St Mary-le-Strand: The Jewel In The Strand

St Mary-le-Strand for many years was literally stranded, on a traffic island, in the middle of the road. It was in fact nicknamed ‘St Mary-in-the-Way’. 

Due to the recent pedestrianisation project of this part of the Strand, the church has been freed from its vehicular prison and so now, I thought, is a perfect time to look at its history and appreciate its wonderful architecture. 

I was shown around the church by the Priest-in-charge Peter Babbington, who also showed me some parts of the church usually out of bounds to the public, such as the roof.

Origins

The current church, as is nearly always the case in London, is not the original. The first St Mary-le-Strand was actually located just to the South of the current building.

It was first recorded in the 12th century but was pulled down in 1549 for the construction of the first Somerset House, built for Edward Seymour, the Duke of Somerset.

In 1711, as London’s population was growing rapidly, an act was passed by Parliament to set up a commission for fifty new churches for the ‘godless thousands’. They wished to strengthen adherence to the Anglican faith as the numbers of dissenters and other faiths grew. The new churches were to be funded by a duty imposed on coal coming into London, which is also how much of the City, including St Paul’s Cathedral, was rebuilt after the Great Fire. 

Only twelve ended up being constructed; they were nicknamed ‘Queen Anne Churches’, after the monarch at the time. Six were designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, such as Christchurch Spitalfields, St Mary Woolnoth and St Anne’s Limehouse. St Mary le Strand was one of the twelve and was designed by an architect called James Gibbs. 

inspiration From Italy

James Gibbs was a Scottish, Roman catholic architect who trained in Rome. He was very much inspired by Italian architecture, particularly the Italian architect Andrea Palladio.

St Mary-le-Strand was his first major project after returning from Italy and he is very much seen as an architect who bridged the gap between the English Baroque of Sir Christopher Wren to the much more neo-classical architecture of the later 18th century. He would go on later to design the iconic St Martin-in-the-Fields Church by Trafalgar Square.

Designing St Mary-le-Strand

Construction on the church began in 1714 and was completed by 1724.

When it was originally constructed it had a narrower street called Holywell Street to the North, but in the 19th century the Strand was expanded and Holywell Street absorbed. This placement is why the church has traditionally often been nicknamed, particularly apparently by black cab drivers, as St Mary-in-the-Way. 

It has this beautiful semi-circular porch with concentric steps. The design was taken from the transept fronts of St Paul’s, which in turn were inspired by the Santa Maria della Pace in Rome (1482). 

Gibbs initially intended for there to be a huge column topped by a statue of Queen Anne instead of a spire. When Queen Anne died in 1714, this plan was dropped, also likely due to it being a bit too Roman Catholic in design. The spire today is a striking landmark in the middle of the Strand, London’s traditional processional route.

It can, unusually for London churches, be clearly viewed, and therefore admired, from all angles and was described by Simon Jenkins in his book England’s Thousand Best Churches as the ‘finest eighteenth century church in London’. 

The Interior

The layout of the church is simple in a way, without aisles, but also very beautiful.

Your eyes are drawn immediately to the ornate ceiling.

Created by the fantastically named Chrysostom Wilkins, the plaster work is all hand-moulded and then painted and gilded with gold-leaf. 

You can see a similar ceiling in the Great Hall of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, also designed by James Gibbs.

The apse is worth a closer look. It is very detailed and the decoration here is of carved stone rather than plaster.

This domed apse is again inspired very much by Italian architecture, such as Santi Apostoli in Rome, which was added to in the 18th century by Carlo Fontana, Gibbs’ tutor in Italy. The carvings display no fewer tha thirty three cherubs heads. 

The elegant pulpit is the original, installed in 1721.

The Windows and World War Two

At the end of the nave are three lovely stained glass windows.

The Victorian stained glass that was here previously was blown out in the Blitz and redesigned by churchwarden and architect Sidney Toy after the war. They were apparently the first new stained glass in London after the war. 

The church was thankfully saved from any more significant damage because, like at St Paul’s Cathedral, there was a team of volunteer fire-watchers on the roof to keep an eye out for incendiary bombs and put out fires. Sidney Toy was actually part of this team during the war. 

After the war St Mary-le-Strand was designated as the official church of the Women’s Royal Naval Service or the ‘Wrens’. You will notice all the cushions are handmade by Wrens and there is a Book of Remembrance.

The Wrens have their memorial services and anniversary services here. 

St Clement Danes, down the road, which was gutted in the Blitz, was designated the Royal Air Force (RAF) church. 

The Roof

I was very grateful to get the rare opportunity to go up on the roof of the church.

The staircase up to the roof is, like the Dean’s Stair in St Paul’s Cathedral, a cantilevered stair. Every stair is therefore barely attached to the wall and mostly supported by the one below. 

There are various 18th century carvings and pieces of graffiti as you go up as well. 

It was interesting to get a close up view of the stonework. Restoration work has recently been carried out on the urns and other stonework to make sure that they are secure. 

I walk along the Strand all the time, mostly leading my Hidden Strand: Power, Wealth and Empire walk, so it was amazing to get a different perspective of it. You get a great view towards Trafalgar Square. 

I also had not seen this carving before on the South facade of Bush House.

Bush House is today part of King’s College, but was originally built by an American called Irving T Bush as a temple to trade, displaying the historic friendship between the USA and the UK. The carving depicts a ship crossing the Atlantic Ocean and then names of prominent politicians and figures from British and American history: Washington, Lincoln, Burke, Canning etc.

The Crypt

I then ventured from the top of the church, right to the bottom because Peter also kindly showed me the crypt.

On the outside of the church you can see where family vaults once were before the Victorian road-widening. 

There are still some human remains in the crypt although most were removed during the Victorian period. It is mostly used a storage space today.

The crypt does contain the church’s boiler. It runs on oil and dates from 1851! That is the year that the Great Exhibition took place in London.

The Church Today

As mentioned at the beginning of the post, the church is now at the centre of the pedestrianisation project that started in 2021.

The short stretch of the Strand around the church has been pedestrianised. Traffic has been redirected around Aldwych, which used to be one way and is now two way. 

The church is carrying out their ‘Jewel in the Strand’ project to raise money to carry out necessary repairs and renovation work to the church, but also to improve its facilities, access and space. There is a plan, for example, to make better use of the crypt space. 

As well as hosting art installations the church also has regular candlelit concerts and lunchtime classical musical performances. You can see their schedule here. They also have regular services and are open to visitors from Monday-Friday Noon-4pm.

Flanked by King’s College and Somerset House, it is therefore a key community hub in this cultural quarter of London. Watch this space for further improvements to the church, you can find out more about the project here. 

Thank you for reading, more of London’s historic gems below…