Old St Paul's Cathedral

Old St Paul’s Cathedral stood on Ludgate Hill in the City of London from the 11th to the 17th century. It replaced earlier churches on the same site, the first dating back to the 7th century. Construction began after a fire in 1087 and lasted over two centuries, shifting from Norman Romanesque to early English Gothic. By the mid-14th century it was one of the longest churches in the world, with a towering spire and fine stained glass. The shrine of Saint Erkenwald drew thousands of pilgrims in the Middle Ages. The nave became known as ‘Paul’s walk’, a place for business and news in the city. The cathedral played a key role in London’s religious and political life. Inigo Jones and Sir Christopher Wren led restoration efforts before the Great Fire of 1666 destroyed it. Earlier, the open-air pulpit called St Paul’s Cross hosted radical preaching during the Reformation. The chapter house, built around 1332 by William de Ramsey, was one of the first examples of Perpendicular Gothic in England. Excavations later revealed its foundations near the new cathedral. Inside, the medieval nave stretched for hundreds of metres, its vaulted ceiling and triforium admired across Europe. The east-end rose window was especially praised, even mentioned in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. The shrine of Erkenwald, covered in gold and jewels, stood at the heart of the cathedral. Kings and bishops gathered here, and the court sometimes held sessions within its walls. The building’s scale and beauty made it a landmark long before it fell to flames.