London City

by Walter Besant

ST. PETER, CORNHILL

This church is possibly the most ancient in the City. It was practically rebuilt in the reign of Edward IV. and thoroughly renovated in 1632, but so damaged by the Great Fire that after attempts at restoration it had to be rebuilt. The present building was erected by Wren in 1680-81. The earliest known date of an incumbent is 1263—one John de Cabanicis. There is an unbroken succession since John de Exeter, 1282.

The patronage of the church was in the hands of the family of Nevil before 1263, one of whom, Lady Alice Nevil, conveyed it in 1362 to Richard, Earl of Arundell, for a term of years; in 1380 to Thomas Coggeshall and others; in 1402 to Hampweyde Bohern, Earl of Hereford. It was again conveyed about, or shortly before, 1395 to Robert and Margaret Rykedon and others, who presented to it in 1405; it was confirmed to Richard Whittington and others in 1408, who in turn confirmed it in 1411 to the Mayor and Commonalty of London, in whose successors it continued.

Houseling people in 1548 were 500.

The church measures 80 feet in length, 47 feet in breadth, and 40 feet in height, and contains a nave and two aisles separated from the central portion by Corinthian columns. There is a very fine screen, one of the only two erected in the City of London, and the only one remaining in its original position. The steeple, which rises at the south-west, attains a height of 140 feet, and consists of a tower and cornice surmounted by a cupola, an octagonal lantern, and a spire, terminating in St. Peter’s emblem, the Key. The view of the exterior is blocked on the north by intervening houses, but on the south the church is open to the churchyard.

Chantries were founded here by Roger FitzRoger previous to 1284; by Nicholas Pycot at the Altar of St. Nicholas in 1312; by Philip de Ufford at the Altar of St. Katherine in 1321; by Robert de la Hyde at the Altar of St. George in 1328; by William Elliot (William of Kingston) at the Altar of the Holy Trinity, for himself, Sarah and Alynor his wives, and for his father and mother in 1375; by John Foxton at the Altar of St. George in 1382; by John Waleys at the same altar in 1409; and by Dame Alice Brudenel in 1437 to the Altar of St. Nicholas. There were also chantries founded by Richard Morley, Peter Mason, and John Lane. The Guild or Fraternity of St. Peter was established in this church by Henry IV. in 1403 at the intercession of Queen Johanna, William Aghton being rector. The valuation of the Rectory temp Henry VIII. was £39 : 5 : 7½, to which was added tenths from the chantries amounting to £14 : 14 : 4.

A large number of monuments are recorded by Stow, some of the most notable of which were in memory of: William of Kingston; Margery Clopton, widow of Robert Clopton; Sir Christopher Morice, Master Gunner of England to Henry VIII.; Sir Henry Huberthorne, Merchant Taylor, and Lord Mayor of the City; Francis Breerewood, Treasurer of Christ’s Hospital; Sir William Bowyer. John Carpenter, the famous Town Clerk of London and compiler of the Liber Albus, was also buried here. In the vestry is an interesting tablet copy of one hanging in St. Paul’s Cathedral from A.D. 1300, and preserved from the Great Fire, to the effect that this church was the first founded in London, and that it was erected by King Lucius in 179—a legend which Stow himself appears not to have believed. There is here, also, the old key-board and organ-stops used by Mendelssohn when he played in St. Peter’s in 1840 and 1842. The portraits of Bishop Beveridge and Bishop Waugh, both of whom were rectors here for some years, hang on the walls. A fine manuscript Vulgate, with illuminations, written for the Altar of the Holy Trinity in St. Peter’s, is also preserved in the vestry.

Drawn by G. Shepherd.
ST. PETER’S, CORNHILL

Among the most important charities were those of: Laurence Thompson, 1601, who left £100 in trust for tea, coal, and bread for the poor of the parish. William Walthal, 1606, who left £246 : 13 : 4, £200 of which was to be lent to the struggling shopkeepers of the parish, the interest to be distributed in bread and coal. The Robert Warden (1609) bequest for Ash Wednesday sermons and Sunday bread to be administered through the Poulterers Company. The Lucy Edge (1630) bequest for the weekly lecture. Sir Benjamin Thorowgood’s (1682) bequest of three shops at the west end of the church for the maintenance of the organ and organist; and the Gibbs’ bequest (1864). Of these, all, with the exception of the Lucy Edge and Gibbs’ bequests, which provide for the Thursday lecturer, and part of the Robert Warden bequest, which provides for the Ash Wednesday sermon before the Poulterers Company, have been appropriated, with other endowments, by the City Parochial Charities, out of which common fund a yearly allowance is made for the upkeep of the Church.

John Hodgkin, Bishop of Bedford, 1537, was rector here; also John Taylor (d. 1554), Bishop of Lincoln; Francis White (d. 1638), Bishop of Ely; William Beveridge (1637-1708), Bishop of St. Asaph; John Waugh, Bishop of Carlisle, 1723—he is buried in front of the present altar.

Next door to the church is another of the exceptions in the street, a well-designed terra-cotta building. The building is in a late Perpendicular or Tudor style, and is appropriately named Tudor Chambers. St. Peter’s Alley leads to the graveyard at the back of the church, which is cut in two by an abnormally broad sweeping way up to the centre door. Plainly built chambers of many stories look down on the dusty evergreens of the churchyard. The next object of interest is the deeply recessed and beautifully ornamented porch of St. Michael, which stands back a little from the line of the street. By the side of the church is St. Michael’s Alley, which leads us to the graveyard. In this a small cloister or entry with vaulted roof leads through to the churchyard, a space of newly turned soil with a fringe of the inevitable evergreen bushes.

The great London coffee-house was set up in St. Michael’s Alley in 1652 by one Pasqua Rosee.