St Martin-in-the-Fields - London, UK
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 51° 30.524 W 000° 07.639
30U E 699343 N 5710312
St Martin-in-the-Fields is the Queen's Parish Church.
Waymark Code: WMCWW0
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 10/20/2011
Views: 34
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.[2] 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[4]), 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."