The City in Photos: Churches

Even though it’s centuries later, the City of London is still shaped by the churches built after the Great Fire of London by Christopher Wren and his assistant Nicholas Hawksmoor. Fifty churches were erected by Wren and his office after the Great Fire but sadly some were destroyed during the Blitz in the Second World War.

The City has a cornucopia of churches and former churches: places like St Dunstan In The East, just off Great Tower Street, only the tower and steeple remain and the rest is used as a beautiful garden and Christ Church Greyfriars, on Newgate Street, bombed during the Second World War, still has its tower but the ruins of the rest were also turned into a garden popular with people who work nearby.

St Dunstan in the East

St Dunstan in the East

Christ Church Greyfriars

On the outskirts of the City of London is Christ Church Spitalfields, built between 1714 and 1729 and designed by Wren’s protégé Hawksmoor. It is not strictly speaking in the City of London but is so close to the border that anyone visiting Spitalfields Market, which is in the City, could cross Commercial Street and see it.

Christ Church Spitalfields

St Olaves Hart Street is one of the only Medieval churches that escaped the Great Fire. Dating from around 1450, it is situated near Tower Hill station.

St Olaves Hart Street

The City also has St Bride’s Church on Fleet Street, designed by Wren and is said to have been the inspiration for the tiered wedding cake.

St Bride’s Church

Of course, the crowning jewel in the City of London’s churches is St Paul’s Cathedral. Consecrated in 1688 and designed by Christopher Wren, it survived bombing in the Blitz and is named after the patron saint of London, St Paul. It still commands the views of the Western end of the City of London and, thanks to the building of the Millennium Bridge in 2000, its vista has been improved. A major cleaning operation over the last few years has restored it to its former glory too.

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s Cathedral

Other churches in the City of London include…

St Botolph without Bishopsgate

St Vedast-alias-Foster

All Hallows by the Tower

Mary-le-Bow

The City in Photos: Bridges

Bridges provide an important lifeline in the City of London, linking the Square Mile to the rest of Greater London. In fact, the first bridge across the Thames, London Bridge was erected during the Roman occupation sometime between the 1st and 4th centuries AD.

Starting with Tower Bridge in the East, this bridge is the most famous river crossing in London. Opened in 1885 and designed by Horace Jones with John Wolfe-Barry, its familiar bascule design marks it out as the most distinctive of London’s bridges.

London Bridge is the latest of many bridges occupying the site to be given that name with the current crossing finished in 1972 after its replacement was bought by an American and transported brick by brick to Havasu City in Arizona, USA.

The Cannon Street Railway Bridge was built in 1863-6 by John Hawkshaw and John Wolfe-Barry and was widened about twenty years later.

The current Southwark Bridge dates from 1921 and was designed by architect Sir Ernest Hay.

The Millennium Bridge, the footbridge that connects St Pauls to the Tate Modern on the South Bank, was completed in 2000. Designed by engineers Arup, Foster and Partners with Anthony Caro, when it opened, it got the unfortunate nickname of the Wobbly Bridge because it swayed on the first two days of its use. This was corrected and it reopened in 2002.

Blackfriars Bridge dates from 1869 and was designed by Thomas Cubitt. The ghost of an older bridge can be seen with its columns in the water to the East of the bridge.

Pedestrian walkways also play their part in the City of London with many crisscrossing Upper and Lower Thames Street, the road that runs from Blackfriars Bridge to Tower Bridge and back, and Bishopsgate, the major thoroughfare near Liverpool Street.