St Faith under St Paul's

St Faith under St Paul's

Current photo of site
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Roman Catholic, Anglican

St Faith under St Paul’s in Castle Baynard Ward was an unusual parish within the City of London [2]. It had been physically removed in 1256[3] to allow for the eastern expansion of the Old St Paul's Cathedral [4]. Until the reign of Edward VI the parishioners worshipped at the end of the west crypt under St Paul’s Quire [5]. The well known diarist of the Long Parliament, Sir Simonds D'Ewes, attended the wedding of his father Paul and his step-mother, Lady Elizabeth Denton, in "St. Faith's under St. Paul's" on March 5, 1623, and Sir Simonds's younger sister Mary also married there on December 4, 1626 [6] The Mortality Bill for the year 1665, published by the Parish Clerk’s Company, shows 97 parishes within the City of London [7]- of which St Faith was one. From the reign of Edward VI until the Great Fire the parishioners, mostly booksellers in Paternoster Row [8], transferred to the Jesus Chapel, their separateness emphasised by a screen [9]. After this tragedy [10] the parish was united with St Augustine Watling Street [11], an arrangement that worked amicably well long after anyone who could have remembered the old cathedral had died [12], the name also being used in official records[13] and plans[14]. Partial records survive at IGI[15] and a drawing by Thomas Kerrich is preserved at The British Library while visitors to the rebuilt cathedral are still reminded of the association[16] during their tour.

References

  1. ^ On St Paul's Choir School in New Change
  2. ^ The parish also extended into Farringdon Within “The City of London-a history” Borer,M.I.C.: New York,D.McKay Co, 1978 ISBN 0094618801
  3. ^ "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert,C;Weinreb,D;Keay,J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008) ISBN 978-1-4050-4924-5
  4. ^ "A dictionary of London : being notes topographical and historical relating to the streets and principal buildings in the City of London" Harbens, H.A : London, Herbert Jenkins Ltd,1918
  5. ^ “Vanished Churches of the City of London” Huelin,G London Guildhall Library Publishing 1996 ISBN 0900422424
  6. ^ "The Autobiography and Correspondence of Sir Simonds D'Ewes," London, 1845, vol. 1, pp. 229, 324
  7. ^ “The ancient office of Parish Clerk and the Parish Clerks Company of London” Clark, O :London, Journal of the Ecclesiastical Law Society Vol 8, January 2006 ISSN: 0956-618X
  8. ^ “Diary of Samuel Pepys” Dover, Lewis Publications,1992 ISBN 048636675
  9. ^ “A Survey of London, Vol I” Stow,J (Originally,1598: this edn-London, A.Fullarton & Co,1890)
  10. ^ “The tombs, monuments, etc., visible in S. Paul's Cathedral (and S. Faith's beneath it) previous to its destruction by fire A.D. 1666” Major Payne Fisher (Blacker Morgan, G.B. Ed., 1855): London, Privately printed, 1684.
  11. ^ "The Churches of the City of London" Reynolds,H.: London, Bodley Head, 1922
  12. ^ Church of England, Parish of St. Augustine Watling Street. - Agreement between the churchwardens of both the parishes of St Augustine Watling Street and St Faith under St Paul’s, 1830. - M0017513CL cited in "City of London Parish Registers Guide 4" Hallows,A.(Ed): London, Guildhall Library Research, 1974 ISBN 0900422300
  13. ^ 18th Century-old parish name still used in Court Proceedings
  14. ^ 1753 plan
  15. ^ Genealogical Web-Site
  16. ^ Modern Chapel

External links