The church of St Mildred, Bread Street, stood on the east side of

Bread Street Bread Street is one of the 25 wards of the City of London the name deriving from its principal street, which was anciently the City's bread market; already named ''Bredstrate'' (to at least 1180) for by the records it appears as that in 1302, E ...

in the Bread Street Ward of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

. It was dedicated to the 7th century Saint Mildred the Virgin, daughter of Merewald, sub-king of the West Mercians. Of medieval origin, the church was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren following its destruction in the Great Fire of London in 1666. One of the few City churches to retain Wren's original fittings into the 20th century, St Mildred's was destroyed by bombs in 1941.

The medieval church

The earliest record of the church of St Mildred is of its rebuilding in around 1300. This was probably paid for by Lord Trenchaunt of St. Albans, who was buried in the Church at about that time. Sir John Shadworth, Lord Mayor in 1401, who was also buried in the church, gave a parsonage house, a vestry and a churchyard. A description by

John Strype John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) was an English clergyman, historian and biographer from London. He became a merchant when settling in Petticoat Lane. In his twenties, he became perpetual curate of Theydon Bois, Essex and lat ...

indicates that the medieval church was an aisled building, with a clerestory. The patronage of the church belonged to the monastery of

St Mary Overie Southwark Cathedral ( ) or The Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Saviour and St Mary Overie, Southwark, London, lies on the south bank of the River Thames close to London Bridge. It is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Southwark. ...

until 1533, when it passed into private hands. Strype records that the church was repaired throughout in 1628, when most of the north wall, the nave arcades and the windows above them were rebuilt. A major benefactor of the church during the 17th century was Sir Nicholas Crisp, a wealthy merchant and ardent supporter of

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

, who, by 1663, owned the

advowson Advowson () or patronage is the right in English law of a patron (avowee) to present to the diocesan bishop (or in some cases the ordinary if not the same person) a nominee for appointment to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice or church living, a ...

of the church. His gifts included two large silver flagons, which were still in use into the 20th century, and a five-light stained glass east window depicting the

Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an ar ...

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". Eli ...

, the

Gunpowder Plot The Gunpowder Plot of 1605, in earlier centuries often called the Gunpowder Treason Plot or the Jesuit Treason, was a failed assassination attempt against King James I by a group of provincial English Catholics led by Robert Catesby who sough ...

, the plague of 1625, and portraits of himself, his wife and children. He was interred in his family vault in the church, although his heart was buried at

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London ...

. St Mildred's was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. Its silver plate, however, survived, having been taken to safety in Hackney in a hired carriage. After the fire the parish of the church of St Margaret Moses, which was also destroyed but not rebuilt, was united to that of St Mildred.

Rebuilding

The church was rebuilt between 1677 and 1683 to the designs of Sir

Christopher Wren Sir Christopher Wren PRS FRS (; – ) was one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history, as well as an anatomist, astronomer, geometer, and mathematician-physicist. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 church ...

at a cost of £3,705 13s 6d. It was long and wide. The construction was by

Edward Strong the Elder Edward Strong the Elder (1652–1724) and Edward Strong the Younger (1676–1741) were a father and son pair of British sculptors mainly working in London in the 17th and 18th centuries. They led a team of 65 masons and were responsible f ...

. The new building was without aisles, the ceiling taking the form of a plastered dome constructed within the roof space, with short barrel vaults at the east and west ends. The dome was decorated with cherubs in high relief (removed in 1841), and supported on

pendentives In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to point ...

with elaborate plaster decoration. There was one window on each of the four walls. The frontage to Bread Street, at the western end, was faced in

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries are cut in beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building ...

with a curved pediment, but the rest of the church, including the tower, was of brick. There was a wooden spire, covered in lead.

Evangelical Influence

In the late eighteenth century, several prominent Evangelical clergymen attended St. Mildred. The two most famous are Thomas Scott the Commentator, and Daniel Wilson, who eventually became the Bishop of Calcutta. Scott "was appointed to the Sunday afternoon lectureship in Bread Street, February 16, 1790, and retained it till he was chosen sole chaplain to the Lock, in March 1802." At the time, "his congregation seldom much exceeded a hundred in number; but they were attentive hearers, and he had reason to believe that his preaching there was useful to many persons, several of whom have since become instruments of good to others". Scott's lectures took place on Sunday afternoons, and Daniel Wilson was among those who attended.

Nineteenth and twentieth centuries

The poet

Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achi ...

married Mary Godwin in the church on 30 December 1816. Thomas Gilbank Ackland was rector of the church from 1818 until his death in 1844. In 1898 many bodies were disinterred and removed to

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...

. The remains of Sir Nicholas Crisp, found in a stone coffin, were, however, reunited with his heart at Hammersmith. In 1932 a bust of

Arthur Phillip Admiral Arthur Phillip (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer who served as the first governor of the Colony of New South Wales. Phillip was educated at Greenwich Hospital School from June 1751 until ...

, the first

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the A ...

was unveiled on the west wall of the church. The church, with its original fittings, remained in good condition until its destruction by bombing in 1941 when most of its records were lost; The registers had, however, been published by the

Harleian Society The Harleian Society is a text publication society and registered charity founded in 1869 for the publication of manuscripts of the heraldic visitations of the counties of England and Wales, and other unpublished manuscripts relating to genealo ...

in 1912. The parish became one of the eight to have been reunited with

St Mary-le-Bow The Church of St Mary-le-Bow is a Church of England parish church in the City of London. Located on Cheapside, one of the city's oldest and most important thoroughfares, the church was founded in 1080 by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury. Rebuil ...

at different times. The site was excavated by the Museum of London Department of Urban Archaeology between 1973 and 1974. Remains of a 1st-century Roman building, probably a house, were found beneath those of the church. The former site of the church is now the location of the 30 Cannon Street office building.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mildred, Bread Street Christopher Wren church buildings in London Churches in the City of London 17th-century Church of England church buildings 1941 disestablishments in England Churches rebuilt after the Great Fire of London but since demolished