St Martin Outwich

St. Martin Outwich

The church in the early nineteenth century
Denomination Church of England
Administration
Diocese Diocese of London

St Martin Outwich was parish church in the City of London, on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt at the end of the eighteenth century.

History

A church of St Martin was built in the fourteenth century at the expense of members of the Oteswich family, from whom the church derives its name. The church escaped the Great Fire of 1666, but fell into decay, and was badly damaged in a fire of 1765 which destroyed fifty houses. In 1796 an act of parliament was obtained, to allow the parish to raise money to rebuild the church. The first stone was laid in May of that year, and the new building, to the designs of Samuel Pepys Cockerell, was consecrated in November 1798.[1]

Cockerell's church was oval in plan, with a recess at the east end forming the chancel. The walls were decorated with pilasters, from the capitals of which rose a coved ceiling, pierced by four semi-circular windows. A fifth window, over the altar, contained stained glass coats-of-arms from the old church. Several monuments from the old church were also preserved , including one to John Outeswich and his wife. There was a fresco of the ascension by John Francis Rigaud over the altar, which had deteriorated badly within ten years of being painted.[2][1]

The heavily rusticated east front, facing into Bishopsgate, was described by James Peller Malcolm as "a complete representation of a gaol, accompanied by marks of extreme strength, very ill suited to its diminutive outline." The north side, towards Threadneedle street, was very plain.[2]

Repairs and alterations were made by Charles Barry in 1827.[1] The church was demolished in 1874[3] and its parish united with that of St Helen's Bishopsgate. Eighteen monuments were moved into St Helen's before St Martin's was destroyed.[4].Nikolaus Pevsner found a portion of the churchyard in the corner of the garden of a nearby office block[5].

References

  1. ^ 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. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=AtI9AAAAcAAJ&dq=godwin+churches+of+london&source=gbs_navlinks_s. 
  2. ^ a b Malcolm, James Peller (1807). Londinium Redivivium, or, an Ancient History and Modern Description of London. 4. pp. 406–10. 
  3. ^ "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert,C;Weinreb,D;Keay,J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008) ISBN 978-1-4050-4924-5
  4. ^ Ann Saunders, The Art and Architecture of London: An Illustrated Guide (Oxford: Phaidon, 1984), 76.
  5. ^ "London:the City Churches” Pevsner,N/Bradley,S New Haven, Yale, 1998 ISBN 0300096550

External links