Skip to content
A Roman temple to Diana may once have stood on the site, but the first Christian cathedral there was dedicated to St. Paul in ad 604, The spectacular cathedral we know today was designed by Christopher Wren and remains one of London’s greatest architectural landmarks. Wren also designed over 50 other London churches. Interestingly, Wren had already proposed the demolition and redevelopment of St Paul’s before the fire, but his proposals had been dismissed. And they drove him out … and his company … from their kingdom [Essex]. The atmosphere inside is as rich, dark and deep as a cup of coffee from the “Giddy Up” stall in Guildhall Yard – the best anywhere, by the way!Almost exactly 100 years later, the spire was destroyed by a fire after being struck by lightning. (*) The second St Paul’s, “The Church of Paulesbyri”, was built during the Bishopric of Erkenwald, between 675-85, and destroyed by the Vikings in 961.The third was built in 961, and destroyed by fire in 1087.On this day in 1012, Elfeah, the Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by Vikings, who had held him hostage for some time and not received the ransom that they had demanded for his release.
An Anglican cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of London, the current St. Paul's building dates back to 1675, after the previous cathedral was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. It is located within the central City of London, atop Ludgate Hill and northeast of Blackfriars. That cathedral burned, and its replacement was destroyed by In the aftermath of the fire, Wren designed a new St. Paul’s Cathedral, with dozens of smaller new churches ranged around it like satellites. Rebuilding took many years. Wren himself set down the foundation block in 1675 and in 1710 put the final stone in place. Interestingly, the associated parade of the mayor and his or her entourage, from the City to Westminster, used to take place on the Feast of St Simon and St Jude at the end of October, whereas now it takes place on the second Saturday in November. His last words were “the gold I give you is the Word of God”. He became the first Bishop of London in 604, and, incidentally, the third Archbishop of Canterbury in 619. Strike-a-light. 10 Inventions From China’s Han Dynasty That Changed the World Again as Bede put it:“In the year of our Lord 616 … the death of Sabert [Sebert], king of the East Saxons … left three sons, still pagans, to inherit his … crown. On the 29th December 1940, Germany launched one of its biggest air raids over the capital city of London. Civilian defense brigades, including the St. Paul’s Fire Watch, protected the structure from fire, and at one point an unexploded bomb was removed at great risk from the roof of the cathedral.
Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Magna Carta granted the City of London “all its ancient liberties and free customs, both by land and by water”. Their efforts was to create a firestorm and create a situation where the fire …
This event eventually became the Lord Mayor’s Show we know today. In the 16th century, the fourth cathedral fell into disrepair and was damaged by fire, and further harm was done during the English civil wars of the 17th century.
Drawing of St Paul’s Cathedral before the fire. In exchange, the Crown required that, each year, the newly elected Lord Mayor present himself or herself at court to ceremonially “show” his or her allegiance. In 604 A.D., King Aethelberht I dedicated the first Christian cathedral there to St. Paul. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Elfeah’s body was laid to rest in St Paul’s Cathedral in London, and later, in 1023, moved by the then-Viking King, Cnut, to Canterbury Cathedral. … [W]hen this province … received the word of truth, by the preaching of Mellitus, King Ethelbert built the church of St Paul the Apostle, in the city of London, where he and his successors should have their episcopal see … ”.Interestingly, Mellitus was sent into exile from London shortly after the construction of the cathedral, in 616, when the then-Christian King Sebert died, and the City and kingdom temporarily reverted to paganism. St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London, United Kingdom, which, as the cathedral of the Bishop of London, serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London.It sits on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grade I listed building.Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. The official withdrawal of Roman administration in 410 AD did not end Christian belief in England but it was to be almost two hundred years before St Paul’s Cathedral was founded. It travels, accompanied by much pomp, from the Lord Mayor’s official residence, Mansion House, past St Paul’s Cathedral, to the Royal Courts of Justice, where the Cities of London and Westminster meet.Today is the feast day of St Mellitus, who died on this day in 624.Mellitus was a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the then-pagan Anglo-Saxons to Christianity at the turn of the sixth and seventh centuries (he was the recipient of the letter from Pope Gregory I known as the “In the Year of our Lord 604, Augustine, Archbishop of Britain, ordained … Mellitus to preach to the province of the East Saxons … . St.Paul’s could (until recently) be seen from as far west as Windsor and the Thames Estuary in the east, although only on a clear day when rain had washed away London’s normal foggy haze.
Bread oven. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. In the 1660s, the English architect Sir Christopher Wren was enlisted to repair the cathedral, but the Great Fire of London intervened, destroying Old St. Paul’s Cathedral in 1666. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, “they overwhelmed him with bones of horns of oxen; and one of them smote him with an axe-iron on the head; so that he sunk downwards with the blow; and his holy blood fell on the earth, whilst his sacred soul was sent to the realm of God”.