St Mildred, Poultry

Contents
St. Mildred, Poultry

Current photo of site
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Church of England

St Mildred, Poultry was a parish church in the Cheap ward,[1] of the City of London.[2] It was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London and demolished in 1872.

History

The church stood the north side of Poultry at its junction with Mansion House Street The first church can be traced back to 1175, in the reign of Henry the Second;[3] by 1456, it had fallen into disrepair, and had to be taken down and rebuilt.[4]

The medieval building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and a new church was completed in 1676 to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, after which the parish was united with that of St Mary Colechurch, which was not rebuilt. George Godwin described the interior of the new church as "a simple room with a flat ceiling coved at the sides … remarkable for nothing but a strange want of symmetry apparent at the west end". It was 56 feet long, 42 feet wide and 36 feet high.[4] The most ornamented part of the exterior was the south side, towards Poultry, with a central pediment and Ionic pilasters.[5] There was a 75 foot high tower,[4] topped by a copper weather-vane in the form of a ship.[5]

The building was sold for £50,200 in 1871 under the Union of Benefices Act[5][6] and demolished the following year.[7] A City Corporation Plaque now marks the site. The parish was united with that of St Olave Old Jewry and the proceeds of the sale were used to build and endow the new church of St Paul, Goswell Road, which also received the City church's pulpit and woodwork. The weather vane was transferred to St Olave Old Jewry.[5]

When the parish of St Olave also ceased to be viable, the combined paishes were in turn united with St Margaret Lothbury.[8]

St Mildred in the Poultry was the burial place of the writer Thomas Tusser. Some description of the church and its monuments is given in John Stow's Survey of London.[9]

Rectors (incomplete list)

See also

References

  1. ^ The mediaeval meaning of the word is market “Oxford English Dictionary Vol 2” p634 Murray, J(Ed): OUP, Oxford,1893
  2. ^ “Churches of the City of London” Reynolds, H: Bodley Head, London, 1922
  3. ^ “Vanished churches of the City of London”, Huelin, G: Guildhall Library Publishing, London 1996 ISBN 0900422424
  4. ^ a b c Godwin, George; John Britton (1839). The Churches of London: A History and Description of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of the Metropolis. London: C. Tilt. 
  5. ^ a b c d Wheatley, Henry Benjamin; Cunningham, Peter (2011) [1891]. London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 640. ISBN 9781108028073. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iwOT78ZYXhAC&printsec=frontcover. Retrieved 24 September 2011. 
  6. ^ “History of the church of St Mildred the Virgin in Poultry in the City of London”: John Russell Smith,London,1872
  7. ^ "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert,C;Weinreb,D;Keay,J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008) ISBN 978-1-4050-4924-5
  8. ^ Papers relating to the proposed union of the rectory of St Margaret Lothbury MS 08905 cited in “City of London Parish Registers Guide 4” Hallows,A.(Ed) - London, Guildhall Library Research, 1974 ISBN 0900422300.
  9. ^ W. J. Thoms (ed.), A Survey of London written in the year 1598, by John Stow (based on 1798 edition), (Chatto and Windus, London 1876), pp. 98-99.
  10. ^ Smith, John in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  11. ^ Weale, John in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  12. ^ Dictionary of National Biography
  13. ^  "Shute, Christopher". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 
  14. ^ Shute, Nathaniel in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  15. ^ Maden, Richard in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  16. ^  "Scudder, Henry". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 
  17. ^ Perrinchief, Richard in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  18. ^ Williams, John in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  19. ^  "Williams, John (1636?-1709)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900. 
  20. ^ Wallis, William in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  21. ^ Newcombe, Benjamin in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
  22. ^ http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62910
  23. ^ Bromley, Robert in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.

External links

Explanation of dedicationVictorian Etching of church