly colder than Christmas Day but no rain and the fifteen riders could enjoy buildings in sunlight.
The 2023 calendar listed several notable anniversaries which asked for themed rides, the 300th anniversary of Christopher Wren’s death was an obvious one as he re-filled the City of London with churches after most of them had been destroyed in the Great Fire. Not all survived the centuries but there are enough to be used as a theme. And then the route got twistier and twistier as more and more churches wanted to be included. Ok, some aren’t strictly churches as only the tower remains or they have been converted to other uses. But 300 years ago they were all fully functional and packed on Sundays.
A few other interesting City locations always sneak into a Boxing Day ride. It’s always fun to find out that some riders hadn’t explored the French Ordinary Court and wondered where they were taken. No chance to stop for Old Tom in Leadenhall Market and remember that long-lived gander as that side is currently closed off but a nice Christmas tree in the middle of the market provided the first photo opportunity.
St Peter’s Alley was the first of many narrow lanes and took us to the first Wren Church. Some riders didn’t memorise all the names and asked for a list,which is given below. Even those of which traces remain are so close together and almost fit into an 1 sqkm area that you wonder whether the vicar in St Michael’s had to shout louder when the organist in St Peter pumped harder. Too many churches to go into details but Wikipedia has them all: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christopher_Wren_churches_in_London.
Some of the churches are widely known, not just St Paul’s but also the highly visible St Andrew’s Holborn or St Bride’s for its wedding cake impersonation. Other’s are very difficult to find, the only approach to St Benet’s on a bicyle is from the C3 tunnel and St Andrew by the Wardrobe is invisible till you’re almost in it.
Paternoster Square was convenient for a coffee break, lots of space and an open Starbucks. Christmas must be special, some riders didn’t walk their bikes across the square but weren’t hassled by security guards. Usually they are more active and even a single rider gets attention. To get into and out of the square we passed London’s most travelled building (twice as much as Crystal Palace). Temple Bar also gets attributed to Christopher Wren and started life between Fleet Street and Strand, i.e. between the cities of London and Westminster. Even in the 19th century LTNs weren’t universally popular, cabbies and other drivers of carriages complained about the delays and it got dismantled and reassembled in Hertfordshire before coming back this century. This time it is completely in the City and only used by pedestrians (and some cyclists).
To break the monotony of churches a bit of paganism was needed, fortunately there’s the Mithraeum opposite St Stephen Walbrook. Certainly worth a brief stop to recommend it, esp. as Mithra’s birthday was the previous day. Jamaica Coffee House is another location which sneaks into any route which goes through its neighbourhood. Boxing Day was no exception and it’s only a very brief detour after St Edmund King & Martyr.
Apropos anniversaries, the list cheats slightly. One of the churches (or what was left of it after the WWII) has emigrated to Fulton, Missouri. The site still deserved a stop as it’s the site of the John Heminges and Henry Condell Memorial, Shakespeare’s fellow actors, who edited and published the First Folio edition of 36 plays in 1623. So not only a Wren 300 but also a First Folio 400 ride.
St Magnus Martyr was the last church but not the last stop, that was a secular building. One or two riders had a touch of deja vu and were slightly confused when they saw the Monument. It was a lot taller than when they thought they had last seen it. Robert Hooke nowadays gets credit for the Monument (not the very similar column with a flame on top in Paternoster Square) but he and Christopher Wren worked closely together and attributions sometimes get reviewed. Not only were they both architects, they also worked together in the Royal Society.
The City wasn’t quite as deserted as usual, we came across a few Snowmen. The “Fleet Street Quarter” commissioned artists to design 12 Snowman sculptures for the Twelve Days of Christmas. We passed Five Gold Rings and met Nine Ladies Dancing and Ten Lords A-Leaping.
Thanks to Simon for his excellent (as always) backmarking, it isn’t easy to keep the group together when the roads are as twisted and the distractions as fascinating as on this ride.
Back to Ride Report 2023 Index
List of churches in ride order and with distances between.
St Peter-upon-Cornhill
0.1 St Michael Cornhill
0.4 St Margaret’s Lothbury
0.2 St Olave, Old Jewry
0.2 St Lawrence Jewry
0.2 St Mary Aldermanbury
0.1 St Alban
0.2 St Anne & St Agnes
0.2 St Vedast alias Foster
0.3 Christ Church Greyfriars
0.7 St Andrew’s Holborn
0.5 St Bride’s
1.1 St Benet’s, Paul’s Wharf
0.5 St Mary Somerset
0.1 St Nicholas Cole Abbey
0.4 St Andrew by the Wardrobe
0.4 St Martin within Ludgate
0.2 St Paul’s cathedral
0.5 St Augustine Watling Street
0.3 St Mary-le-Bow
0.2 St Mary Aldermary
0.2 St James Garlickhythe
0.1 St Michael Paternoster
0.3 St Stephen Walbrook
0.4 St Mary Abchurch
0.2 St Clement’s Eastcheap
0.1 St Edmund King & Martyr
0.5 St Margaret Pattens
0.1 St Mary-at-Hill
0.1 St Dunstan in the East
0.4 St Magnus Martyr
Back to Ride Report 2023 Index
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