St. Mary le Bow

St. Mary le Bow

On the north side of Cheapside at No. 56 at the north-west corner of Bow Lane (P.O. Directory). In Cordwainer Ward. The parish extends into Cheap Ward.

Earliest mention found in records: "Ecclesiae Sancta Mariae quae dicitur ad Arcus" (Annales de Margam, p. 5). Date 1091.

Stow says it was built in the reign of William the Conqueror (S. 255–6).

Other forms of name: "St. Mary de Archis," c. 1193 (Anc. Deeds, A. 1513). "St. Mary of Arches," temp. John (ib. A. 2542). "St. Mary de Arch." (temp. H. III. ib. A. 1474). "St. Mary le Bow," 55 H. III. (ib. D. 309). "le clocher des Arches," 56 H. III. (Fr. Chron. p. 11). "Sce Mar' ad Arcub," 3 Ed. I. (Rot. Hund. I. 407). "St. Mary atte bowe," 1323 (Ct. H.W. I. 304). "St. Mary atte Bowe," 1335 (ib. 405). "St. Mary atte Boghe," 1343–4 (ib. 472). "Our Lady of the Arches" (nostre dame des Arches), 37 Ed. III. (Cal. L. Bk. G. p. 150). "Our Lady of the Bow," 1486 (H. MSS. Com. Var. Coll. II. 296). "Our Lady of the Bowe," 1517–18 (Ct. H.W. II. 625).

In 1091 a storm blew the roof off (Ann. de Margam, p. 5).

In 1271 the steeple fell down and killed many people (Ann. Lond. p. 81).

The curfew was rung there, 37 Ed. III. (Cal. L. Bk. G. p. 150).

Repaired and beautified 1620. Burnt in the Fire and rebuilt 1671–80. Archt., Sir C. Wren. Steeple 125 ft. high.

The church has always been famous for its bells, which were replaced after the Fire, but not completed until 1762.

St. Pancras Soper Lane and Allhallows Honey Lane united to this parish after the Fire.

A Rectory. Patron: Archbishop of Canterbury. One of the 13 peculiars in the City belonging to the Archbishop and exempt from the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. The Court of Arches for these parishes was held in this church until the peculiars were abolished in 1847.

The church possessed from early times the right of sanctuary, and many disputes occurred in the course of its history in connection with this privilege.

The crypt under the church is of Norman work and forms one of its most interesting features. Roman bricks have been used in its construction possibly belonging to some Roman building on or near the sites.

A pavement and temple of Roman work found under the church and a Roman causeway beneath the tower, 4 ft. thick, at a depth of 18 ft. Underneath lay the natural clay (Wren's Parentalia, 265, and Arch. XL.).

Derivation of name: Stow in his first edition says it was called "de arcubus" of the stone arches or bowes on the top of the steeple or bell tower, which arching was as well on the old steeple as on the new (p. 199). The new steeple was finished 1512, the arches being built of stone from Caen.

But in his second edition he has abandoned this derivation, and speaks of it as so-called as being built on arches of stone, and the name may have been given originally to a church or chapel in the crypt (ed. 1603, pp. 255–6 and 258).

There is a church in Exeter called "St. Mary Arches" or "de Arcubus," but no satisfactory derivation of the name is forthcoming from this source. It is a 12th century church, one of the oldest in the City.

In Lincoln the church of St. Peter at Arches is so called from its proximity to the Stone Bow, a gateway with three arches across the high street.

St. Mary-le-Bow-Church, Cheapside,—between 55 and 56, about the middle of the S. side.

St. Mary-le-Bow, the church of, is situated on the south side of Cheapside, at the corners of Bow-lane and Bow Church-yard. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and derives its addition from being the first church built in London upon arches, then called Bows. It was founded in or before the reign of William the Norman, and was at first called New Mary Church, but afterwards received the epithet of De Arcubus, or Le Bow, in Westcheap.

In 1271 it was much decayed, and many persons were killed and maimed by the fall of the steeple, which was not completely rebuilt till 1469, when the common-council ordered that Bow bell should be rung at nine o'clock every night. Hence the proverb of Bow bell.

The old church was destroyed by the fire of London, and the present edifice erected in it stead by Sir Christopher Wren, in 11671. In that year he began its incomparable spire, which is not only his masterpiece in composition, but stands unrivalled in this class of art, as well for its beauty, as for its ingenious and scientific construction. In 1677 it was finished, and was repaired about the year 1782, by the late Alderman Sir William Staines, since then by Mr. Gwilt, senior, and in 1818 to 1820, by his son, Mr. George Gwilt.

This church is a rectory, and the chief of the thirteen peculiars within the city, belonging to the Archbishop of Canterbury. After the fire of London, the small parishes of Allhallows, Honey-lane, and St. Pancras, Soper-lane (see those two churches), were united to it by act of parliament. The advowson of Allhallows is in the Grocers' Company, and that of St. Mary-le-Bow and St. Pancras, in the Archbishop of Canterbury, who therefore present by turns the Archbishop having two to the Company's one. The united parishes are rectorial, in the city of London, and in the province of Canterbury The resent rector is the Rev. Anthony Hamilton, Archeacon of Taunton, a Prebendary of Wells, Chaplai in Ordinary to His Majesty, and Rector of Loughton, who was instituted by the Archbishop of Canterbury as his second turn, in 1820. The next turn is in the Grocers' Company.