St. Michael, Crooked Lane

St Michael, Crooked Lane, stood in the City of London near the old butchers’ slaughter-yards of Eastcheap. The church dated from at least 1304 and was rebuilt on a larger scale in 1336 by John Lovekyn, who served four times as Lord Mayor. Sir William Walworth, Lord Mayor in 1374, also gave money to the church. The Archbishop of Canterbury held the patronage until the church became one of thirteen City peculiarities. The first cases of the Plague in 1665 were recorded in this parish. After the Great Fire of London, Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt the church in 1687. The new interior measured 78 feet long, 46 feet wide and 32 feet high, with round-headed windows and a plain Corinthian reredos. James Peller Malcolm described Wren’s church as plain but noted the tower of Portland stone, about 100 feet high, topped with a perforated parapet and a spire. The spire, described by James Elmes as remarkably picturesque, carried a clock, weather-vane and cross. In 1789 Thomas Townsend left funds for weekly lectures and a clerical post at the church. The church was demolished in 1831 to widen the approaches to London Bridge. Its parish was united with St Magnus the Martyr, and the final service was abandoned because of building work. A stained-glass window in St Magnus now commemorates the lost parish. Some monuments from St Michael were moved to St Mark’s Church, Kennington. Washington Irving recalled the church in The Sketch Book of 1819 while searching for traces of Shakespeare’s Falstaff. Part of the burial ground survived until 1987, when it was purchased for the Docklands Light Railway extension.