St Mary Woolnoth

The site may once have been that of an ancient pre-Christian temple, fragments of which were discovered in 1716 when St Mary's was rebuilt. Possibly named after someone called Wulfnoth, although other explanations are that it was so called to distinguish it from St Mary Woolchurch, a nearby church destroyed in the Great Fire in whose churchyard was a beam for weighing wool, Woolnoth derived from Wool-nought. St Mary Woolnoth is first referred to in 1273/4. The church belonged to the Priory of St Helen Bishopsgate until the Dissolution of the Monasteries, its first lay patron thereafter was Sir Martin Bowes, Master of the Goldsmiths' Company. An older church was rebuilt c.1438 and a charnel chapel was built in 1496 and was used for burials. The church was badly damaged in the Fire of London but in 1677 St Mary Woolnoth was only repaired by Wren. This work was paid for largely by Alderman Sir Robert Vyner, who lived nearby in Lombard Street and in recognition of this munificence, according to John Stow, a number of vines were placed over that part of the church facing his house. After the Fire the parish was joined by that of St Mary le Stocks near the site of Mansion House, which was destroyed and not rebuilt. However, St Mary Woolnoth became dilapidated and following the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711, it was rebuilt by Nicholas Hawksmoor in 1716-27. For many years the rector was Revd John Newton, friend of the poet William Cowper, and he was buried in a vault in the church in 1807. The iron railings date from c1900, and were extended c.1992.

The crypt of the church was once used as a booking hall for Bank underground station, which was built alongside the church on King William Street in 1897/8. In 2004 works were undertaken as part of adjacent development and a passageway behind the church was opened. There is a small semi-circular paved forecourt with some planting and seating, bordered by railings with fine gates and gate piers.