St. Mary Magdalen’s Bermondsey, near the south west corner of Bermondsey street, which we vulgarly call Barnaby street, in Southwark. It is dedicated to Mary Magdalen the sister of Lazarus, who was celebrated for her beauty, and still more for her piety. It appears from the Conqueror’s Survey, that a church of the same name was situated in this place so early as the time of the Saxons.
The present edifice, which was built in 1680, is seventy-six feet in length, and sixty-one in breadth; the height to the roof is thirty feet, and the height of the steeple eighty-seven feet. It is a plain structure enlightened by a single series of arched windows with cherubs heads on the top. The walls are of brick plaistered over, and the door-cases and windows cased with stone. The tower, which rises square, is covered with a kind of dome crowned with a turret, whence rises a ball and fane.
The advowson of this church is in lay patrons, and the profits of the rectory are said to amount to about 200l. per annum.
St. Mary Magdalen’s, Milk-street. This church was situated at the west end of Honey lane market, in the ward of Cripplegate within; but being destroyed by the fire of London in 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish was annexed to that of St. Laurence Jewry.
St. Mary Magdalen’s, Old Fish street, is seated on the north side of Knight Rider’s street, in the ward of Baynard’s castle, and is thus denominated from its vicinity to Old Fish street. There are records of a church in the same place three hundred and fifty years ago. The old edifice was destroyed by the fire of London, and the present singular structure arose from its ruins, and was built in the year 1685.
It is a small well-proportioned church, built with stone, sixty feet in length, forty-eight in breadth, and thirty in height to the roof. It is enlightened by a single series of arched windows, each ornamented with a cherub and scrolls, supporting a cornice, which runs round the building; but these windows are of such an unusual height from the ground, that the doors, which are low and plain, open completely under them: both these and the windows are of the same general construction, and the wall is terminated by a balustrade. The tower is divided into two stages, in the upper of which is a large window on each side. From the top of this tower the work suddenly diminishes in the manner of high steps on each side, and on the top of these is placed a turret, crowned with a very short spire, on which is placed a fane with flames.
To this church the parish of St. Gregory is annexed, by which the rectoral profits are much increased, the Incumbent receiving, besides other profits, 120l. in lieu of tithes.
St. Mary Mounthaw, situated on the west side of Fish street hill, in Queenhithe ward, received its name from its dedication to the Virgin Mary, and the family of Montalto or Mounthauts, in the county of Norfolk, who were the original founders: but being destroyed in the dreadful fire of London in 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish was, by act of Parliament, annexed to the church of St. Mary Somerset. Stowe.
St. Mary, Newington Butts. See Newington Butts.
St. Mary Overies. See St. Saviour’s.