St. Andrew, Holborn
Photo of current church
Information
Denomination	Anglican, earlier Roman Catholic
Contact particulars
Address	City of London
Country	United Kingdom
Christianity Portal

St Andrew, Holborn, a large parish for the City^[1], is a Church of England church on the western edge of the City of London, on Holborn.

History

Roman and medieval

Roman pottery was found on the site during 2001/02 excavations in the Crypt. However, the first written record of the church itself dates to 951, calling it a church on top of the hill above the river Fleet (a medieval spring from which is also to be found in the crypt, though usually not on public view). In the Early Middle Ages the church's name changed, from St Andrew Holburnestrate to St Andrew de Holeburn.

In 1348 John Thavie, a local armourer, “left a considerable Estate towards the support of the fabric forever”, a legacy which survived the English Reformation, was invested carefully through the centuries, and still provides for the church's current upkeep. In the following century (the 15th), the wooden church was replaced by a medieval stone one ^[2].

16th to 18th century

The medieval St Andrew’s survived the 1666 Great Fire of London, saved by a last minute change in wind direction^[3], but was already in a bad state of repair and so was rebuilt by Christopher Wren anyway. In what is his largest parish church, he rebuilt from the foundations (creating the present crypt) and gave the existing medieval stone tower (the only medieval part to survive) a marble cladding. Its rector from 1713 to 1724 was Henry Sacheverell.

Thomas Coram, founder of the Foundlings’ Hospital (first set up in a house in Hatton Garden) is buried here, and the organ casing (an organ played by Handel), the pulpit and the font is from the Foundlings’ Hospital Chapel on its Bloomsbury site.

Notable organists

• from 1713, Daniel Purcell, younger brother of the composer Henry
• John Stanley (1712-1786) was Organist at St Andrew's from the age of 14, replaced Handel as a governor of the Foundling Hospital after Handel’s death (thus continuing the tradition of performing the Messiah for the Hospital) and died near the church in Hatton Garden^[4].

19th century

The opening of Holborn Viaduct, 1869

It was on this church's steps in 1827 that William Marsden found a woman dying, inspiring him to set up the Royal Free Hospital in Greville Street for the poor and destitute, which later moved to Gray’s Inn Road and is now in Hampstead.

In the mid 19th Century, the Holborn Valley Improvement Scheme bought up the church's North Churchyard (with many of the bodies re-interred in the Crypt and in the City of London Cemetery in Ilford, the latter also being the destination for the bodies from the crypt when it was cleared in 2002-2003) to make way for the Holborn Viaduct linking Holborn with Newgate, which was opened by Queen Victoria in 1869.

Also at this era the Gothic architect Samuel Teulon built a new vicarage and Court House on the South side of the church - this now operates as the offices for the Foundation, the associated Charities and the Archdeaconry of Hackney, as well as the Rectory and the Conference Rooms. Teulon incorporated into the Court Room, the building's main room, a 17th Century fireplace from one of the two previous Questhouses - this still survives.

In Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist Bill Sykes looks up at this church's tower (an episode referenced by Iris Murdoch in Under the Net, though from where her character stands such a view is almost impossible).

20th century to present

During the Blitz, on the night of the 7th May 1941, the church was bombed and gutted, leaving only the exterior walls and tower. However, instead of demolition which sometimes occurred in similar cases, it was decided after a long delay that it would be restored “stone for stone and brick for brick” to Wren's original designs.

It re-opened in 1961 as a non-parochial Guild Church intended for serving the local working rather than resident community.

In January 2005 a new large icon was installed, made for the site by the Monastic Family Fraternity of Jesus in Vallechiara [1]. The church runs a selection of recitals and lectures, as well as our weekly services and evening concerts.

Notes

• St Andrew website

External links

Anglicanism portal