Cornhill St Michael

Wikipedia
Annotations (0)
References (1)

If you would like to write a summary for this topic, email phil [at] gyford [dot] com

Wikipedia

St. Michael, Cornhill
View of church from St. Michael's Alley
Information
Denomination	Church of England, earlier Roman Catholic
Location
Address	City of London
Country	United Kingdom
Christianity Portal

St Michael, Cornhill is a medieval parish church in the City of London with pre-Norman Conquest parochial foundation. The medieval structure was lost in the Great Fire of London and the current church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren between 1670-1677^[1]. The oblong church is 80 by 60 feet. The church has one of the oldest sets of churchwarden's records in the City of London, which are now kept in the Guildhall Library.

Wren's tower was replaced in 1715 with a pinnacled structure (completed in 1722), officially by Wren (who was 90 at the time) but the design bears a strong resemblance to the work of Wren's apprentice Nicholas Hawksmoor^[2], who would create similar towers on Westminster Abbey's West End.

The Gothic-styled porch (1858-1860) facing Cornhill is a Victorian addition by Sir George Gilbert Scott^[3]. Just as this Gothic addition with its Venetian tracery windows was inappropriate, so too was Scott's restoration, which repainted the interior, disposed of the old furnishings, installed a new reredos, pulpit, pew ends, and inserted stained glass by Clayton and Bell. Few original elements of the church were retained from its Victorian re-imagining but the 1672 font given by James Paul did survive, although a new balustrade was added^[4].

The current rector is the Revd Peter Mullen.

[edit] Notable Parishoners

James Paul
William Boyce, composer and organist of the church for 32 years
Dr. Harold Darke, organist of the church from 1916-1966
Obadiah Shuttleworth, composer and organist of the church until his death in 1734

[edit] Notes

^ "A Dictionary of London" Harben,H: London, Herbert Jenkins, 1918
^ "London:the City Churches” Pevsner,N/Bradley,S New Haven, Yale, 1998 ISBN 0300096550
^ "The Visitors Guide to the City of London Churches" Tucker,T: London, Friends of the City Churches, 2006 ISBN 0955394503
^ "The Old Churches of London" Cobb,G: London, Batsford, 1942