St Andrew Undershaft is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, the historic nucleus and modern financial centre of London. It is located on St Mary Axe, within the

Aldgate Aldgate () was a gate in the former defensive wall around the City of London. The gate gave its name to ''Aldgate High Street'', the first stretch of the A11 road, that takes that name as it passes through the ancient, extramural Portsoken ...

ward, and is a rare example of a City church that survived both the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Wednesday 5 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old London Wall, Roman city wall, while also extendi ...

and

the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...

. The present building was constructed in 1532 but a church has existed on the site since the 12th century. Today, St Andrew Undershaft is administered from the nearby St Helen's Bishopsgate church.

History

The first church on the site, which today is bordered by St Mary Axe and

Leadenhall Street __NOTOC__ Leadenhall Street () is a street in the City of London. It is about and links Cornhill, London, Cornhill in the west to Aldgate in the east. It was formerly the start of the A11 road (England), A11 road from London to Norwich, but th ...

, was built in

medieval times In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

, being recorded in 1147. It was rebuilt in the 14th century and again in 1532; this third incarnation of the building survives today. It is in the Perpendicular style with its entrance located at the base of its off-centre tower. The interior is divided into six bays, with many of the original fittings that survived the Victorian renovation. Formerly, St Andrew Undershaft had one of London's few surviving large stained-glass windows, installed in the 17th century, but this was destroyed in the Baltic Exchange bombing in 1992. Undershaft Maypole

The church's curious name derives from the shaft of the

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

that was traditionally set up each year opposite the church. The custom continued each spring until 1517, when

student riots Student riots, college riots, or campus riots are riots precipitated by students, generally from a college, university, or other school. Student riots are often an aspect of student protests. Reasons As with riot A riot or mob violence is ...

put an end to it, but the maypole itself survived until 1547 when it was seized by a mob and destroyed as a "pagan idol". According to

John Stow John Stow (''also'' Stowe; 1524/25 – 5 April 1605) was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of History of England, English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as ''The Summarie of Englyshe C ...

, the chronicler who is buried here, they had it "raised from the hooks whereon it had rested for two-and-thirty years, sawn in pieces and burnt." St Andrew Undershaft is now administered from the nearby church of St Helen's Bishopsgate. St Andrew Undershaft was designated a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

on 4 January 1950. The tower holds a peal of six bells in the key of G, with the tenor being cast in 1597 by Robert Mot. These are now hung dead (they can only be rung stationary) inside the tower.

Organ

The

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

was installed in 1696 by Renatus Harris. A swell was added in 1750 by John Byfield. There have been other restorations and enhancements by George Pike England in 1810–11 and 1826. Further work was carried out by William Hill, Speechly and J. W. Walker & Sons, and Rushworth and Dreaper. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register The organ is of such historic significance that it has been awarded a Grade I historic organ certificate by the British Institute of Organ Studies.

Organists

*William Goodgroome, 1696 *

Philip Hart Philip Aloysius Hart (December 10, 1912December 26, 1976) was an American lawyer and politician. A Democrat, he served as a United States Senator from Michigan from 1959 until his death from cancer in Washington, D.C. in 1976. He was known as ...

, 1697–1749 * John Worgan, 1749–1790 *Mary Allen, 1790–1836 * Richard Limpus, 1847 *William Rea, 1847–1858 * Elizabeth Stirling, 1858–1880 *C. F. Frye, 1880–1886 *W. M. Wait, 1887–1891 *Herbert George Preston, 1891–1912 *William A. S. Ballard, 1913–1921

Notable people associated with the church

* Sir Thomas Offley, Lord Mayor of London 1563–64, was buried in 1582. The monument to Sir Thomas and his wife Joan (died 1578) survives in St Andrew Undershaft. Joan was a granddaughter of Sir Stephen Jennings, Lord Mayor, who funded the rebuilding of the church. *

, author of the ''Survey of London'': buried in 1605. The quill pen held in the hand of his alabaster monument is renewed periodically by, alternately, the Lord Mayor of London and the Master of the

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 111 Livery company, livery companies of the City of London. The Company, originally known as the ''Guild and Fraternity of St John the Baptist in the City of London'', was founded prior t ...

, at a memorial service organised by the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. * Hugh Hamersley, Lord Mayor of London in 1627, whose memorial is in St Andrew Undershaft. *

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; ; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He ...

, a former parishioner of St Andrew Undershaft was possibly buried in the church. * Frederick George Blomfield, rector of St Andrew Undershaft (1853–1879), son of Charles James Blomfield (Bishop of London) and father of Dorothy Gurney (poet and hymn writer). * John Lawrence Toole, a comedian who was born and christened in St Andrew Undershaft. *

Fabian Stedman Fabian Stedman (1640–1713) was an English author and a leading figure in the early history of campanology, particularly in the field of method ringing. He had a key role in publishing two books ''Tintinnalogia'' (1668 with Richard Duckworth) an ...

the father of church bellringing was buried in St Andrew Undershaft. * Sir William Perkins, eminent merchant and founder of a charity school in Chertsey in 1725 for twenty-five boys and later twenty-five girls ( Sir William Perkins's School), buried in St Andrew Undershaft in 1741

Notes

External links