St Nicholas Acons

Coordinates: 51°30′43.46″N 0°5′13.68″W / 51.5120722°N 0.0871333°W / 51.5120722; -0.0871333 St Nicholas Acons^[1] was an Anglican parish church, dating back to the 9th century(Youngs,1979) and situated in Nicholas Lane(Hallows,1954) within the City of London, which was destroyed during the Great Fire of London and not rebuilt(Reynolds,1922). Its parish book, however, did survive and records that a foundling discovered in 1539 was named Nicholas Acons(Brigg,1890), the name itself stemming from a mediaeval benefactor(Stow,1890). The parish was united with St Edmund the King and Martyr, Lombard Street in 1670.(Hibbert) The name was retained as a precinct title ^[2] in the south-western part of Langbourn Ward, one of the 25 self-governing wards, and featured in a famous 18th-century court case.^[3] In the 1860s a proposed unification of benefices between St Edmunds with St Nicholas and St Mary Woolnoth with St Mary Woolchurch Haw(Times 1861) was vigorously defended by St Nicholas Acons’^[4] discrete churchwardens.^[5] In 1964 the churchyard was excavated and important Saxon remains found^[6] but by the last decade of the 20th century Huelin(1996) found only a City Corporation Commemoration at the site of the old parsonage remained to indicate a church had ever been there.

Present day

The parish now forms part of the combined parish of St Edmund the King and Martyr, and St Mary Woolnoth Lombard Street with St Nicholas Acons, All Hallows Lombard Street, St Benet Gracechurch, St Leonard Eastcheap, St Dionis Backchurch and St Mary Woolchurch Haw - usually shortened to "St Edmund & St Mary Woolnoth". It is part of the Church of England's Diocese of London.^[7]

Bibliography

• "The Register Book of the parish of St. Nicholas Acons, London, 1539-1812" Brigg, W(Transc) p 160: Leeds, Walker & Laycock, 1890.
• Church of England, Parish of St. Nicholas Acons. - PLAN OF THE PARISH OF SAINT NICHOLAS ACON'S LOMBARD STREET 1875 / George Leg, 1875 ms. plan. - k1264830 cited in "City of London Parish Registers Guide 4" Hallows, A. (Ed): London, Guildhall Library Research, 1974 ISBN 0-900422-30-0 .
• "Vanished churches of the City of London", Huelin, G p21 : London Guildhall Library Publishing, 1996 ISBN 0-900422-42-4
• A Descriptive Account of the Guildhall of the City of London-Its History and Associations in "The English Historical Review" Price, J.E. pp. 154–158: Oxford, Oxford University Press Jan., 1888 (Vol. 3, No. 9)
• "A Survey of London, Vol I" Stow, J p446 : Originally 1598- this edn, London, A. Fullarton & Co,1890
• The Proposed Union Of City Benefices in "The Times" p 10: London, The Times Newspaper, 1861 (Wednesday, 20 Nov, ; Issue 24095; col C)
• Local Administrative Units: Southern England Youngs, F. p. 302 :London, Royal Historical Society, 1979
• "The London Encyclopaedia" Hibbert, C; Weinreb, D; Keay, J: London, Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev 1993,2008) ISBN 978-1-4050-4924-5

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