place

St Magnus the Martyr

1676 establishments in England17th-century Church of England church buildingsAnglo-Catholic church buildings in the City of LondonAnglo-Catholic churches in England receiving AEOChristopher Wren church buildings in London
Church of England church buildings in the City of LondonChurches bombed by the Luftwaffe in LondonChurches on the ThamesDiocese of LondonEnglish Baroque architectureGrade I listed churches in the City of LondonRebuilt churches in the United KingdomUse British English from October 2013
St Magnus the Martyr and Adelaide House from the top of The Monument
St Magnus the Martyr and Adelaide House from the top of The Monument

St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge, is a Church of England church and parish within the City of London. The church, which is located in Lower Thames Street near The Monument to the Great Fire of London, is part of the Diocese of London and under the pastoral care of the Bishop of Fulham. It is a Grade I listed building. The rector uses the title "Cardinal Rector" and, since the abolition of the College of Minor Canons of St Paul's Cathedral in 2016, is the only cleric in the Church of England to use the title Cardinal.St Magnus lies on the original alignment of London Bridge between the City and Southwark. The ancient parish was united with that of St Margaret, New Fish Street, in 1670 and with that of St Michael, Crooked Lane, in 1831. The three united parishes retained separate vestries and churchwardens. Parish clerks continue to be appointed for each of the three parishes.St Magnus is the guild church of the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers and the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, and the ward church of the Ward of Bridge and Bridge Without. It is also twinned with the Church of the Resurrection in New York City.Its prominent location and beauty have prompted many mentions in literature. In Oliver Twist Charles Dickens notes how, as Nancy heads for her secret meeting with Mr Brownlow and Rose Maylie on London Bridge, "the tower of old Saint Saviour's Church, and the spire of Saint Magnus, so long the giant-warders of the ancient bridge, were visible in the gloom". The church's spiritual and architectural importance is celebrated in the poem The Waste Land by T. S. Eliot, who wrote, "the walls of Magnus Martyr hold/Inexplicable splendour of Ionian white and gold". He added in a footnote that "the interior of St. Magnus Martyr is to my mind one of the finest among Wren's interiors". One biographer of Eliot notes that at first he enjoyed St Magnus aesthetically for its "splendour"; later he appreciated its "utility" when he came there as a sinner.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article St Magnus the Martyr (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

St Magnus the Martyr
Lower Thames Street, City of London

Geographical coordinates (GPS) Address Website External links Nearby Places
placeShow on map

Wikipedia: St Magnus the MartyrContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 51.509280555556 ° E -0.086336111111111 °
placeShow on map

Address

St Magnus the Martyr

Lower Thames Street
EC3R 6DN City of London
England, United Kingdom
mapOpen on Google Maps

Website
stmagnusmartyr.org.uk

linkVisit website

linkWikiData (Q7594088)
linkOpenStreetMap (143415212)

St Magnus the Martyr and Adelaide House from the top of The Monument
St Magnus the Martyr and Adelaide House from the top of The Monument
Share experience

Nearby Places

Monument to the Great Fire of London
Monument to the Great Fire of London

The Monument to the Great Fire of London, more commonly known simply as the Monument, is a fluted Doric column in London, England, situated near the northern end of London Bridge. Commemorating the Great Fire of London, it stands at the junction of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill, 202 feet (62 m) in height and 202 feet west of the spot in Pudding Lane where the Great Fire started on 2 September 1666. Constructed between 1671 and 1677, it was built on the site of St Margaret, New Fish Street, the first church to be destroyed by the Great Fire. It is Grade I-listed and is a scheduled monument. Another monument, the Golden Boy of Pye Corner, marks the point near Smithfield where the fire was stopped. The Monument comprises a Doric column built of Portland stone topped with a gilded urn of fire. It was designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. Its height marks its distance from the site of the shop of Thomas Farriner (or Farynor), the king's baker, where the blaze began. The viewing platform near the top of the Monument is reached by a narrow winding staircase of 345 steps. A mesh cage was added in the mid-19th century to prevent people jumping to the ground, after six people died by suicide there between 1788 and 1842.Three sides of the base carry inscriptions in Latin. The one on the south side describes actions taken by King Charles II following the fire. The inscription on the east side describes how the Monument was started and brought to perfection, and under which mayors. Inscriptions on the north side describe how the fire started, how much damage it caused, and how it was eventually extinguished. The Latin words "Sed Furor Papisticus Qui Tamdiu Patravit Nondum Restingvitur" (but Popish frenzy, which wrought such horrors, is not yet quenched) were added to the end of the inscription on the orders of the Court of Aldermen in 1681 during the foment of the Popish Plot. Text on the east side originally falsely blamed Roman Catholics for the fire ("burning of this protestant city, begun and carried on by the treachery and malice of the popish faction"), which prompted Alexander Pope (himself a Catholic) to say of the area: The words blaming Catholics were chiselled out with Catholic Emancipation in 1830.The west side of the base displays a sculpture, by Caius Gabriel Cibber, in alto and bas relief, of the destruction of the City; with Charles II and his brother, James, the Duke of York (later King James II), surrounded by liberty, architecture, and science, giving directions for its restoration.It gives its name to the nearby London Underground station, Monument.