St Bride's Church - Fleet Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.831 W 000° 06.347
30U E 700815 N 5710941
St Bride's is on the south side of Fleet Street and can be accessed by Bride Lane or St Bride's Avenue. The church has an impressive steeple that is the first sighting of the church that many will get.
Waymark Code: WM129J2
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/06/2020
Views: 1
The spire of St Bride's inspired the modern wedding cake, when a local baker, William Rich, modelled a wedding cake for his daughter on the spire. Other bakers soon followed suit and the spire has been known as the 'wedding-cake steeple' ever since.
The church is a Grade I listed building and its entry, at English Heritage (visit link), tells us:
1670-84, by Wren. Aisled nave with clerestory, shallow chancel and west tower flanked by lobbies. Interior burnt in World War II and reconstructed in near facsimile. Exterior faced with Portland stone. Tall, round-arched windows with elaborated 3 light window at east end. Pair of pedimented doorways on north side with circular windows above. Entablature and parapet to roof. Elliptical windows to clerestory. Large tower and stone steeple of great distinction. Reconstructed interior has coupled Doric columns supporting arcade and plaster vault. Gallery omitted and design of east end altered. Domed lobby under tower. One of Wren's finest interiors, now obscured by modern joinery. No old fittings survive. 2 stone figures of charity children from former school stand at west end. Single storeyed vestries etc attached to south side by church. Footings of earlier churches and other buildings going back to Roman times have been uncovered in crypt.