St Martin-in-the-Fields - London, UK
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 51° 30.524 W 000° 07.639
30U E 699343 N 5710313
St Martin-in-the-Fields is the Queen's Parish Church.
Waymark Code: WMJCP0
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/30/2013
Views: 21
Located on the north end of Trafalgar Square, this old church dates back to at least 1222, although it was rebuilt in 1542 and 1721. In 2006, a gravesite from around 410 was found here.
Wikipedia (
visit link) adds:
"The church survived the Great Fire of London which did not reach as far as the City of Westminster, but was replaced with a new building, designed by James Gibbs in 1721 and completed five years later. The design was criticised widely at the time, but subsequently became extremely famous, being copied particularly widely in the United States.[3] St Andrews Church, Egmore, Chennai is a copy of this church. The church is essentially rectangular, with a great pediment in the Classical style supported by a row of huge Corinthian columns. The high steeple is topped with a gilt crown. Gibbs was certainly inspired by Sir Christopher Wren as the interior is very similar to St James's in Piccadilly.
Various 18th-century notables were soon buried in the new church, including the émigré sculptor Roubiliac (who had settled in this area of London) and the furniture-maker Thomas Chippendale (whose workshop was in the same street as the church, St Martin's Lane), along with Jack Sheppard in the now lost adjoining churchyard.
The church also had its own almhouses and pension-charity, which was established on 21 Sep 1886. Its 19 trustees administered almshouses for women, providing them with a weekly stipend. The almshouses were built in 1818 on part of the parish burial ground in Camden Town and St Pancras and replaced ones built in 1683."