This church was rebuilt, as Stow records, in the reign of Henry VIII.; thoroughly repaired in 1614 and 1632, but destroyed by the Great Fire. The present church was completed by Wren in 1687. The parish of St. Gabriel’s, Fenchurch, was annexed to it after 1666. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1305.
The derivation of the name is obscure; Stow’s conjecture has already been given.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The family of the Nevils in 1281; Robert Rickenden and Margaret his wife, who confirmed it to Richard Whittington, who bestowed it on the Mayor and Commonalty of London in 1411, with whom it continued up to 1666 when St. Gabriel’s was annexed, and it was therefore shared alternately with the Crown.
Houseling people in 1548 were 223.
The church measures 66 feet in length, 52 feet in breadth, and 32 feet in height, and consists of a nave, chancel, and north aisle. The steeple consists of a tower, terminated by a cornice and balustrade, with four pinnacles at the corners, above which a spire rises, culminating in a ball and vane. The spire, which is 200 feet, is taller than any other of Wren’s similar ones, and the steeple comes third in order of height of those of his churches. There is a picture on the north side of the church which is said to be the work of Carlo Maratti (1625-1713), a Roman painter. The church is famous for its canopied pews, the only ones in the city; in one of these the initials C. W., supposed to be those of Sir Christopher Wren, and the date 1686, are inlaid.
A chantry was founded here by: Peter at Vyne, at the Altar of Blessed Virgin Mary, to which John Skelton was admitted chaplain 1472-73.
The original church does not seem to have possessed any monuments of note. Of the later ones, the most interesting are those of: Giles Vandeput, erected by his son, Sir Peter Vandeput, who was sheriff in 1684, and donor of £100 to the parish; Sir Peter Delme, Lord Mayor in 1723, whose monument is the work of Johan Michael Rysbrack, or Rysbrach, of Antwerp; Dr. Thomas Birch, Secretary of the Royal Society, and author, who was rector here for nearly nineteen years, was buried in the chancel, 1766. The side altar of the north aisle contains a Della Robbia plaque representing the Virgin and Child, in memory of Thomas Wagstaffe, the ablest of the non-jurors, appointed rector here in 1684 and deprived in 1690.
Sir Peter Vandeput was donor of £100 to the parish; —— Collyer of £5; Thomas Salter of £20; Richard Camden of £20. The other charitable gifts recorded amounted to £6 per annum.
John Milward (1556-1609), chaplain to James I., was rector here; also Thomas Birch (1705-66), Secretary to the Royal Society; and Peter Whalley (1722-91), head-master of Christ’s Hospital, and author of various works.