Church of St Mary Axe

The medieval church of St Mary Axe once stood in the City of London near Leadenhall Street. Its full name included St Ursula and her eleven thousand Virgins, and it bore the sign of an axe above its east end. The Skinners’ Company acted as its patrons. John Stow recorded in 1603 that the name came from the axe sign. A relic in the church was said to be one of the axes used for the martyrdoms of Saint Ursula’s company in the 5th century. The building belonged for a time to the Priory of St Helens before the Dissolution of the Monasteries. By 1562 it served Spanish Protestant refugees, but three years later it was empty and decaying. It was demolished soon after, and its parish merged with St Andrew Undershaft. The street retains the name St Mary Axe, running between Leadenhall Street and Houndsditch. Today the street is known for 30 St Mary Axe, the Gherkin, built where the Baltic Exchange once stood. The operetta The Sorcerer set a sorcerer’s shop on this street, reflecting an older pronunciation. The only remaining church on the route is St Andrew Undershaft, which gives the street its modern association.