St Andrew Undershaft

St Andrew Undershaft stands in the City of London, the ancient heart of the capital and its modern financial district. It occupies a narrow site on St Mary Axe, close to Leadenhall Street and the Baltic Exchange. The present church was built in 1532, replacing earlier buildings from the 12th and 14th centuries. Its Perpendicular Gothic tower leans slightly off-centre above the entrance. Inside, six bays divide the space, and many original fittings remain from before Victorian alterations. The church survived the Great Fire of 1666 and the Blitz of the 1940s, making it one of the few City churches to do so. Its name comes from the maypole that once stood opposite each spring until student riots ended the custom in 1517. The maypole itself was destroyed in 1547 after being seized as a “pagan idol.” The tower houses six bells, the oldest cast in 1597 by Robert Mot, though they are now rung stationary. Visitors find a quiet interior with a historic organ installed in 1696 by Renatus Harris. The organ has been enlarged and restored many times, most recently by J. W. Walker & Sons. Among the notable memorials are those to Sir Thomas Offley, Lord Mayor in 1563, and John Stow, the chronicler buried here. A peal of six bells hangs dead in the tower, and the church is administered from nearby St Helen’s Bishopsgate.