St Magnus-the-Martyr

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St Magnus the Martyr

Parish and Pilgrimage Church of St Magnus the Martyr

London, Middlesex

Status: Parish church
St Magnus the Martyr and Adelaide House from the top of The Monument.JPG
St Magnus the Martyr
Church of England
Diocese of London
Parish:
Location
Location: 51°30’33"N, 0°5’11"W
Address: Lower Thames Street
History
Baroque
Information
Website: stmagnusmartyr.org.uk

St Magnus the Martyr is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near Monument to the Great Fire of London.

The church is part of the Diocese of London and under the pastoral care of the Bishop of Fulham.[1] It is a Grade I listed building.[2] The rector uses the title "Cardinal Rector", and is thus the last remaining cleric in the Church of England to use the title 'Cardinal'.

The church was once the visible gateway to London, as it stood at the head of London Bridge. The old bridge was however demolished in the Victorian Age and its replacement built slightly upstream, since when the view of the church has been hidden by the City's bold developments.

St Magnus is the guild church of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, and the ward church of the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without.

Its prominent location and beauty have prompted many mentions of St Magnus's in literature. In Oliver Twist Charles Dickens notes how, as Nancy heads for her secret meeting with Mr Brownlow and Rose Maylie on London Bridge, "the tower of old Saint Saviour's Church, and the spire of Saint Magnus, so long the giant-warders of the ancient bridge, were visible in the gloom". The church's spiritual and architectural importance is celebrated in the poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, who wrote:

Where fishmen lounge at noon: where the walls
Of Magnus Martyr hold
Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold.

The Waste Land, lines 263 to 265, T.S. Eliot

Eliot added in a footnote that "the interior of St. Magnus Martyr is to my mind one of the finest among Wren's interiors". One biographer of Eliot notes that at first he enjoyed St Magnus aesthetically for its "splendour"; later he appreciated its "utility" when he came there as a sinner.[3]

History

11th and 12th centuries: foundation

Piling from the Roman river wall dating to about AD 75

An alleged grant from William I in 1067 to Westminster Abbey refers to the stone church of St Magnus near the bridge ("lapidee eccle sci magni prope pontem"), but this is generally accepted to be a 12th-century forgery,[4] and it is possible that a charter of confirmation in 1108–16 might also be a later fabrication. Nonetheless, these manuscripts may preserve valid evidence of a date of foundation in the 11th century.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the area of the bridgehead was not occupied from the early 5th century until the early 10th century. Environmental evidence indicates that the area was waste ground during this period, colonised by elder and nettles. Following Alfred the Great's decision to reoccupy the walled area of London in 886, new harbours were established at Queenhithe and Billingsgate. A bridge was in place by the early 11th century, a factor which would have encouraged the occupation of the bridgehead by craftsmen and traders.[5] A lane connecting Botolph's Wharf and Billingsgate to the rebuilt bridge may have developed by the mid-11th century. The waterfront at this time was a hive of activity, with the construction of embankments sloping down from the riverside wall to the river. Thames Street appeared in the second half of the 11th century immediately behind (north of) the old Roman riverside wall and in 1931 a piling from this was discovered during the excavation of the foundations of a nearby building. It now stands at the base of the church tower.[6] St Magnus was built to the south of Thames Street to serve the growing population of the bridgehead area[7] and was certainly in existence by 1128–33.[8]

The small ancient parish[9] extended about 110 yards along the waterfront either side of the old bridge, from 'Stepheneslane' (later Churchehawlane or Church Yard Alley) and 'Oystergate' (later called Water Lane or Gully Hole) on the West side to 'Retheresgate' (a southern extension of Pudding Lane) on the East side, and was centred on the crossroads formed by Fish Street Hill (originally Bridge Street, then New Fish Street) and Thames Street.[10] The mediæval parish also included Drinkwater's Wharf (named after the owner, Thomas Drinkwater), which was located immediately West of the bridge, and Fish Wharf, which was to the south of the church. The latter was of considerable importance as the fishmongers had their shops on the wharf. The tenement was devised by Andrew Hunte to the Rector and Churchwardens in 1446.[11] The ancient parish was situated in the South East part of Bridge Ward, which had evolved in the 11th century between the embankments to either side of the bridge.[12]

In the second half of the 12th century control of the advowson of St Magnus was disputed between the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of Bermondsey. The case was resolved in the Curia Regis on 23 April 1182, with the advowson being divided equally between them.[13] Later in the 1180s, on their joint presentation, the Archdeacon of London inducted his nephew as parson.[14] On 14 April 1208, again on the joint presentation of the Abbot of Westminster and the Prior of Bermondsy, the Bishop of London instituted Simon de Valenciis to St Magnus.[15]

13th and 14th centuries: stone bridge and chapel of St Thomas Becket

Approach to Old London Bridge

In 1209, a stone bridge across the Thames was completed.[16] The work was overseen by Peter de Colechurch, a priest and head of the Fraternity of the Brethren of London Bridge. The Church had from early times encouraged the building of bridges and this activity was so important it was perceived to be an act of piety – a commitment to God which should be supported by the giving of alms. London’s citizens made gifts of land and money "to God and the Bridge".[17] The Bridge House Estates became part of the City's jurisdiction in 1282.

Until 1831 the bridge was aligned with Fish Street Hill, so the main entrance into the City from the south passed the West door of St Magnus on the north bank of the river.[18] The bridge included a chapel dedicated to St Thomas Becket[19] for the use of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury Cathedral to visit his tomb.[20] The chapel and about two thirds of the bridge were in the parish of St Magnus. After some years of rivalry a dispute arose between the church and the chapel over the offerings given to the chapel by the pilgrims. The matter was resolved by the brethren of the chapel making an annual contribution to St Magnus.[21] At the Reformation the chapel was turned into a house and later a warehouse, the latter being demolished in 1757–58.

The church grew in importance. On 21 November 1234 a grant of land was made to the parson of St Magnus for the enlargement of the church.[22] The London Eyre of 1244 recorded that in 1238 "A thief named William of Ewelme of the county of Buckingham fled to the church of St. Magnus the Martyr, London, and there acknowledged the theft and abjured the realm. He had no chattels."[23] Another entry recorded that "The City answers saying that the church of ... St. Magnus the Martyr ... which [is] situated on the king's highway ... ought to belong to the king and be in his gift".[24] The church presumably jutted into the road running to the bridge, as it did in later times.[25] In 1276 it was recorded that "the church of St. Magnus the Martyr is worth £15 yearly and Master Geoffrey de la Wade now holds it by the grant of the prior of Bermundeseie and the abbot of Westminster to whom King Henry conferred the advowson by his charter."[26]

London churches c. 1300

A religious guild, the Confraternity de Salve Regina, was in existence by 1343, having been founded by the "better sort of the Parish of St Magnus" to sing the anthem 'Salve Regina' every evening.[27] The Guild certificates of 1389 record that the Confraternity of Salve Regina and the Guild of St Thomas the Martyr in the chapel on the bridge, whose members belonged to St Magnus parish, had determined to become one, to have the anthem of St Thomas after the Salve Regina and to devote their united resources to restoring and enlarging the church of St Magnus.[28] An Act of Parliament of 1437[29] provided that all incorporated fraternities and companies should register their charters and have their ordinances approved by the civic authorities.[30] Fear of enquiry into their privileges may have led established fraternities to seek a firm foundation for their rights. The letters patent of the fraternity of St Mary and St Thomas the Martyr of Salve Regina in St Magnus dated 26 May 1448 mention that the fraternity had petitioned for a charter on the grounds that the society was not duly founded.[31]

15th and 16th centuries: before and after the Reformation

In 1417 a dispute arose concerning who should take the place of honour amongst the rectors in the City churches at the Whit Monday procession, a place that had been claimed from time to time by the rectors of St Peter Cornhill, St Magnus the Martyr and St Nicholas Cole Abbey. The Mayor and Aldermen decided that the Rector of St Peter Cornhill should take precedence.[32]

St Magnus Corner at the north end of London Bridge was an important meeting place in mediæval London, where notices were exhibited, proclamations read out and wrongdoers punished.[33] As it was conveniently close to the River Thames, the church was chosen by the Bishop between the 15th and 17th centuries as a convenient venue for general meetings of the clergy in his diocese.[34] Dr John Young, Bishop of the titular See of Callipolis (rector of St Magnus 1514–15) pronounced judgement on 16 December 1514 (with the Bishop of London and in the presence of Thomas More, then under-sheriff of London) in the heresy case concerning Richard Hunne.[35] According to the martyrologist John Foxe, a woman was imprisoned in the 'cage' on London Bridge in April 1555 and told to "cool herself there" for refusing to pray at St Magnus for the recently deceased Pope Julius III.[36]

St Magnus maintained a group of singing children from the 1470s until the 1550s.[37]

The patronage of St Magnus, having previously been in the Abbots and Convents of Westminster and Bermondsey (who presented alternatively), fell to the Crown on the suppression of the monasteries. In 1553, Queen Mary, by letters patent, granted it to the Bishop of London and his successors.[38]

The church had a series of distinguished rectors in the second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th century, including Myles Coverdale (Rector 1564–66), the Bible translator.

On 5 November 1562 the churchwardens were ordered to break, or cause to be broken, in two parts all the altar stones in the church.[39] Coverdale, an anti-vestiarian, was Rector at the peak of the vestments controversy. In March 1566 Archbishop Parker caused great consternation among many clergy by his edicts prescribing what was to be worn and by his summoning the London clergy to Lambeth to require their compliance. Coverdale excused himself from attending.[40] Stow records that a non-conforming Scot who normally preached at St Magnus twice a day precipitated a fight on Palm Sunday 1566 at Little All Hallows in Thames Street with his preaching against vestments:

{{quote|Ye same Palme Sonday in anno 1566, ye 7 of Aprill, a Scott (who prechid ij tymes every day at Sent Magnus, and mynysteryd every day to all comars of ye paryshe or eny othar in his gowne or cloke) prechid in ye afternone at Lytle Allhalows in Thams Stret. Ye moaste part of his sermon was (as the othar of his sermons were and are) agaynst ye order takyn by ye quene and councell for ye aparayll of mynystars before namyd, with very byter and vehement words agaynst ye quene not here to be namyd, and allso agaynst mynystars as receyvyd ye same ordre. The mynyster of ye churche for savgarde of his lyvynge had receyvyd ye cappe and syrplyce, where fore some tyme in ye sermon he smylyd at vehemente talke by ye prechar usyd to the contrary. Wher upon aftar ye sermon sertayne of ye paryshe, namly, Wyllson, a dyar, and Dyckynson, a fyshemonger, resonyd with ye mynystar for his smyllyng at ye prechar, who resonably aunsweryd; but they toke ye matter so grevowsly that they fell from rwghe wordes at ye last to blowes with them who toke parte with ye mynystar"[41] Coverdale's resignation from St Magnus in summer 1566 may have been associated with these events. Separatist congregations started to emerge after 1566 and the first such, who called themselves 'Puritans' or 'Unspottyd Lambs of the Lord', was discovered close to St Magnus at Plumbers' Hall in Thames Street on 19 June 1567.[42]

Old London bridge in 1543

17th century: Civil War, Commonwealth and Restoration

Old London Bridge in 1616. The spiked heads of executed criminals can be seen above the Southwark gatehouse.
Heads of traitors on Old London Bridge

St Magnus narrowly escaped destruction in 1633. A later edition of Stow's Survey records that "On the 13th day of February, between eleven and twelve at night, there happened in the house of one Briggs, a Needle-maker near St Magnus Church, at the North end of the Bridge, by the carelessness of a Maid-Servant setting a tub of hot sea-coal ashes under a pair of stairs, a sad and lamentable fire, which consumed all the buildings before eight of the clock the next morning, from the North end of the Bridge to the first vacancy on both sides, containing forty-two houses; water then being very scarce, the Thames being almost frozen over."[43] Susannah Chambers "by her last will & testament bearing date 28th December 1640 gave the sum of Twenty-two shillings and Sixpence Yearly for a Sermon to be preached on the 12th day of February in every Year within the Church of Saint Magnus in commemoration of God's merciful preservation of the said Church of Saint Magnus from Ruin, by the late and terrible Fire on London Bridge. Likewise Annually to the Poor the sum of 17/6."[44] The tradition of a "Fire Sermon" was revived on 12 February 2004, when the first preacher was the Rt Revd and Rt Hon Richard Chartres, Bishop of London.[45]

During the Great Plague of 1665, the City authorities ordered fires to be kept burning night and day, in the hope that the air would be cleansed. Daniel Defoe's semi-fictictional, but highly realistic, work A Journal of the Plague Year records that one of these was "just by St Magnus Church".[46]

Great Fire of London and rebuilding of the church

Despite its escape in 1633, the church was one of the first buildings to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666.[47] St Magnus stood less than 300 yards from the bakehouse of Thomas Farriner in Pudding Lane where the fire started. Farriner, a former churchwarden of St Magnus, was buried in the middle aisle of the church on 11 December 1670, perhaps within a temporary structure erected for holding services.[48]

The parish engaged the master mason George Dowdeswell to start the work of rebuilding in 1668. The work was carried forward between 1671 and 1687 under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren,[49] the body of the church being substantially complete by 1676.[50] At a cost of £9,579 19s 10d St Magnus was one of Wren's most expensive churches.[51] The church of St Margaret New Fish Street was not rebuilt after the fire and its parish was united to that of St Magnus.

St Magnus the Martyr tower and clock

The chancels of many of Wren’s city churches had chequered marble floors and the chancel of St Magnus is an example,[52] the parish agreeing after some debate to place the communion table on a marble ascent with steps[53] and to commission altar rails of Sussex wrought iron. The nave and aisles are paved with freestone flags. A steeple, closely modelled on one built between 1614 and 1624 by François d'Aguilon and Pieter Huyssens for the church of St Carolus Borromeus in Antwerp, was added between 1703 and 1706.[54] London's skyline was transformed by Wren's tall steeples and that of St Magnus is considered to be one of his finest.[55]

The large clock projecting from the tower was a well-known landmark in the city as it hung over the roadway of Old London Bridge. It was presented to the church in 1709 by Sir Charles Duncombe[56] (Alderman for the Ward of Bridge Within and, in 1708/09, Lord Mayor of London). Tradition says "that it was erected in consequence of a vow made by the donor, who, in the earlier part of his life, had once to wait a considerable time in a cart upon London Bridge, without being able to learn the hour, when he made a promise, that if he ever became successful in the world, he would give to that Church a public clock ... that all passengers might see the time of day."[57] The maker was Langley Bradley, a clockmaker in Fenchurch Street, who had worked for Wren on many other projects, including the clock for the new St Paul's Cathedral. The sword rest in the church, designed to hold the Lord Mayor's sword and mace when he attended divine service "in state", dates from 1708.

Duncombe and his benefactions to St Magnus feature prominently in Daniel Defoe's The True-Born Englishman, a biting satire on critics of William III that went through several editions from 1700 (the year in which Duncombe was elected Sheriff).[58][59]

Organ in St Magnus the Martyr

Shortly before his death in 1711, Charles Duncombe commissioned an organ for the church, the first to have a swell-box, by Abraham Jordan (father and son).[60] The Spectator announced that "Whereas Mr Abraham Jordan, senior and junior, have, with their own hands, joinery excepted, made and erected a very large organ in St Magnus' Church, at the foot of London Bridge, consisting of four sets of keys, one of which is adapted to the art of emitting sounds by swelling notes, which never was in any organ before; this instrument will be publicly opened on Sunday next [14 February 1712], the performance by Mr John Robinson. The above-said Abraham Jordan gives notice to all masters and performers, that he will attend every day next week at the said Church, to accommodate all those gentlemen who shall have a curiosity to hear it".[61]

The organ case, which remains in its original state, is looked upon as one of the finest existing examples of the Grinling Gibbons's school of wood carving.[62]

The hymn tune "St Magnus", usually sung at Ascensiontide to the text "The head that once was crowned with thorns", was written by Jeremiah Clarke in 1701 and named for the church.[63]

Last years of old London Bridge

Between 1756 and 1762, the Corporation of London demolished the buildings on London Bridge to widen the roadway, ease traffic congestion and improve safety for pedestrians.[64] The churchwardens’ accounts of St Magnus list many payments to those injured on the Bridge and record that in 1752 a man was crushed to death between two carts.[65] In the summer of 1724 the churchwardens had been obliged to spend 1/6 on "Expenses with the churchwardens of Woodford about taking away their petitioner Jane Taverner killed [by a cart] on the Bridge"[66]

The removal of houses caused a loss of income to the church, and so Parliament provided that part of the tithe and poor rate so lost should be a charge on the Bridge House Estates.[67]

A serious fire broke out on 18 April 1760 in an oil shop at the south-east corner of the church, which consumed most of the church roof and did considerable damage to the fabric. The fire burnt warehouses to the south of the church and a number of houses on the northern end of London Bridge.

Pathway under the tower of the church

As part of the bridge improvements, a new pedestrian walkway was built along the eastern side of the bridge, but St Magnus blocked the new walkway, so in 1762 to 1763 the vestry rooms at the West end of the church were removed and the side arches of the tower opened up so that pedestrians could pass underneath the tower. The tower’s lower storey thus became an external porch and two windows were lost from the north façade.

Pathway under the tower showing the entrance to the church

Soldiers were stationed in the Vestry House of St Magnus during the Gordon Riots in June 1780. The diary of Richard Hall recalls:

7 June: Sad rioting last night with the Mob – set Fire to the Inside of Newgate, let out the Prisoners, pull'd down Lord Mansfield's House etc. An awful time. May the Lord be our defence and still the tumults of the people. 8 June: Still sad rioting. Marshall Law took place. We had soldiers in the Vestry Room [at St Magnus the Martyr Church, next to where Richard was living] to guard the Toll House and Waterworks." This demonstrated the importance of the area giving access to London Bridge, where the tolls were collected from pedestrians and carriages alike, and of the Waterworks on the other side of the road from St Magnus, which daily pumped water into elm conduits leading to private houses throughout the City. The rioting forced Richard to leave the area for his own safety.[68]

By 1782 the noise level from the activities of Billingsgate Fish Market had become unbearable and the large windows on the north side of the church were blocked up leaving only circular windows high up in the wall.[69] The parapet and pediment above the north aisle door were probably removed at the same time.[70] At some point between the 1760s and 1814 the present clerestory was constructed with its oval windows and fluted and coffered plasterwork.[71] J. M. W. Turner painted the church in the mid-1790s.[72]

In 1825 the church was "repaired and beautified at a very considerable expense. During the reparation the east window, which had been closed, was restored, and the interior of the fabric conformed to the state in which it was left by its great architect, Sir Christopher Wren. The magnificent organ ... was taken down and rebuilt by Mr Parsons, and re-opened, with the church, on the 12th February, 1826".[73] Unfortunately, as a contemporary writer records, "On the night of the 31st of July, 1827, [the church's] safety was threatened by the great fire which consumed the adjacent warehouses, and it is perhaps owing to the strenuous and praiseworthy exertions of the firemen, that the structure exists at present. ... divine service was suspended and not resumed until the 20th January 1828. In the interval the church received such tasteful and elegant decorations, that it may now compete with any church in the metropolis."[74]

New London Bridge, and a new threats

In 1825 the first stone of the new London Bridge was laid, and it was completed in 1831, further upstream from the old, and the old bridge was demolished. St Magnus ceased to be the gateway to London as it had been for over 600 years.

London Bridge in 2005

By the early 1960s traffic congestion had become a problem and a newer London Bridge was built to replace the Victorian 'new' bridge. Development now allow a clear view of the church from the east side.

The vista from The Monument south to the River Thames, over the roof of St Magnus, is protected under the City of London Unitary Development Plan.

St Magnus narrowly escaped damage from a major fire in Lower Thames Street in October 1849.[75]

London Bridge and St Magnus the Martyr circa 1900

A report in 1920 from a committee chaired by Lord Phillimore proposed the demolition of nineteen City churches, including St Magnus.[76] A general outcry from members of the public and parishioners alike prevented the execution of this plan.[77] The members of the City Livery Club passed a resolution that they regarded "with horror and indignation the proposed demolition of 19 City churches" and pledged the club to do everything in its power to prevent such a catastrophe.[78] T. S. Eliot wrote that the threatened churches gave "to the business quarter of London a beauty which its hideous banks and commercial houses have not quite defaced. ... the least precious redeems some vulgar street ... The loss of these towers, to meet the eye down a grimy lane, and of these empty naves, to receive the solitary visitor at noon from the dust and tumult of Lombard Street, will be irreparable and unforgotten." The London County Council published a report concluding that St Magnus was "one of the most beautiful of all Wren's works" and "certainly one of the churches which should not be demolished without specially good reasons and after very full consideration."[79] A further attempt to implement the recommendations of the Phillimore Report in 1926 was resisted: the Earl of Crawford in a debate in the House of Lords on 15 July 1926[80] who quoted "to your Lordships the list of these condemned churches. It will not take a moment. Even their fine resounding names are worthy of quotation.... St. Magnus the Martyr — many of your Lordships must know that wonderful church by the water's edge down below London Bridge".

St Magnus, with the Shard beihnd

A bomb which fell on London Bridge in 1940 during the Blitz blew out all the windows and damaged the plasterwork and the roof of the north aisle.[81] The church was repaired in 1951 and re-opened for worship in June of that year.

Interior

Interior of St Magnus the Martyr

Martin Travers restored the 17th century communion table reredos, including the paintings of Moses and Aaron and the Ten Commandments, and reconstructed the upper storey.[82] Above the reredos Travers added a painted and gilded rood.[83] In the centre of the reredos there is a carved gilded pelican (an early Christian symbol of self-sacrifice) and a Baroque-style roundel with a nimbus and dove descending, attended by cherubim.[84] The glazed east window, which can be seen in early photographs of the church, appears to have been filled in at this time. A new altar with console tables was installed and the communion rails moved outwards to extend the size of the sanctuary. Two old door frames were used to construct side chapels and placed at an angle across the north-east and south-east corners of the church. One, the Lady Chapel, was dedicated to the Rector's parents in 1925 and the other was dedicated to Christ the King.

The interior was made to look more European by the removal of the old box pews and the installation of new pews with cut-down ends. Two new columns were inserted in the nave to make the lines regular. The Wren-period pulpit by the joiner William Grey[85] was opened up and provided with a soundboard and crucifix. Travers also designed the statue of St Magnus of Orkney, which stands in the south aisle, and the statue of Our Lady of Walsingham.[86]

The stained glass windows in the south wall, which are by Lawrence Lee and date from 1949 to 1955, represent lost churches associated with the parish: St Magnus and his ruined church of Egilsay, St Margaret of Antioch with her lost church in New Fish Street (where the Monument now stands), St Michael with his lost church of Crooked Lane (demolished to make way for the present King William Street) and St Thomas Becket with his chapel on Old London Bridge.[87]

Bells

Before the Great Fire of 1666 the old tower had a ring of five bells, a small saints bell and a clock bell.[88] 47 cwt of bell metal was recovered[89] which suggests that the tenor was 13 or 14 cwt. The metal was used to cast three new bells, by William Eldridge of Chertsey in 1672,[90] with a further saints bell cast that year by Hodson.[91] In the absence of a tower, the tenor and saints bell were hung in a free standing timber structure, whilst the others remained unhung.[92]

A new tower was completed in 1704 and it is likely that these bells were transferred to it. However, the tenor became cracked in 1713 and it was decided to replace the bells with a new ring of eight.[93] The new bells, with a tenor of 21 cwt, were cast by Richard Phelps of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry. Between 1714 and 1718 (the exact date of which is unknown), the ring was increased to ten with the addition of two trebles given by two former ringing Societies, the Eastern Youths and the British Scholars.[94] The first peal was rung on 15 February 1724 of Grandsire Caters by the Society of College Youths. The second bell had to be recast in 1748 by Robert Catlin, and the tenor was recast in 1831 by Thomas Mears of Whitechapel,[95] just in time to ring for the opening of the new London Bridge. In 1843, the treble was said to be "worn out" and so was scrapped, together with the saints bell, while a new treble was cast by Thomas Mears.[96] A new clock bell was erected in the spire in 1846, provided by B R & J Moore, who had earlier purchased it from Thomas Mears.[97] This bell can still be seen in the tower from the street.

The 10 bells were removed for safe keeping in 1940 and stored in the churchyard. They were taken to Whitechapel Bell Foundry in 1951 whereupon it was discovered that four of them were cracked. After a long period of indecision, fuelled by lack of funds and interest, the bells were finally sold for scrap in 1976.

A new ring of 12 bells was set in the tower in a new frame in 2009: this was the first of three new rings of bells he has installed in the City of London (the others being at St Dunstan-in-the-West and St James Garlickhythe). The first peal on the twelve was rung on 29 November 2009 of Cambridge Surprise Maximus.[98] Notable other recent peals include a peal of Stedman Cinques on 16 April 2011 to mark the 400th anniversary of the granting of a Royal Charter to the Plumbers' Company,[99]

The BBC television programme, Still Ringing After All These Years: A Short History of Bells, broadcast on 14 December 2011, included an interview at St Magnus with the Tower Keeper, Dickon Love,[100] who was captain of the band that rang the "Royal Jubilee Bells" during the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant on 3 June 2012 to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.[101]

The bells are often rung on Sundays around 12:15 (following the service) by the Guild of St Magnus.

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References

  1. ↑ Bishop of Fulham
  2. ↑ National Heritage List 1064601: St Magnus The Martyr
  3. ↑ Eliot's Early Years, Gordon, L.: Oxford, 1978 ISBN 978-0-19-281252-0
  4. ↑ BL Cotton Charter VI 3; see Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 – c.1214, London Record Society 25, Mason, E. (ed.), pp. 25–40: 1988 and London: the City Churches Pevsner, N and Bradley, S: New Haven, Yale, 1998 ISBN 0-300-09655-0
  5. ↑ See Current archaeological work at Regis House in the City of London (part 2) by Trevor Brigham and Bruce Watson at Regis House and Figure 182 Location map of London sites at Archaeological Sites
  6. ↑ The plaque attached to the timber reads "From Roman wharf, AD 75: found Fish Street Hill, 1931"
  7. ↑ Aspects of Saxo-Norman London III: The Bridgehead and Billingsgate to 1200, Steedman, K., Dyson T., Schofield, J., p. 136: London, 1992, ISBN 0-903290-40-5
  8. ↑ Gazetteer, Carlin, M. and Belcher, V. in British atlas of historic towns: Vol. 3, The City of London, Lobel, M.D. (ed.): Oxford, 1989
  9. ↑ William FitzStephen's Description of London, written around 1183, mentions that there were 126 parish churches in London, which suggests that the citizens of London generally preferred to worship in small churches with their close neighbours.
  10. ↑ As pointed out by Tony Dyson in a review of London 800–1216 by C. Brooke and G Keir: "Although related to existing property boundaries, there is no evidence that ... parish boundaries followed existing tenurial units, and it is notable that a crossroads stands at the centre of most parishes." He also notes that "From the late 11th century legislation on the payment of tithe, which provided the churches' main income ... made it increasingly important to define the exact area over which a church had rights." See Map of London parishes.
  11. ↑ A Dictionary of London, Harben, H.A.: London, 1918
  12. ↑ Aspects of Saxo-Norman London III: The Bridgehead and Billingsgate to 1200, Steedman, K., Dyson T., Schofield, J., pp. 95 and 104: London, 1992, ISBN 0-903290-40-5
  13. ↑ Westminster Abbey and its People, c. 1050-c.1216, Mason, E., p.244, Woodbridge, 1996 ISBN 978-0-85115-396-4
  14. ↑ Westminster Abbey Charters, 1066 – c. 1214, Mason, E. (ed.), pp. 144–159 and pp. 197–228: London Record Society 25 (1988)
  15. ↑ Westminster Abbey and its People, c. 1050-c.1216, Mason, E., p.138, Woodbridge, 1996 ISBN 978-0-85115-396-4. The full text is as follows: "14 April 1208 Notification by William [de Ste Mère Eglise], bishop of London, that at the presentation of the abbot & convent of Westminster, patrons of half the church of St Magnus the Martyr next to London Bridge, and at the presentation of the prior & convent of Bermondsey, patrons of the other half, he has instituted to the church Mr Simon de Valenciis, clerk, reserving to the abbots of Westminster and the prior of Bermondsey and convents the pensionis which they formerly received from that church. Simon will answer for all obligations due to the bishop or archdeacon" (Westminster Abbey Charters 1066–c.1214, 220).
  16. ↑ Old London Bridge, Pierce, P., p. 41: London, 2001, ISBN 0-7472-3493-0
  17. ↑ See City Bridge Trust
  18. ↑ This view was the subject of a great number of paintings and prints; see, for example, Turner and Science & Society
  19. ↑ "Capella beati Thomae Martyris super Pontem" in a list of London benefices in Lib. Cust. I. 228, 31 Ed. I. It had an entrance from the river as well as from the street and was reached by a winding staircase. It had a groined roof springing from clustered pillars (Gent. Mag. Lib. XV. p.303). It was 60 ft. long, 20 ft. wide and 110 ft. high, with an undercroft or vaulted crypt.
  20. ↑ Chronicles of London Bridge by an Antiquary, Richard Thomson, p. 83 et seq.: Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1827
  21. ↑ Colleges: St Thomas on London Bridge, A History of the County of London: Volume 1: London within the Bars, Westminster and Southwark, ed. Page, W., pp. 572–574: Victoria County History, 1909
  22. ↑ Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Henry III, Vol. 3 (1232–47), p. 82: London 1906. The text of the entry is as follows: "Grant to the prior of Bermundese that the king, on account of certain land which he has granted to the parson and parishioners of the church of St. Magnus in the city of London, for the enlargement (ad ampliationem) of the said church, the king does not and will not claim any right for him and his heirs in the advowson of the said church. The like to the abbot of Westminster."
  23. ↑ The London eyre of 1244, Chew, H.M. and Weinbaum, M. (ed.), number 125: 1970
  24. ↑ The London eyre of 1244, Chew, H.M. and Weinbaum, M. (ed.), number 276: 1970
  25. ↑ London 800–1216: The shaping of a City, Brooke, C. and Keir, G.: University of California Press, 1975 ISBN 0-520-02686-1
  26. ↑ The London eyre of 1276, ed. Weinbaum, M.: London, 1976
  27. ↑ Chronicles of London Bridge by an Antiquary, p. 298-9 quoting Stow's 'Survey': Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1827
  28. ↑ The gilds and companies of London, Unwin, G. (with a new introduction by Kahl, W.F), p. 115: London, 1963
  29. ↑ 15 Henry VI Cap. 6
  30. ↑ Worlds within Worlds: Structures of Life in Sixteenth-Century London (Cambridge Studies in Population, Economy and Society in Past Time), Rappaport, S., p. 184: Cambridge, 1989 (paperback edition 2002), ISBN 978-0521892216. See also Historical Studies of the English Parliament: Volume 2: 1399–1603, Fryde, E.B. and Miller, E. (eds), pp. 129–131: Cambridge, 1970
  31. ↑ See {{brithist|64559 Parish Fraternity Register], Calendar of the Patent Rolls 26 May 1448 #1 and Calendar of the Patent Rolls 26 May 1448 #2
  32. ↑ Calendar of letter-books of the city of London I: 1400–1422, Sharpe, Reginald R. (ed), pp. 186–195: 1909
  33. ↑ The London Encyclopaedia Weinreb, B. and Hibbert, C. (ed.): London, 1983 (rev 1993, 2008), latest paperback edition 2010, ISBN 978-1-4050-4925-2. In Shakespeare's King Henry VI Part 2, Act IV, Scene VIII Cade urges his followers to action with the words "Up Fish Street! Down St. Magnus’ corner! Kill and knock down! Throw them into Thames!"
  34. ↑ St Magnus the Martyr, Wittich, J.: London, 1994
  35. ↑ Foxe's Acts and Monuments vol iv, p 183-205
  36. ↑ The book of martyrs: containing an account of the suffering and death of Protestants in the reign of Queen Mary the First, Foxe, J. revised by Madan, M., p. 162: London, 1760
  37. ↑ The World of William Byrd: Musicians, Merchants and Magnates Harley, J., Routledge, 2016
  38. ↑ Pat. 1, Mary, p. 4, m. 16. See also A New History of London: Including Westminster and Southwark, Noorthouck, J., pp. 560–566: London, 1773 and The history and survey of London and its environs from the earliest period to the present time, Lambert, B., p.467: London, 1806
  39. ↑ Vic.-Gen. Book, Huish, f. 169, S.H. quoted in Novum repertorium ecclesiasticum parochiale Londinense, p. 273
  40. ↑ Oxford DNB entry, Daniell, D.
  41. ↑ Historical Memoranda, Stow, J.: (Camden Society, 1880)
  42. ↑ History of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, Young A.J., p. 86: privately printed by The Worshipful Company of Plumbers, London, 2000
  43. ↑ Quoted in Chronicles of London Bridge by an Antiquary [i.e. Richard Thomson 1794–1865], pp. 394–5.: Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1827
  44. ↑ Extant Benefactor's Board
  45. ↑ "Bishop of London to preach fire sermon" (Diocese of London News Release dated 6 February 2004) at Diocese of London
  46. ↑ A Journal of the Plague Year, Defoe, D., p. 231: Penguin Classics, 1966 (first published 1722)
  47. ↑ Samuel Pepys – The Shorter Pepys, Latham, R. (ed.), p. 484: Harmondsworth, 1985, ISBN 0-14-009418-0. Pepys recorded in his diary: "So down [I went], with my heart full of trouble, to the Lieutenant of the Tower, who tells me that it began this morning in the King's baker's house in Pudding Lane, and that it hath burned St Magnus's Church and most part of Fish Street already".
  48. ↑ Oxford DNB entry, Porter, S.
  49. ↑ "The City Churches" Tabor, M. p78:London; The Swarthmore Press Ltd; 1917
  50. ↑ London 1: The City of London, Pevsner, N. and Bradley, S., p. 231: London, 1997 ISBN 0-14-071092-2. Betjeman describes St Magnus as "Wren's welcome to the city for people coming over old London Bridge" The City of London Churches, Betjeman, J. : Andover, Pitkin, 1967 ISBN 0-85372-112-2.
  51. ↑ The Year Book of Daily Recreation and Information, Hone, W., cols. 245–246: London, 1838
  52. ↑ Historic Floors: Their Care and Conservation, Fawcett, J. (ed.): Oxford, 1998 (paperback edition 2001) ISBN 0-7506-2765-4
  53. ↑ Altars Restored: The Changing Face of English Religious Worship 1547-c.1700, Fincham, K. and Tyacke, N., pp. 327–328: Oxford, 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-820700-9
  54. ↑ The steeples of the two churches are shown in The Old Churches of London, Cobb, G., p.57: London, Batsford, first published 1942, third edition 1988
  55. ↑ Everybody's Historic London: A history and Guide, Kiek, J.: London, 1984 ISBN 0-907621-39-2
  56. ↑ Oxford DNB entry, Aylmer, G.E.
  57. ↑ Chronicles of London Bridge by an Antiquary [i.e. Richard Thomson 1794–1865], pp. 456–7.: Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1827
  58. ↑ See The True-Born Englishman
  59. ↑ Poetry of Daniel Defoe
  60. ↑ Great Goldsmith: The Life of Sir Charles Duncombe, Duncombe, P., p. 212-213: Chippendale NSW Australia, 2000, ISBN 0-646-37845-7 and "The Historical Organ in the Church of St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge", The Musical Times, Vol. 53, No. 831 (1 May 1912), pp. 306–309.
  61. ↑ The Spectator, 8 February 1712, quoted in Chronicles of London Bridge by an Antiquary [i.e. Richard Thomson 1794–1865], p. 457-8: Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1827
  62. ↑ Church of S. Magnus the Martyr by London Bridge: The Story of the Organ, Lightwood, J.T. with additional notes by C.N. W(aterhouse): no date (late 1920s). See photograph at Organ case.
  63. ↑ See Hymnary.org and Choral Wiki. Gerre Hancock wrote a Communion Service, Missa resurrectionis, based on this hymn tune in 1976.
  64. ↑ The London Bridge Improvement Act of 1756: A Study of early modern urban finance and administration, Latham, M.: Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester, 2009, available at Leicester University
  65. ↑ Old London Bridge, Home, G., pp. 264 and 280: London, 1931
  66. ↑ Quoted in 'Accidents and response: sudden violent death in the early modern city, 1650–1750', p.43, Spence C.G., Royal Holloway College University of London PhD thesis, 2013
  67. ↑ The Statutes at Large from the 26th to the 30th Year of King George II, Pickering, Danby: Cambridge, 1766
  68. ↑ Rendell M. 'The Journal of a Georgian Gentleman: The Life and Times of Richard Hall 1729–1801' (2011) ISBN 978-1-84624-523-7
  69. ↑ St Magnus the Martyr, Wittich, J.: London, 1994
  70. ↑ Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner, London: The City Churches: 2002
  71. ↑ London 1: The City of London, Pevsner, N. and Bradley, S., p. 232: London, 1997 ISBN 0-14-071092-2
  72. ↑ See London Bridge, with the Monument and the Church of St Magnus
  73. ↑ The year book of daily recreation and information, Hone, William: London, 1832
  74. ↑ The History and Antiquities of London, Westminster, Southwark, and Parts Adjacent, Vol. 3, Allen, T.: London, 1828
  75. ↑ 'The Times', Thursday 25 October 1849, pg. 5, Issue 20316, records that "Fortunately, the church of St Magnus, although exposed to so much danger, from the men standing on the roof with their hoses from the engines, did not receive the least injury."
  76. ↑ City of London Churches Commission, Lord Phillimore: London 1919–20
  77. ↑ See 'Coverdale's Church: Appeal to the Bishop of London' in The Times, 15 September 1920, p. 13 and 'The Threat to the City Churches: Today's Debate' in The Times, 25 November 1926, p. 18
  78. ↑ The Times, 15 June 1920, p. 13
  79. ↑ Proposed demolition of nineteen city churches. Report by the clerk of the council and the architect of the council, London County Council: London, 1920
  80. ↑ Hansard
  81. ↑ Wren Glories, Treasures of the Cultural World Before and After The Fire Attack on the City of London, The Illustrated London News, 18 January 1941
  82. ↑ Although these paintings cannot be seen on pre-1924 photographs, they are mentioned in T Francis Bumpus’s Ancient London Churches (1910, reissued 1923) and in an article by Philip Norman on The Church of St Magnus the Martyr in the Transactions of the St. Paul's Ecclesiological Society (1915). It appears that they had faded and the combination of strong, even lighting and longish exposure time, not to mention the quality of contemporary negatives/plates and printing technology, contributed to the loss of detail in the photographs.
  83. ↑ London 1: The City of London, Pevsner, N. and Bradley, S., p. 232: London, 1997 ISBN 0-14-071092-2
  84. ↑ Typical of "the late stuart chancel [which] expressed a complex, sacramentally high-church, socially royalist theology, rooted in the Anglican rites, Holy Scripture, and Anglican doctrine" The Moral Shecinah: The Social Theology of Chancel Decoration in Seventeenth Century London David H. Chaundy-Smart in Anglican and Episcopal History Vol. 69 No. 2
  85. ↑ The Visitor's Guide to the City of London Churches, Tucker, T., p. 55: London, 2006
  86. ↑ Anglican Papalism, Yelton, M., p. 226: Norwich, 2005 ISBN 1-85311-655-6
  87. ↑ See St Magnus and Stained Glass
  88. ↑ Churchwarden Accounts Vol. 1 MS 2791/1: 10 Oct 1663
  89. ↑ St Magnus CW Accounts Vol. 1 (Back pages) MS 2791/1
  90. ↑ St Magnus Vestry Book Vol. 1 MS 1179/1 13 Jul 1672
  91. ↑ St Magnus Vestry Book Vol. 1 MS 1179/1 3 Sept 1672
  92. ↑ St Magnus Vestry Book Vol. 1 MS 1179/1 26 Nov 1672
  93. ↑ St Magnus Vestry Book Vol. 1 MS 1179/1 9 Dec 1713
  94. ↑ Peal book of the Society of College Youths – representing the only known reference to this gift
  95. ↑ St Magnus Joint Committee Minutes MS 1181 19 July 1831
  96. ↑ St Magnus Joint Committee Vol 3. MS 1183/3 28 July 1843
  97. ↑ St Magnus Vestry MS 1180 13 April 1846
  98. ↑ Peal record
  99. ↑ Peal record
  100. ↑ See Still Ringing After All These Years: A Short History of Bells
  101. ↑ See The Royal Jubilee Bells


Churches in the City of London

All Hallows-by-the-Tower • All Hallows-on-the-Wall • City Temple • Dutch Church, Austin Friars • St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe • St Andrew, Holborn • St Andrew Undershaft • St Anne and St Agnes • St Bartholomew-the-Great • St Bartholomew-the-Less • St Benet's, Paul's Wharf • St Botolph Aldersgate • St Botolph Aldgate • St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate • St Bride, Fleet Street • St Clement, Eastcheap • St Dunstan-in-the-West • St Edmund, King and Martyr • St Ethelburga Bishopsgate • St Giles-without-Cripplegate • St Helen Bishopsgate • St James Garlickhythe • St Katharine Cree • St Lawrence Jewry • St Magnus-the-Martyr • St Margaret Lothbury • St Margaret Pattens • St Martin, Ludgate • St Mary Abchurch • St Mary Aldermary • St Mary Woolnoth • St Mary-at-Hill • St Mary-le-Bow • St Michael, Cornhill • St Michael Paternoster Royal • St Nicholas Cole Abbey • St Olave, Hart Street • St Paul's Cathedral • St Peter upon Cornhill • St Sepulchre-without-Newgate • St Stephen Walbrook • St Vedast alias Foster • Temple Church

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