Other than a small piece of land outside the front entrance
there is no other ground to the church. A set of magnificent gates and railings
separate the church front from the street.
The building is Grade I listed and the entry at the English
Heritage website [visit
link] tells us:
"Church, 1716-1727, by Nicholas Hawksmoor, assisted by
John James. The chief mason was Thomas Dunn. Interior altered 1875-6 by William
Butterfield. In 1897-8 Bank Underground station was built beneath the church;
the entrance (now out of use) by Sidney R. J. Smith is attached to the south
façade.
EXTERIOR: Portland stone. Square body, the west façade
featuring a projecting central bay with banded rustication, the cylindrical
Tuscan columns at the angles banded with the same rustication. Round-headed
doorway with semi-circular window above; the window repeated on each side at
clerestory level. Broad shallow tower: the base with three unmoulded square
windows; the principal storey of three bays with engaged Composite columns,
surmounted by two square turrets with balustrades. Low doorways flanking the
tower give access to the galleries. North elevation has five low blind apertures
with heavy keystones on which sit smaller apertures, also blind. Above three of
these apertures (east, centre, and west) are complex aedicules placed within
large round-headed rusticated frames: columns set diagonally support a straight
entablature curving back; these in their turn frame niches containing a second
arch, springing from the column bases, and above this a blank panel. The
treatment of this elevation has been described by John Summerson as 'a piece of
sheer architectural eloquence hard to match' (Georgian London, 1945). The
absence of windows on this wall insulated the interior from the noise of Lombard
Street. The lower part of the south elevation is now masked by the single-storey
former Underground station entrance (with new vestry), in a style which pays
tribute to Hawksmoor. This elevation has five bays, of which only the
westernmost is now visible to full height: a low aperture corresponds to those
on the north elevation; above is a tall round-headed recess containing a framed
blind opening surmounted by a round-headed window (this window is also blind;
the windows of the other four bays light the church).
INTERIOR: Square high space supported at each corner by
three Corinthian columns, and lit by the large semi-circular windows above a
straight entablature. Rich plasterwork by Chrysostom Wilkins, incorporating palm
fronds and cherubs. Square ambulatory, formerly with galleries reached by doors
in the west angles. The galleries were made by John Meard and carved by Thomas
Darby and Gervase Smith; they were taken down by Butterfield, who set their
fronts against the walls. In the shallow chancel an ornate wooden baldacchino
with twisted columns and canopy ornamented with gilded cherubs, made by Meard
and carved by Gabriel Appleby; Butterfield's raising of the chancel forced the
baldacchino high into the elliptical chancel arch. The polychromatic flooring of
the chancel dates from 1875-6. Original west organ gallery with organ case dated
1681; a second organ of 1913 is placed at east end of north aisle. Pulpit of
bulging form, made by Darby and Smith and inlaid with sunbursts by Appleby, the
tester echoing the shape of the ceiling. Wrought iron communion rails by John
Robins. A memorial tablet on the north wall to the church's most celebrated
rector, John Newton, bears an epitaph written by Newton himself, which begins:
'John Newton, Clerk. Once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in
Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved,
restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to
destroy.'
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: Railings of c1900 at west end,
extended to left and right c1992 when curved screen walls housing entrances to
the Underground station were removed.
HISTORY: The church is first recorded in 1191; the
founder may have been a Saxon noble, Wulfnoth, possibly commemorated in the
church's name. Alternatively, the name may be connected with the wool trade;
certainly this was true of the nearby church of St Mary Woolchurch Haw,
destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666 (its parish then united with that of St Mary
Woolnoth). The full dedication of the church is to St Mary of the Nativity. The
advowson was given by the founder or his heirs to the Priory of St Helen,
Bishopsgate; after the dissolution of the monasteries it reverted to Henry VIII,
who gave it to Sir Martin Bowes of Lombard Street, a Goldsmith and in 1545-6,
Lord Mayor. The advowson passed from Bowes to the Goldsmiths' Company, and the
patronage subsequently passed through various hands. The church is the parish
church of the Lord Mayors of London; the Mansion House stands almost opposite,
on the site of St Mary Woolchurch Haw. This association helped protect the
church from repeated threats of demolition between 1863 and 1926, notably prior
to the building of Bank Underground station in 1897. (The crypt and plinth of
the church were used as a booking hall in 1897-1900.)
Excavations of c1716 uncovered remains thought to be
Roman, and there is evidence of major Roman buildings in the immediate vicinity.
The early church was rebuilt during the course of the C15; the new building was
consecrated in 1438, but additional work appears to have taken place towards the
end of the century. The church was damaged by the Great Fire of London, and was
partially rebuilt by Christopher Wren in 1670-5. A major contribution to the
cost of this work was made by Sir Robert Vyner, Lord Mayor in 1674; the church
was at one time known as Sir Robert Vyner's church. Vyner is said to have had
his own entrance to the east end of the church, a privilege inherited by the
Post Office which subsequently stood on the site of his mansion in Lombard
Street. In 1708 the style of the church was described as 'modern Gothick'
(Edward Hatton, A New View of London).
In 1711 it was determined that a new church should be
built under the 'Fifty New Churches' Act (it was the only church in the City to
be built under the Act), but by 1712 the condition of the church was so
dilapidated that the parishioners were afraid to worship there, and repairs to
the existing structure were undertaken. In 1716 drawings for the new building
were prepared; Nicholas Hawksmoor was assisted by John James, who also had the
title of surveyor, but principal responsibility for the design rests with
Hawksmoor. St Mary Woolnoth was Hawksmoor's only City church, and is the
smallest he built; Kerry Downes has observed that it is perhaps the most
powerful of his churches, because it is the most compact (Hawksmoor, 1959). The
new church first opened for worship on Easter Day 1727.
From 1780 to 1807 the rector of St Mary Woolnoth was
John Newton (1725-1807), the most celebrated priest associated with the church.
Newton, born the son of a master mariner in Wapping, spent the early part of his
career as a slave trader. From 1745-1754 he worked on slave ships, serving as
captain on three voyages. He was involved in every aspect of the slaver's trade,
and his log books record the torture of rebellious slaves. Following his
conversion to devout Christianity in 1748 Newton became 'surveyor of tides' at
Liverpool, devoting his spare time to private theological study. He soon became
one of the area's leading theological laymen, but for some time his radical
reputation stood in the way of his finding employment in the Church of England.
Nevertheless, in 1764 he was made curate-in-charge at the church of Saints Peter
and Paul, Olney, Buckinghamshire (q.v.). That same year he published his
autobiography, 'An Authentic Narrative', which established him as one of the
leading figures of the evangelical revival. Newton stayed at Olney for 16 years,
winning fame as a preacher as well as a writer. During the 1770s Newton worked
with the poet William Cowper on a collection of 'Olney Hymns' (published 1779),
the most famous of which was 'Amazing Grace' (the hymn, sung to a different
tune, was to become associated with the struggle for equality in the southern
states of America during the 1960s).
In 1780 Newton became rector of St Mary Woolnoth; his
reputation grew in this cosmopolitan setting, and his status as a patriarch
attracted large congregations. In 1785-6 William Wilberforce came to him for
advice during the crisis of his evangelical conversion; Newton counselled him to
use political means to do God's work. In Wilberforce's case, this would prove to
be the campaign for abolition. In 1788 Newton's pamphlet, 'Thoughts upon the
African Slave Trade', revealed his past as a slave trader, condemned the trade,
and expressed regret at his part in it. Later that year Newton was amongst the
witnesses called by the parliamentary select committee for examining the slave
trade; Newton provided detailed evidence of the treatment and conditions
suffered by slaves in transit. In response to arguments about the economic
advantages of slavery, Newton quoted, ' ''It is not lawful to put it into the
Treasury, because it is the price of blood,'' ' [Matthew 27:6]. Newton's
singular position as a figure of unimpeachable moral authority with first-hand
experience of the slave trade made his contribution to the success of the
abolition movement extremely valuable. John Newton died in December 1807,
shortly after the Abolition Act passed into law. He was buried beside his wife
in the crypt of St Mary Woolnoth, but the building of the Underground station
led to both bodies being re-interred at Olney in
1893."