Part 15

It is a plain stone building, likely to stand for ages; the body is well enlightened by a range of large well-proportioned windows, and the corners are wrought with rustic: it is 72 feet long, and 45 broad; the roof is 38 feet high, and the steeple about 90 feet. It has a plain solid tower, constructed in the same manner as the body of the church; and the angles in the upper stage are adorned with rustic: the cornice is supported by scrolls, and above it is a plain Attic course: in this rises a turret with a square base that supports the dial; this turret is arched, but the corners are massy: its roof is terminated in a point on which is placed the fane.

The patronage of this church appears to have been anciently in the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul’s; but the parishioners have ever since the reformation had the right of chusing their own Minister, who must however be licenced by the Bishop of London; but in matters ecclesiastical it is subject to the Archdeacon, except as to wills and administrations, which belong to the Commissary. The Incumbent receives by act of Parliament 150l. a year from the parish.

_St._ MARY ALDERMARY, on the east side of Bow lane, in Cordwainer street ward, has its additional epithet of Aldermary, or Elder Mary, from its being the most ancient church in this city dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The last church, which was erected at the expence of Henry Keeble, was destroyed by the fire of London in 1666; but it was afterwards erected at the expence of Henry Rogers, Esq; who generously gave 5000l. towards rebuilding it.

This Gothic edifice is very spacious, it being an hundred feet in length and sixty-three in breadth; the height of the roof is forty-five feet, and that of the steeple an hundred and thirty-five. The body is enlightened by a single series of large Gothic windows. The wall has well-contrived buttresses and battlements; these buttresses run up pilaster fashion, in two stages, not projecting in the old manner from the body of the building. The tower, which is full of ornament, consists of five stages, each of which, except the lowest, has one Gothic window; and the pinacles, which are properly so many turrets, are continued at each corner down to the ground, divided into stages as the body of the tower, and cabled with small pillars bound round it, with a kind of arched work, and subdivisions between. _English Architecture._

This rectory is one of the thirteen peculiars belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury; and the parish of St. Thomas Apostles being annexed to this church by an act of Parliament granted in the reign of King Charles II. the profits of the Rector are greatly augmented, he receiving 150l. _per annum_ in lieu of tithes, and about 100l. a year by glebe.

_St._ MARY AT HILL, on the west side of St. Mary Hill, in Billingsgate ward, owes its additional epithet to its situation on an eminence. This church is of considerable antiquity, since a chantry was founded in it so early as about the year 1336.

It is remarkable, that in the year 1497, digging in this church for the foundation of a wall, the corpse of Alice Hackney, who died about the year 1322, was discovered in a very rotten coffin; and that the skin was sound and flexible, and the joints pliable, though buried about 175 years. The body was kept above ground three or four days, without any noisome smell, but then beginning to be tainted was again laid in the ground.

Though this church was not destroyed by the fire of London, every thing combustible in it was consumed; it was however soon after repaired, and the parish of St. Andrew Hubbard annexed to it. It is a well-proportioned Gothic structure, consisting of a plain body enlightened by large windows, and a tower crowned by a pretty handsome turret.

The advowson of this church appears to have been in private hands, till about the year 1638, when it was purchased by the parish; but since the parish of St. Andrew Hubbard was united to it, the Duke of Somerset, who is patron thereof, presents in his turn. The Rector receives 200l. a year in lieu of tithes, and about 24l. _per annum_ by glebe.

_St._ MARY AX, a street on the north side of Leadenhall street. Here was anciently a church dedicated not only to the Virgin Mary, but to St. Ursula and her eleven thousand virgins; but it was commonly called _St. Mary at the Ax_, from the sign of the _Ax_ over against the east end of the church; and sometimes it was named St. Mary Papillar, from a plat of ground belonging to the Skinners company, that lay on the north side of it; but this parish being, about the year 1565, united to the parish church of St. Andrew Undershaft, St. Mary at the Ax was let out as a warehouse to a merchant; but the street however in which this edifice stood, still retains its name. _Maitland._

MARYBON. See _St._ MARY LA BONNE.

MARYBON _Fields_, the fields between London and Marybon, or St. Mary la Bonne.

MARYBON _lane_, Tyburn road.

MARYBON _passage_, Oxford street.

MARYBON _place_, Little Castle street.

MARYBON _road_, Oxford street.

MARYBON _street_, near Warwick street, Marybon.

_St._ MARY BOTHAW, stood on the east side of Turnwheel lane near Dowgate hill, and took its additional name, according to the surmise of Mr. Stowe, from its vicinity to a _Boat haw_, or boat-builder’s yard in that neighbourhood. This church, which was one of the thirteen peculiars belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury, having suffered greatly by the fire of London, and not being rebuilt, the parish was annexed to that of St. Swithin.

MARY CLARKE’S _yard_, Gravel lane.†

_St._ MARY COLECHURCH, stood in the Poultry, at the south west corner of the Old Jewry, in Cheap ward, and owed its additional epithet of Colechurch, to one Cole, its founder: but suffering the fate of most of the other public buildings in 1666, and not being rebuilt, the parish was united to the neighbouring church of St. Mildred. _Stow._

_St._ MARY OF GRACE, an abbey of Cistertian monks, founded in the reign of Edward III. on Tower hill, where the victualling office is now situated.

MARY GRAY’S _yard_, Gravel lane.†

_St._ MARY LA BONNE, thus called from its being supposed to signify _St. Mary the Good_; though its original name, according to Maitland, was Maryborne. This gentleman gives the following account of the rise of this village, which is now almost united to this great metropolis: the village of Tyborne going to decay, and its church, named St. John the Evangelist, left alone by the side of the highway, it was robbed of its books, vestments, bells, images, and other decorations; on which the parishioners petitioned the Bishop of London for leave to take down their old, and erect a new church elsewhere, which being readily granted in the year 1400, they erected a new church where they had some time before built a chapel, and that structure being dedicated to the Virgin Mary, received the additional epithet of Borne, from its vicinity to the neighbouring brook or bourn.

This village, if it may be still called by that name, is almost joined by new buildings to this metropolis; and the new buildings this way are now increasing so very fast, that it will undoubtedly in a very short time be quite joined, and become a part of it. The old church, which was a mean edifice, was pulled down, and a one erected in 1741. This structure is built with brick in as plain a manner as possible. It has two series of small arched windows on each side, and the only ornaments are a vase at each corner, and a turret at the west end. There are here also a French meeting-house, a charity school, and a place of public entertainment, which has a pleasant garden, and a band of vocal and instrumental music. This may be considered as a kind of humble imitation of Vauxhall.

_St._ MARY LE BOW, near the corner of Bow lane in Cheapside, received the epithet _le Bow_, from its being the first church in this city built with arches: for so early as in the time of William the Conqueror a church of the same name stood in this place; a massy Gothic pile, decorated with lofty arches, which the vulgar of that time called bows, and this name has been continued through all its succeeding changes. Here the court of Arches used to meet, and from these arches received its name. _Stowe._

In the history of the ancient edifice we find, that in the year 1271, a great number of people were destroyed, and many more maimed by the falling of the steeple, after which it remained without one till the year 1512, when it was finished upon the old plan, with stone brought from Caen in Normandy; and thus continued till it was destroyed with the other buildings in the city, by the fire in 1666.

The present edifice, which was built by the great Sir Christopher Wren, was finished in 1673, and is a handsome structure, chiefly admired for the elegance of its steeple, which is extremely light in its aspect, and though very high and full of openings, is secure from any second fall by the geometrical proportion and lightness of its several parts. It is thought to be the most beautiful thing of its kind in Europe.

The tower is square from the ground, and in this form rises to a considerable height; but with more ornament as it advances. The principal decoration of the lower part is the entrance, which is a lofty, noble, and well-proportioned arch, on two of the sides faced with a bold rustic, and raised on a plain solid course from the foundation. Within the arch is a portal of the Doric order; the freeze ornamented with trigliphs, and with sculpture in the metopes; over this arch is an opening with a small balcony, which answers to a window on the other face. The first stage is terminated by an elegant cornice, over which again rises a plain course, where a dial projects into Cheapside. Above this is in each face, large arched windows, with coupled Ionic pilasters at the sides, near the corners. The cornice over these windows supports an elegant balustrade, with Attic pillars over the Ionic columns, supporting turrets, each composed of four handsome scrolls, which join at the top, where are placed urns with flames.

From this part, the steeple rises circular. There is a plain course to the height of half the scrolls, and upon this are raised a circular range of Corinthian columns, while the body of the steeple is continued round and plain within them. These support a second balustrade, with very large scrolls extending from it to the body of the steeple. Above these is placed a series of Composite columns, and from the entablature rises another set of scrolls, supporting the spire which rests upon four balls, and is terminated by a globe, whence rises a fane in the form of a dragon. The view here given will help to illustrate this description.

The author of the Critical Review of the public Buildings, says, “The steeple of Bow church is a master-piece in a peculiar kind of building, which has no fixed rules to direct it, nor is it to be reduced to any settled laws of beauty: without doubt if we consider it only as a part of some other building, it can be esteemed no other than a delightful absurdity: but if either considered in itself, or as a decoration of a whole city in prospect, it is not only to be justified, but admired. That which we have now mentioned is beyond question as perfect as human imagination can contrive or execute; and till we see it outdone, we shall hardly, think it to be equalled.”

This church is a rectory, and the chief of the thirteen peculiars in this city belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury. To it are united the parishes of Alhallows Honey lane, and St. Pancras, by which the Incumbent’s profits are much increased; he receiving, besides glebe, casualties, and three parsonage houses, 200l. _per annum_, in lieu of tithes.

_St._ MARY LE STRAND, so called from its being situated in the middle of the Strand. The old church belonging to this parish is mentioned so early as the year 1222, when it was named _St. Mary and the Innocents of the Strand_; but how long it stood before that time is uncertain. It was then situated in a pleasant church yard on the south side of the Strand, where the east end of Somerset house is placed; and for the erecting of this last edifice it was taken down in 1549, by order of Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, Prime Minister to Edward VI. which depriving the parishioners of a place of worship, they joined themselves to the church of St. Clement’s Danes, and afterwards to that of St. John Baptist in the Savoy, where they continued till the year 1723. At length, the act having passed for erecting the fifty new churches within the bills of mortality, one was appointed for this parish, and the first stone laid on the 25th of February 1714; it was finished in three years and a half, though it was not consecrated till the 1st of January 1723, when, instead of its ancient name, it was called St. Mary le Strand. It was the first finished of any of the fifty new churches.

This is a very superb, though not a very extensive edifice; massy, without the appearance of being heavy, and formed to stand for ages. At the entrance on the west end is an ascent by a flight of steps cut in the sweep of a circle. These lead to a circular portico of Ionic columns covered with a dome, which is crowned with an elegant vase. These columns are continued along the body of the church, with pilasters of the same order at the corners, and in the intercolumniations are niches handsomely ornamented. Over the dome is a pediment supported by Corinthian columns, which are also continued round the body of the structure; over those of the Ionic order beneath; between these are the windows placed over the niches. These columns are supported on pedestals, and have pilasters behind with arches sprung from them, and the windows have angular and circular pediments alternately. In short, a handsome balustrade is carried round the top, and its summit is adorned with vases. The steeple is light though solid, and ornamented with Composite columns and capitals.

This structure, in the opinion of some, will shew late posterity, that the period when it was built afforded architects who might have done honour to Italy; while others condemn it, as little more than a cluster of ornaments without a proper plan or model to be adorned.

We shall not here decide which of these opinions is most judicious; but shall leave it to the decision of each person’s judgment who examines the edifice itself: we cannot however help observing, that the situation of the west front is as happy as can be wished for being viewed at a distance; and yet it has not this advantage in perfection, a watch house being erected in the middle of the street directly before it, which in a great measure spoils the prospect, and prevents its terminating the vista so agreeably as it otherwise would.

This church is a rectory in the gift of the Bishop of Worcester; the value of the living is 225l. _per annum_, besides surplice fees; of this sum one hundred pounds has been given and settled by Parliament, and an hundred and twenty-five pounds is raised by the inhabitants by a rate of four pence in the pound, in lieu of tithes. _Newc. Rep. Eccles. Paroch._

_St._ MARY MAGDALEN’S BERMONDSEY, near the south west corner of Bermondsey street, which we vulgarly call Barnaby street, in Southwark. It is dedicated to Mary Magdalen the sister of Lazarus, who was celebrated for her beauty, and still more for her piety. It appears from the _Conqueror’s Survey_, that a church of the same name was situated in this place so early as the time of the Saxons.

The present edifice, which was built in 1680, is seventy-six feet in length, and sixty-one in breadth; the height to the roof is thirty feet, and the height of the steeple eighty-seven feet. It is a plain structure enlightened by a single series of arched windows with cherubs heads on the top. The walls are of brick plaistered over, and the door-cases and windows cased with stone. The tower, which rises square, is covered with a kind of dome crowned with a turret, whence rises a ball and fane.

The advowson of this church is in lay patrons, and the profits of the rectory are said to amount to about 200l. _per annum_.

_St._ MARY MAGDALEN’S, Milk-street. This church was situated at the west end of Honey lane market, in the ward of Cripplegate within; but being destroyed by the fire of London in 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish was annexed to that of St. Laurence Jewry.

_St._ MARY MAGDALEN’S, Old Fish street, is seated on the north side of Knight Rider’s street, in the ward of Baynard’s castle, and is thus denominated from its vicinity to Old Fish street. There are records of a church in the same place three hundred and fifty years ago. The old edifice was destroyed by the fire of London, and the present singular structure arose from its ruins, and was built in the year 1685.

It is a small well-proportioned church, built with stone, sixty feet in length, forty-eight in breadth, and thirty in height to the roof. It is enlightened by a single series of arched windows, each ornamented with a cherub and scrolls, supporting a cornice, which runs round the building; but these windows are of such an unusual height from the ground, that the doors, which are low and plain, open completely under them: both these and the windows are of the same general construction, and the wall is terminated by a balustrade. The tower is divided into two stages, in the upper of which is a large window on each side. From the top of this tower the work suddenly diminishes in the manner of high steps on each side, and on the top of these is placed a turret, crowned with a very short spire, on which is placed a fane with flames.

To this church the parish of St. Gregory is annexed, by which the rectoral profits are much increased, the Incumbent receiving, besides other profits, 120l. in lieu of tithes.

_St._ MARY MOUNTHAW, situated on the west side of Fish street hill, in Queenhithe ward, received its name from its dedication to the Virgin Mary, and the family of Montalto or Mounthauts, in the county of Norfolk, who were the original founders: but being destroyed in the dreadful fire of London in 1666, and not rebuilt, the parish was, by act of Parliament, annexed to the church of St. Mary Somerset. _Stowe._

_St._ MARY, Newington Butts. See NEWINGTON BUTTS.

_St._ MARY OVERIES. See _St._ SAVIOUR’S.

_St._ MARY OVERIES _Church yard_, in the Borough.

_St._ MARY OVERIES _dock_, at the end of Church way, in the Borough.

_St._ MARY OVERIES _stairs_, Deadman’s place.

_St._ MARY, Rotherhith, is situated near the bank of the Thames, and is distinguished from other churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary, by the name of the place in which it is situated. The old church had stood above 200 years, when in 1736, it was in so ruinous a condition, that the inhabitants applied to Parliament for leave to pull it down, which being granted, the present structure was finished in 1739.

This edifice is built with brick and ornamented with stone. It is enlightened by a double range of windows, and the corners both in the tower and body, are strengthened with a handsome rustic. The tower consists of two stages; in the lower are a door and window, in the upper a window and dial, and the whole is terminated by a balustrade, from which rises a circular base that supports a kind of lanthorn, very elegantly constructed with Corinthian columns; over these are urns with flames; and from the roof of this lanthorn rises a well-constructed spire terminated by a ball and fane.

This church is a rectory in the gift of a lay patron. The profits arising to the Incumbent are said to amount to above 150l. _per annum_.

_The Hospital of St._ MARY ROUNCIVAL, a cell to a priory of that name in Navarre in Spain, situated opposite the end of St. Martin’s lane, where Northumberland house now stands. It was founded and endowed by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, in the reign of Henry III. but this hospital was however suppressed by Henry V. and re-founded by Edward IV. in 1476, for a fraternity or brotherhood. At length it was suppressed, with the other religious houses, by King Henry VIII. and afterwards coming to Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton, he caused it to be demolished, and erected upon the site thereof the edifice then named Northampton house. See the article NORTHUMBERLAND HOUSE.

_St._ MARY SOMERSET, opposite Broken wharf in Thames street, and in Queenhithe ward, owes the additional epithet of Somerset (according to Mr. Stowe’s conjecture) to its vicinity to _Sumner’s het_ or _hithe_, a small port or haven resembling that of Queenhithe. A church was situated in this place before the year 1335; but the old edifice sharing the fate of most of the other public buildings, in the fire of London, the present structure was erected in its room.

The body of this edifice is enlightened by a range of lofty arched windows, and the wall is terminated by a balustrade. A well-proportioned square tower rises to a considerable height, and is crowned with a handsome vase at each corner, supported on a very ornamental pedestal, with a handsome turret between in the form of an obelisk, each supported on the same kind of pedestal as the vases, and crowned with a ball.

The patronage of the church is in lay hands, and the parish of St. Mary Mounthaw being annexed to it, the Incumbent’s profits are considerably increased; he having, besides casualties and two parsonage houses, 110l. a year in lieu of tithes, and about 30l. in glebe.

_St._ MARY SPITAL, a priory and hospital founded by Sir Walter Brune, and Rosia, his lady, in the year 1197, who dedicated it to the honour of Jesus Christ and his Mother the Virgin Mary, by the name of _Domus Dei & beatæ Mariæ extra Bishopsgate_.

This hospital surrendered to Henry VIII. when its revenue was found to amount to 478l. a year; and besides the ornaments of the church and other goods belonging to the hospital, there were an hundred and eighty beds for the use of the poor.

A part of a large church yard belonging to this hospital, separated from the rest by a brick wall, was for a long time remaining, with a pulpit cross in it, somewhat like that which formerly stood in St. Paul’s church yard; and on the south side was a handsome house in which the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, Sheriffs, and other persons of distinction sat to hear the sermons preached in Easter holidays.

It was anciently the custom for some learned man, appointed by the Bishops, to preach a sermon at St. Paul’s Cross, relating to Christ’s passion, on Good Friday in the afternoon; and upon Easter Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, other sermons were preached in the forenoon at the Spital, on Christ’s resurrection: on Low Sunday in the forenoon a rehearsal was made of these four sermons at St. Paul’s Cross, in which they were either commended or censured; and, after all, the Priest made a sermon himself.

At these sermons the Lord Mayor and Aldermen were usually present, with their wives; and since the reformation these sermons are continued by the name of _Spital Sermons_ at St. Bride’s in Fleet street, on Easter Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

The pulpit cross was broke down in the grand rebellion. _Maitland._