St Katharine Cree: A Jacobean Treasure That Survived The Great Fire

Just around the corner from Fenchurch Street Station, amid the glass and steel of the financial district, you will find one of the few churches to have survived the Great Fire of London: St Katharine Cree. It also only suffered minor damage in the Blitz and therefore is a wonderfully preserved gem, with a fascinating and dramatic history. 

The Church’s Origins

There are records of a church being on this site since at least 1280. It was originally the church serving the Augustinian Priory of Holy Trinity, tucked just inside the Eastern limits of the City walls. The Priory had been founded in 1108 by Matilda of Scotland wife of King Henry I. 

The church of the priory initially also served the residents of the parish. The Prior later decided to rebuild it for the sole use of parishioners, to stop his canons being ‘disturbed by the laity’. It became its own parish church in 1414. 

The Priory was also known as Christ Church, which corrupted to ‘Creechurch’, hence the unusual name of St Katharine Cree today. The church sits on the corner of Creechurch Lane and Leadenhall Street today. 

The Jacobean Rebuild

A tower was added in 1504, which still survives today. However, in the late 16th century John Stow described it as ‘this church seemeth to be very old; since the building whereof the high street hath been so often raised by pavements that now men are fain to descend into the said church by divers steps, seven in number.’ So, clearly, in need of a revamp. 

The current building today dates predominantly from a rebuild thta took place between 1628-1630. This makes it a rare church built in the reign of Charles I, under the direction of William Laud, the Bishop of London at the time.

Laud would later become Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633. He was a key supporter of Charles I and was staunchly anti-Calvinist/Puritan, so therefore started moving the Church of England back towards High-Anglicanism. 

As Bishop of London, Laud consecrated the church on the 31st January 1631. The service, with the vestments that he wore, ornaments and ceremony were later used as evidence in his trial in 1644 as him showing Catholic and Popish sympathies. He was beheaded on Tower Hill on 10th January 1645, four years before Charles I met the same fate on Whitehall. 

Inside you can see this small wooden figurine of Charles. He is depicted standing on top of an axe as a nod to his execution.

A rare Architectural Mix

It has an unusual architectural mix, being neither purely late-Gothic nor early-Classical. Its style places it very much into the transition period when classical architecture was being introduced to England by Inigo Jones. Jones was architect of the Queen’s House in Greenwich and Banqueting House in Whitehall and it is possible that he also designed St Katharine Cree, but it is not known for sure.

The nave has classical arcades with Corinthian columns supporting semi-circular arches. The plaster-ribbed, vaulted ceiling is decorated with medieval-style bosses. 

You are immediately struck by the spectacular rose window behind the altar. This is thought to have been a model of the great window at the Old St Paul’s Cathedral. 

Only a few decades after the church’s completion, the Great Fire of London ripped through the tightly packed streets of Restoration London. Around 80% of the old city was destroyed, with only buildings in the North-East corner of the walled city emerging unscathed.

The Merchant Stalked By A Lion

Another detail to spot is the octagonal marble font, presented in 1631 by John Gayer.

He was a former Lord Mayor of the City and Governor of the East India Company. He had been travelling in the Syrian desert when came across a lion. Terrified, John prayed to God for rescue and the lion left him alone. 

In thanks for his deliverance, when he returned to London Sir John gave money to the parish for the poor and for the preaching of an annual sermon called the ‘Lion Sermon’ on the 16th October, the anniversary of the event. This year the 377th Lion Sermon will take place, always on the theme of facing challenges. Some of Gayer’s descendants still attend the service to this day. 

Remembering A Terrible Naval Disaster

There is a stained glass window in the South aisle commemorating a tragic naval disaster. 

On 17th June 1940 HMS Lancastria, a troopship was sunk by enemy bombs whilst anchored off St Nazaire on the French Atlantic coast. She was evacuating troops from Western France as part of Operation Aerial. There were nearly 7,000 passengers on board and over 4,000 were killed, making it the deadliest naval disaster in British history in terms of single-ship loss of life. For context, around 1,500 died when the Titanic sunk in 1912. 

This was at a pivotal moment in the Second World War and Winston Churchill ordered a media blackout, worried about public morale. The story was eventually broken by The New York Times in late July 1940, over five weeks after the event. 

Designed by John Hayward, the window was unveiled in 1963.

It is a mixture of religious imagery such as Jesus walking on water and historical imagery. In the bottom left corner for example you can see a struggling lifeboat. 

The reason it is in St Katharine Cree is because of the church having links to the maritime community. Cunard shipping line’s offices, who owned the vessel, were nearby. A service is held each year to commemorate the disaster.

A Lucky Tudor Diplomat

On the South-East wall is the memorial to politician and diplomat Sir Nicholas Throckmorton (1515-1571). 

Throckmorton just about managed to ride out a fair proportion of the turbulent 16th century serving multiple Tudor monarchs. He was knighted during the reign of Edward VI, but imprisoned in the Tower and narrowly escaped execution during Mary I’s reign after being suspected of complicity in the Wyatt rebellion in 1554. 

Under Elizabeth I he became Chamberlain of the Exchequer, and then ambassador to France. He then became ambassador to Scotland in 1565. In 1569, he fell under suspicion during the Ridolfi Plot, a plan for Thomas Howard, the Duke of Norfolk, to marry Mary Queen of Scots. He was imprisoned in Windsor but managed to survive again. 

His daughter Eliabeth Throckmorton was a lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I and ended up secretly marrying Sir Walter Raleigh. This led to her banishment from court and Raleigh’s fall from royal favour. 

Other Famous Associations 

Finally, the church has a few other well-known characters associated with it. Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel are known to have played the organ here. The organ case is thought to date from the 17th century, possibly carved by Grinling Gibbons. 

It is also widely considered that painter Hans Holbein the Younger is buried here. Holbein died of the plague in 1543 and was most likely buried in a plague burial ground within the grounds of St Katharine Cree, or the former Priory. 

Visiting St Katharine Cree

Do visit if you can, it is a fascinating spot. St Katharine Cree today is not a parish church, it is a ‘guild church’ ​. This means it focuses on workers and the daytime population in the City, known as the “Guild Church for Workers”.​

The Friends of City Churches are here Thursday 11am-3pm. Other opening hours are Tuesdays 8:30am – 3pm and Fridays 10am – 3pm

You can find out more on their website here. 

Thank you for reading! More of London’s incredible hidden historic gems below…