Church of St Katharine Cree, London

The Guild Church of St Katharine Cree stands on the north side of Leadenhall Street in the City of London, near Leadenhall Market. Founded in 1280, the present building dates from 1628 to 1630 and retains a Tudor tower from its predecessor. Originally a parish church, it became a guild church in later centuries. The church occupies part of the former churchyard of the Augustinian Holy Trinity Priory, which once served the same parish. The priory’s prior founded St Katharine Cree to ease disruption caused by parishioners using the priory church. By the 15th century, the church had become a parish church in its own right. The church is one of the few Jacobean buildings left in London and the only surviving Jacobean church in the city. It survived the Great Fire of London in 1666 with only minor damage during the Second World War. The chancel holds a rose window modelled on the one in Old St Paul’s Cathedral, and the vaulted ceiling displays bosses of the arms of sixteen City livery companies. The church’s bells, cast in the 18th and 19th centuries, were restored and rung again in 2007 after decades of silence. A memorial to the RMS Lancastria, sunk in 1940, stands by the south wall. Inside, the high nave is linked to narrow aisles by Corinthian columns, and the chancel contains original stained glass from 1630. The baptismal font dates from around 1640, and the church’s organ was played by both Henry Purcell and George Frideric Handel. A memorial marks the grave of diplomat Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, buried there in the 16th century. The church’s ground-floor ringing chamber is unusual for the City, where most bells are rung from higher levels. Today it serves workers in the City rather than a local parish.