St Gabriel Fenchurch (or Fen Church as recorded on the Ordnance Survey) was a parish church in the

Langbourn Ward Langbourn is one of the 25 ancient wards of the City of London. It reputedly is named after a buried stream in the vicinity. It is a small ward; a long thin area, running in a west–east direction. Historically, Lombard Street and Fenchurch ...

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 ...

, destroyed in the

Great Fire of London The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through central London from Sunday 2 September to Thursday 6 September 1666, gutting the medieval City of London inside the old Roman city wall, while also extending past th ...

and not rebuilt.

History

The church stood between Rood Lane and

Mincing Lane Mincing Lane is a short one-way street in the City of London linking Fenchurch Street to Great Tower Street. In the late 19th century it was the world's leading centre for tea and spice trading. Etymology Its name is a corruption of Mynchen Lan ...

, with the churchyard extending north beyond present day

Fenchurch Street Fenchurch Street is a street in London linking Aldgate at its eastern end with Lombard Street and Gracechurch Street in the west. It is a well-known thoroughfare in the City of London financial district and is the site of many corporate offi ...

to Fen Court. At the beginning of the 17th century,

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

wrote in his description of Fenchurch Street: "In the midst of this street standeth a small parish church called St Gabriel Fen Church, corruptly Fan church". The dedication to St Gabriel is first recorded in 1517. Before that it had been known as St Mary's. Richard Newcourt wrote:

...this Church hath all along in the London Registry been recorded by the Name of S. Mary Fencherch, till the Year 1517. for then is the first time I find it there call'd by the Name of S. Gabriel Fencherch; and the next Year after All Saints Fencherch; whence, I conjecture, it may, probably, be dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to the Holy Angel Gabriel, and to All Saints.

The church was lengthened by nine feet in 1631. This and other improvements were done at a cost to the parish of £587 10s. Thomas Clark, a glazier, gave the church an east window, with the Royal Arms and the motto "Touch Not Mine Anointed".. Along with the majority of the parish churches in the City, St Gabriel's was destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666. A Rebuilding Act was passed in 1670 and a committee set up under

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 ...

. It decided to rebuild 51 of the churches, but St Gabriel's was not among them. Instead the parish was united to that of

St Margaret Pattens St Margaret Pattens is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on Eastcheap near the Monument. The dedication is to St. Margaret of Antioch. History The church was first recorded in 1067, at which time the church was probably ...

, although its land holding was not finally resolved until 13 years later, and charitable bequests continued to be made using the old name. The land on which the church had stood was incorporated into the roadway, but part of the churchyard survived in Fen Court. Notable tombs in the church included that of Benedict Spinola, the Genoese Elizabethan banker.John Bennell
Spinola, Benedict (1519/20–1580)
in ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' (2004), online ed., January 2008, accessed 21 December 2010 (subscription required)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Gabriel Fenchurch 12th-century church buildings in England 1666 disestablishments in England Churches destroyed in the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt Churches in the City of London Former buildings and structures in the City of London