St Mildred, Poultry

St Mildred, Poultry, stood on the north side of Poultry at its junction with Mansion House Street in the City of London. The first church on the site dated from 1175, during the reign of Henry II. By 1456 it had fallen into disrepair and was rebuilt. The medieval building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A new church was completed in 1676 to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. The parish was then united with that of St Mary Colechurch, which was not rebuilt. The rebuilt church measured 56 feet long, 42 feet wide and 36 feet high. George Godwin described the interior as a simple room with a flat ceiling coved at the sides. The most ornamented part of the exterior was the south side, towards Poultry, with a central pediment and Ionic pilasters. There was a 75-foot-high tower topped by a copper weather vane in the form of a ship. An organ was provided in the mid-eighteenth century by George England. The building was sold in 1871 and demolished the following year. A City of London Corporation plaque now marks the site. The parish was united with that of St Olave Old Jewry, and the church’s weather vane was sent there. The proceeds from the sale helped build and endow the new church of St Paul, Goswell Road, which also received the pulpit and woodwork. The parish of St Olave later ceased to be viable and was united with St Margaret Lothbury.