Description
The church was first recorded here c.1111, Bene't being a corruption of St Benedict, founder of the order of Benedictine monks in the C6th. St Benet's burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666 and was rebuilt in 1678-84 by Wren and possibly Robert Hooke. Early recorded burials include Sir William Cheyny and Margaret his wife (d.1425), and famous people associated with the church include Inigo Jones (d.1652) who was buried beneath the chancel and Henry Fielding who married the former maid of his first wife here in 1747. Part of the former churchyard survives to the north of the church, but had been reduced in size in the 1870s when Queen Victoria Street was laid out. In 1879 the church was saved from destruction when it became the London Church of the Welsh Episcopalians.
Practical Information
| Previously known as | St Benet Paul's Wharf |
|---|---|
| Site location | Bennet's Hill, off Queen Victoria Street/Upper Thames Street |
| Postcode | EC4V 4ER |
| What3Words | ///files.vibe.decide |
| Type of Site | Public Gardens |
| Borough | City of London |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | unrestricted. Church open by arrangement |
| Public Transport | Tube: Blackfriars; Mansion House (District, Circle) |
| Research Updated | 1 June 2010 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
The church of St Benet was first recorded here c.1111, Bene't a corruption of St Benedict, founder of the order of Benedictine monks in the early C6th. The church burnt down in the Great Fire of 1666 as did that of St Peter Paul's Wharf after which the two parishes amalgamated when the latter was not rebuilt. St Benet's was rebuilt in 1678-84 by Wren probably with design work also by Hooke. Early recorded burials include that of Sir William Cheyny and Margaret his wife (d.1425), and famous people associated with the church include Inigo Jones who was buried beneath the chancel. Henry Fielding married the former maid of his first wife here in 1747, the church in the C18th having become a place where quick marriages could take place as a result of its associations with the Ecclesiastical Lawyers. Among the tablets in the church is that of John Charles Brooke who was one of a number of people who died at the Haymarket Theatre on 3 February 1794 'being thrown down a flight of steps, through the impetuosity of a crowd there assembled'.
Part of the former churchyard of St Benet Paul's Wharf survives to the north of the church, but had been reduced in size in the 1870s when Queen Victoria Street was laid out. In 1879 the parish joined that of St Nicholas Cole Abbey (q.v.) and the church was saved from destruction when in the same year it became the London Church of the Welsh Episcopalians; it remains the Metropolitan Welsh Church with services conducted in Welsh. When the Blackfriars Underpass was built in the 1970s the church was cut off and it is overlooked by the new flyover of White Lion Hill. It was badly damaged in a fire in 1971. An engraving of 1838 shows the churchyard.
Part of the former churchyard of St Benet Paul's Wharf survives to the north of the church, but had been reduced in size in the 1870s when Queen Victoria Street was laid out. In 1879 the parish joined that of St Nicholas Cole Abbey (q.v.) and the church was saved from destruction when in the same year it became the London Church of the Welsh Episcopalians; it remains the Metropolitan Welsh Church with services conducted in Welsh. When the Blackfriars Underpass was built in the 1970s the church was cut off and it is overlooked by the new flyover of White Lion Hill. It was badly damaged in a fire in 1971. An engraving of 1838 shows the churchyard.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ320809 |
|---|---|
| Size in hectares | 0.0346 |
| Site Ownership | St Benet's Welsh Church |
| Site Management | City of London Corporation Open Spaces Dept. |
| Dates | C12th onwards; 1677 |
| Listed Structures | LBI: St Benet Paul's Wharf Church |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | City of London |
| In Conservation Area | No |
| Tree Preservation Order | No |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | Yes - Thames Policy Area/St Paul's Heights Policy Area |
| Other LA Designation | Strategic View - Consultation Area |
Gallery
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
The church was first called St Andrew's juxta Baynard's Castle after a tower erected on the banks of the Thames by the Baynard family, who came to England with William the Conqueror. Baynard's Castle was later owned by the Crown and occasionally used as a Royal residence. St Andrew's later became known as St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe due to the proximity of the Royal Wardrobe, which had moved from the Tower in the mid C14th to a site now Wardrobe Place north of the church. Baynard's Castle, the Wardrobe and St Andrew's were destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, the church rebuilt in 1685-94 by Wren. The steep terraced churchyard that lies between the church front and Queen Victoria Street was laid out as a garden in 1901 when the front wall with urns and ornamental wrought iron gates were erected, presented in memory of church warden Professor Banister Fletcher.
Wardrobe Place is so-called after the King's Great Wardrobe, which housed the Crown's storage of clothing and arms. It was moved from the Tower of London to Lombard Street in 1311 and then in the 1360s to a house here that Edward III purchased from Sir John Beauchamp. The Wardrobe was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 and the buildings in Wardrobe Place today date from the C18th and C19th. It is reached through an archway from Carter Lane, a paved courtyard laid out with a few trees and seats.
Carter Lane Garden was laid out post WWII on an area that had originally been intended for a traffic scheme south of St Paul's Cathedral. It follows the ground-plan of the pre-war buildings over whose bombed foundations it was formed. In 1955 a circular Information Pavilion built for the Festival of Britain in 1951 in nearby Festival Gardens, was re-erected in the north-west corner. This remained until 2007 when a new information kiosk designed by make architects was erected, at the same time as re-landscaping of the garden. It is divided into two areas either side of the wide paved path that forms the pedestrian route from St Paul's to the Millennium Bridge and Tate Modern.
