St Margaret Lothbury - Lothbury, London, UK - Anglican and Episcopal Churches on Waymarking.com

The St Margaret Lothbury website tells us about the church's history:

There has been a church dedicated to St Margaret of Antioch in Lothbury, the street that runs along the north side of the Bank of England, since the 12th Century. In later centuries the parish was augmented by the incorporation of seven adjacent parishes, whose churches were lost through the Great Fire, the Second World War and the expansion of City institutions. The parish is now officially that of ‘St Margaret Lothbury and St Stephen Coleman St with St Christopher-le-Stocks, St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, St Olave Old Jewry, St Martin Pomeroy, St Mildred Poultry and St Mary Colechurch.’

The original church was rebuilt in 1440 at the expense of Robert Large, that year’s Lord Mayor, but destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. The current church designed by Sir Christopher Wren was completed in 1692. The tower by Robert Hooke was finished in 1700.

Among the noteworthy furnishings made for St Margaret’s are the high altar reredos, the pulpit and the baptismal font. Of the subsequent additions to the church the most splendid is the choir screen, one of only two in a Wren church, erected originally in the Church of All Hallows the Great, Thames St. in 1683-84 and moved to St Margaret’s in 1894 when that church was demolished. The pulpit sounding board is also from All Hallows.

The paintings of Moses and Aaron on either side of the high altar as well as the bust of Sir Peter Lemaire on the north wall of the nave are from St Christopher-le-Stocks, Threadneedle St. Other items, including the chapel reredos, the sword rests and several monuments, are from St Olave Old Jewry. St Margaret’s also possesses several items of plate from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries providing a link to all of the churches of its component parishes.

St Margaret’s remains a vibrant parish church in the heart of the City of London, providing a varied weekday ministry for all Christians in the area. It is the church of five livery companies (the Armourers and Brasiers, the Glovers of London, the Tylers and Bricklayers, the Tin Plate Workers alias Wire Workers and the Scientific Instrument Makers), two ward clubs (Broad St. and Coleman St.) and one professional institution (the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales). It is also the parish church of the Bank of England and several local firms. All of these hold special services at various times in the year.

Wikipedia also adds:

St Margaret Lothbury is a Church of England parish church in the City of London; it spans the boundary between Coleman Street Ward and Broad Street Ward. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. St Margaret Lothbury still serves as a parish church, as well as being the official church of five Livery Companies, two Ward Clubs and two Professional Institutes. It also has connections with many local finance houses, all of which hold special services each year.

The earliest mention of St Margaret Lothbury is from 1185. The patronage of the church belonged to the abbess and convent of Barking, Essex until the Dissolution, when it passed to the Crown.

It was rebuilt in 1440, mostly at the expense of Robert Large, who was Lord Mayor that year and is remembered as the Master of whom Caxton served his apprenticeship. It suffered as did so many of London's churches in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and was rebuilt by Christopher Wren from 1686 to 1690.

In 1781 the parish of the church of St Christopher le Stocks, demolished to make way for an extension for the Bank of England, was united with that of St Margaret Lothbury.

The church has exceptionally fine 17th-century woodwork from other now-demolished Wren churches. Among the best are the reredos, communion rails and baptismal font, which are thought to be by Grinling Gibbons from St Olave, Old Jewry, the pulpit sounding board and the rood screen from All-Hallows-the-Great. Two paintings of Moses and Aaron flank the high altar, and came from St Christopher le Stocks when it was demolished in 1781. The organ was built by George Pike England in 1801. It was restored in 1984, stands in its original case and contains nearly all its original pipework.

The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.

As already mentioned, the church is a Grade I listed building with the entry at the Historic England website advising:

1686-95 by Wren. Simple, rectangular body with lower south aisle flanked by vestry to east and tower to west. Simple south elevation of Portland stone with round arched windows, cornice and balustrade. Vestry has square headed window with circular opening to room above. Entrance at base of tower with engaged Corinthian columns, pediment etc. Tower stone, in 4 stages with round and segmentally arched openings. Lead cupola topped by obelisk With weather vane, Sides and rear of church are rendered with stone dressings: similar to south front but with circular upper windows. Various single-storeyed additions at rear. Interior has order of Corinthian pilasters with colonnade to south aisle. Cove with circular windows to flat ceiling. West gallery with organ. Fine pulpit with tester. Reredos altar rails, chancel screen and other fittings, some removed from demolished churches. Wall tablets, 2 with busts. Brass chandeliers.