St Mary Aldermanbury

St Mary Aldermanbury began as a City of London parish church first recorded in the 12th century. Christopher Wren rebuilt it after the Great Fire of 1666, but the Blitz in 1940 left only its walls standing. In 1966 the stones were taken to Fulton, Missouri, where they were re-erected at Westminster College. The college created the National Churchill Museum around the church. Back in London a small garden now marks the original site near the Guildhall. The church is remembered for the 1946 ‘Sinews of Peace’ speech by Winston Churchill in Fulton. Funds for the American rebuilding came from Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, with Eisenhower and Truman lending support. Architect Patrick Horsbrugh directed the reconstruction using Renaissance techniques taught to the chief mason Eris Lytle. The restored building holds Edwina Sandys’ sculpture Breakthrough beside it. In London a memorial plaque and a Shakespeare bust honour Henry Condell and John Heminges, partners in the First Folio. Visitors to the London site find a quiet garden planted on the footprint of the old church. A large stone marks where the altar once stood, and a Grade II listed monument bears a bust of Shakespeare above the names of Condell and Heminges. The garden was refurbished in 2024 with help from Westminster College. Nearby lie the remains of Judge Jeffreys, once the notorious ‘hanging judge’, reburied here in 1694. The churchyard also holds the graves of the astronomer Thomas Digges and the poet John Milton’s second wife.