ST.BRIDES, FLEET STREETONE OF THE OLDEST CHURCHES IN LONDONSt.Brides, which is situated just off Fleet Street in Bride Lane, stands on a site which, prior to World War II was believed to have been the site of a Christian Church for over one thousand years. However, on the night of 29th December 1940, this belief was shattered forever when a German wartime firebomb, set fire to the Church. Although the steeple was left intact, the fire had all but destroyed the rest of the Church, leaving just a smouldering shell.In the subsequent rebuilding, (which after completion was rededicated in the presence of the Queen and Prince Philip on 19th December 1957) excavations which were undertaken to expose and evaluate the strength of the foundations, allowed the Archeologists time to investigate. The result of these investigations led to another eight hundred years being added to St.Bride's history. Several layers of Norman, Saxon and Roman origin were discovered. The first Church was said to have been built by St.Bridget of Kildare (from where we get the name St.Bride) on the site of an earlier Roman building, discovered together with the remains of a pavement. This it is thought, may possibly have been a house, built on the banks of the River Fleet, a tidal branch to the River Thames, both of whose courses ebbed and flowed nearby. The first Church by St.Bridget along with
ABOVE:ST. BRIDES CHURCH FLEET STREET. All Hallows by the Tower are now thought to have been the earliest known places of Christian worship that have been discovered in London. The Norman Church was used in the year 1205 as the location of the Curia Regis, which was a Council of Tenants-in-Chief and Ecclesiastics who assembled to help and advise the King on legislative matters and was the forerunner of Parliament as we know it today. These tenants-in-chief had been the main beneficiaries of the Norman Conquest of England. When William the Duke of Normandy invaded England in 1066, he brought with him the feudal system, by which he granted land to his military supporters, who had helped him to defeat King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. In exchange for this land, these new landowners, called Tenants-in-Chief (or Barons), had to swear an oath of allegiance to him. This allegiance, most importantly, was to include the provision of armed men on horseback for military service (knights). In order to provide these knights, the Barons divided their lands up into smaller units called manors, which were then passed on to the men, who in return made an oath to serve the King as knights, if and when he needed them. The Church was again used in 1210 by King John as the location for this Council of Tenants-in-Chief and Ecclesiastics, thereby showing the esteem in which St.Bride's was held The Great Fire of London destroyed the Church which stood there in 1666 and along with fifty other London Chuches, which had suffered the same fate, it was rebuilt by Christopher Wren.
The steeple which was added in 1703 is Wren's tallest. Standing at a height of 234 feet when constructed and with its four diminishing octagonal stages, it is considered by many to be his most beautiful, steeple. It is indeed quite striking.
ABOVE:ST. BRIDE'S WEDDING CAKE STEEPLE. The shape of the steeple brought it fame of another kind, when a certain Thomas Rich, who was apprenticed to a baker on nearby Ludgate Hill, fell in love with the bakers daughter. After setting up his own business on completion of his apprenticeship, he was now settled and in a secure position to ask the baker for his daughters hand in marriage. To this proposal the baker readily agreed. Now Thomas, being a fully fledged baker, wanted to surprise his new bride, by creating something really spectacular for her, something she would never forget. However, try as he might, he could not think of anything that would make a lasting impression upon her, or anything that would even tickle her imagination. Not, that is until one day, as he was still dreaming, his wistful gaze happened to fall, as it had so often fallen before, on the steeple with the four, diminishing, octagonal tiers, at the top of the Church in which he was to be married, St.Bride's in Fleet Street. That was the moment for Thomas, when inspiration hit him. He had invented the diminishing multi tiered wedding cake. It was the moment that countless millions of people the whole world over should remember and thank Thomas for. Thomas did not go without his rewards however. He made his fortune selling cakes modelled on St.Bride's steeple until his death in 1811. There is a dress belonging to the wife of Thomas Rich on display in a glass case in the crypt. The names of a certain Thomas Rich and his wife are engraved on a gravestone in St.Bride's churchyard.
ABOVE:THE WEDDING DRESS OF THE WIFE OF THOMAS RICH.
THE ROW BETWEEN KING GEORGE III AND BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.
A furious row was recorded in 1764 as having taken place between King George III (RIGHT)and Benjamin Franklin (LEFT) one of the founding fathers of The United States of America, when lightening, having struck the steeple of St.Brides, reduced its height by eight feet.When Franklin, who in those days, was quite rightly considered to be somewhat of an expert on lightening, was asked to give advise to the King on the installation of lightening rods, he suggested that the conductors being installed should have pointed ends. It appears the King insisted that the conductors were to be blunt and that it appears, was that. The English press reported the outcome by describing the King as "good blunt honest George," while Franklin was described as "a sharp-witted colonist". While excavations were taking place following the firebomb destruction of 1940, it was discovered that Sir Christopher Wren had, as he was usually inclined to do, used the solid foundations of the previous six Churches, on which to build his own Church. This resulted in vast crypts being formed. These crypts were subsequently used as burial places for centuries. However, when the cholora epidemic swept London in 1854, 10,000 people died. Parliament then decided that no more burials were to take place in The City of London. Since the crypts therefore, were no longer of any use, they were closed, sealed up and eventually forgotten about. That is, until the excavations revealed them once more. Almost seven thousand human remains were discovered in what was a medieval charnel house and are not open to the public. The rest of the crypts now form what is a small museum, showing two thousand years of London history, on a site which was once thought of as being only half that age. Out of what can only be described as a tragedy, both in human lives on a massive scale and the destruction of priceless architectural beauty, the London blitz was not without some good. There are, besides Benjamin Franklin, some other interesting American connections with St.Brides. The parents of Edward Wimslow, one of the Pilgrim Fathers, were married here. Close to the font is a copy of an original bust of Virginia Dare, the first child to be born in the English colony of North Carolina in 1587, whose parents were also married here. Sadly, Virginia was to die with the rest of Sir Walter Raleigh's lost colony.
LEFT:SAMUEL PEPYS. RIGHT:JOHN EVELYN.
Famous writers who had associations with St.Brides include: John Dryden, John Milton, Richard Lovelace, (who was buried in the old church) Samuel Richardson, who all lived in the parish. Samuel Richardson being buried there. Both of the Great Fire of London Diarists had associations with the Church. Samuel Pepys,a Parishioner was born in nearby Salisbury Court and was baptised there on 3rd March 1633. John Evelyn,studied at the Middle Temple, close by.The parents of Edward Winslow, one of the leaders of the Pilgrim Fathers,who sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, were married there. He would later serve as Governor of Plymouth Colony in 1633, 1636 and 1644.
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