ST MARY-AT-HILL

'St.Mary-at-Hill' is a Church of England church on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap in the ward of Billingsgate, London, England.

The current church was built by Christopher Wren between 1670 and 1676, replacing the previous church at this location destroyed in the Great Fire of London, which began only a few feet away in Pudding Lane. Although the official address is Lovat Lane, the more notable side is on the street called "Mary at Hill" where there is a huge two-faced clock extending several feet into the street. There is a narrow alleyway alongside, but no right of way.
The interior space of St. Mary-at-Hill is roughly square in plan, and the church has a western tower on the street front flanked by a north and south narthex. Wren spanned the square space by a barrel vault in a Greek-cross plan, with a dome at the centre, supported on four fluted Corinthian columns. Inside there are original seventeenth century box pews. Part of the interior was destroyed by a fire on 10th May 1988. The 1848 William Hill organ was partly restored, but serious work didn't commence until 2000. It is used for concerts on Thursday lunchtimes.
John Stow's "Survey of London" (1598) mentioned that a church has stood on this site since at least the 14th century. From 1510 the Chapel Royal choir sang here. The organ-builder Mighaell Glocetir worked at St.Mary-at-Hill from 1477 to 1479. He is possibly the same person as the builder Myghell Glancets who worked on St.Michael church at Cornhill in 1475. The great composer Thomas Tallis was organist at St.Mary-at-Hill in 1538-1539.
In several books on English folklore, or about ceremonies of London, there is mention of the costermonger's festival held here every October. It also goes by the name "Fish Harvest Festival" or "Harvest of the Sea". Another notable ceremony is Beating the Bounds, where notables and children process around the boundary of a parish or ward on Ascension Day, carrying slender rods. Originally the children were whipped (not severely) at points along the route. Almost every example died out in the middle of the nineteenth century, but the account books of St.Mary-at-Hill testify to its existence here. Four shillings were paid for the provision of fruit on the day of the "Perambulation" in 1682. In another example at Chelsea the whipped children were given four pence. One rare surviving example of "Beating the Bounds" is at the nearby church "All Hallows by the Tower", where it is held every three years.
Parliament outlawed new burials in the City of London during the Victorian era, forcing the closure of its churchyards; in 1847 the church acquired a small part of the land in West Norwood Cemetery for its own parish use.

Contents

External references

External references

★ Mander Organs ''William Hill's organ''

★ Chapel Royal (authorisation required)

★ British Institue of Organ Builders ''Medieval builders''

★ Thomas Tallis

★ English Heritage ''Survey of London: volume 26'' St Mary-at-Hill in West Norwood