ST. MARY, ALDERMANBURY
This church is of very ancient date, as appeared from a sepulchral inscription, said to have been in the old church, dated 1116. The building was destroyed by the Great Fire, and re-erected by Wren in 1668-76. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1200.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s, who, June 1113, appropriated it to Elsing Spital, with certain restrictions. The living is now in the gift of the parishioners.
Houseling people in 1548 were 371.
The church measures 72 feet in length, 45 feet in breadth, and 38 feet in height, and includes two aisles separated by six Corinthian columns from the nave. Externally, the church is rather imposing. The east front has a handsome cornice and pediment, with carved scrolls and figures. The steeple, which rises at the west, consists of a tower completed by a cornice and parapet. This is surmounted by a square turret in two stages, and a concave roof tapering to a point, with a finial and vane; the total height is about 90 feet. There is a churchyard on the south side, open to the public for several hours daily.
Chantries were founded here: By William Estfelde, augmented by Stephen Bockerell, at the Altar of St. George, for Stephen, Isabella his wife, and William his son, before 1363; by Henry Bedeyk—the advowson thereof was released to Sir John de Beauchamp by John de Bovenden and Katherine his wife, in 1359; by Adam de Bassyng.
A considerable number of citizens of repute were buried in the old church, amongst whom the two most interesting to posterity are Henry Condell (d. 1627) and John Heminge (d. 1630), the fellow-actors of Shakespeare and editors of the folio of 1623. The celebrated divine Edmund Calamy (the elder) was rector here for some years, and was buried in 1666 beneath the ruined building with which he had been so long connected. In the register of the church the marriage of Milton with his second wife Katherine Woodcock, 1656, is entered. The remains of Judge Jeffreys, interred in the Tower after his death there in 1689, were removed here and deposited in a vault beneath the communion table in 1693.
According to Stow, there were no legacies or bequests to the church, but a legacy to the poor, by the Lady Gresham, of £3 per annum, paid by the Mercers Company.
Among other celebrated rectors are Edmund Calamy the younger, and Dr. Kennett (d. 1728), author of Kennett’s Register, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough.