St Stephen Coleman Street

St Stephen Coleman Street stood at the corner of Coleman Street and Gresham Street in the City of London. First mentioned in the 12th century, it was a medieval parish church closely linked to the Jewish quarter. After the Great Fire of 1666, Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt it in brick and stucco with Portland stone facings. The church had a distinctive tower with a gilded cock vane and a single large window on the south front. Inside, Wren’s design kept the medieval plan but added galleries and a flat ceiling with coved sides. The church played a key role in London’s religious history. In the 17th century it became a Puritan stronghold under vicars like John Davenport and John Goodwin. Davenport later helped found the New Haven Colony in America, while Goodwin was imprisoned after the Restoration. The church also held records dating back to 1466, including the Vellum Book and parish registers from 1538. A cock motif from a 15th-century brewery bequest appeared in carvings and boundary markers until 1940. Though destroyed by bombing in 1940, traces remain in the street layout and boundary stones. The site still bears the name of the vanished church, and nearby Coleman Street recalls the charcoal burners who once lived there. The old churchyard’s gateway once showed a Last Judgement relief, and the tower’s masonry survived long enough to be recorded. Today, the area stands as a quiet reminder of a church that shaped London’s religious and social past.