On a gloriously sunny and warm late September day, the Mistress and I joined the annual City of London Church Walk kindly organised by the Worshipful Companies of Plumbers and Constructors. The programme was to visit ten magnificent London churches (almost exclusively those of Sir Christopher Wren) and to hear about their history and design.
Led by Tony Tucker from the Friends of City Churches, we joined forty or so other Masters and Consorts in the crypt of St Pauls for breakfast. After our safety briefing and with scarcely a glance at St Pauls itself, we set off into the sunshine on Paternoster Square. What followed was a truly wonderful tour through the stunning architecture and design of Wren’s churches, almost all of which were built after the Great Fire. Space does not allow a full description of each but suffice to say every one is different and has its own story to tell. From the stunning St Stephen Walbrook with its near perfect symmetry and proportions to the humbler but no less inspiring St Mary at Hill (our Company church), Tony explained every aspect of the building in fascinating detail. We were able to go inside every one and see at first hand some of the unique design features.
All of us on the tour were struck by the peace and tranquillity that each church provided despite them being in the very centre of one of the busiest city’s in the world. And we also realised that we had all walked past them countless times over the years, but had visited very, very few of them. A most sobering thought and a frightful indictment of our modern lives. But thank goodness we had such an expert guide to help us understand them better.
Lunch was taken in St Lawrence Jury kindly provided by the Cook and the Butler and it was a novel experience to eat and have a glass of wine whilst sitting in a church pew listening to the organ; a first for Wendy and me! But we were soon back on the trail and took in several more churches, including the non-Wren church of St Mary Woolnoth. We also examined the freeze at the foot of the Monument and once again a full explanation of the symbolism was given; fascinating.
We ended the walk at All Hallows by the Tower were a welcome cup of tea awaited us.
A wonderful day and thanks must go to the Clerk of the Plumbers (whose turn it was this year to organise), to all the churches who allowed us to visit and to our two expert guides. Picture show us all on the roof of One New Change to view St Pauls and the London skyline and the wonderful ceiling in St Mary Aldermary.
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