Site of St Martin Outwich - Threadneedle Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.862 W 000° 05.042
30U E 702321 N 5711058
This blue plaque is on the wall of a bank at the north eastern end of Threadneedle Street close to the junction with Bishopsgate. St Martin Outwich was a parish church.
Waymark Code: WMDFBQ
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/08/2012
Views: 4
The plaque is placed by The Corporation of the City of
London. It reads:
On the top edge:
"The Corporation of"
Along the bottom edge:
"The City of London"
In the centre:
"Site of / St Martin / Outwich / Demolished / 1874".
"St Martin Outwich was parish church in the City of
London, on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate. Of medieval
origin, it was rebuilt at the end of the eighteenth century.
A church of St Martin was built in the fourteenth century at the expense of
members of the Oteswich family, from whom the church derives its name. The
church escaped the Great Fire of 1666, but fell into decay, and was badly
damaged in a fire of 1765 which destroyed fifty houses. In 1796 an act of
parliament was obtained, to allow the parish to raise money to rebuild the
church. The first stone was laid in May of that year, and the new building, to
the designs of Samuel Pepys Cockerell, was consecrated in November 1798.
Cockerell's church was oval in plan, with a recess at the east end forming the
chancel. The walls were decorated with pilasters, from the capitals of which
rose a coved ceiling, pierced by four semi-circular windows. A fifth window,
over the altar, contained stained glass coats-of-arms from the old church.
Several monuments from the old church were also preserved , including one to
John Outeswich and his wife. There was a fresco of the ascension by John Francis
Rigaud over the altar, which had deteriorated badly within ten years of being
painted.
The heavily rusticated east front, facing into Bishopsgate, was described by
James Peller Malcolm as 'a complete representation of a gaol, accompanied by
marks of extreme strength, very ill suited to its diminutive outline.' The north
side, towards Threadneedle street, was very plain.
Repairs and alterations were made by Charles Barry in 1827. The church was
demolished in 1874 and its parish united with that of St Helen's Bishopsgate.
Eighteen monuments were moved into St Helen's before St Martin's was destroyed.
Nikolaus Pevsner found a portion of the churchyard in the corner of the garden
of a nearby office block."
Text source Wikipedia.