St Michael Royal with St Martin Vintry, London Genealogy

England London  London Parishes  St Michael Royal with St Martin Vintry

Parish History
"St Michael Royal with St Martin Vintry,the church of, stands on the eastern side of College Hill, Upper Thames Street. It derives its name from its patron saint and from its contguity to the Tower Royal, that stood anciently at the upper or northern end of College Hill. It was a spacious, strongly fortified and magnificent mansion, belonging to the kings of England and supposed to have been founded by Henry I. The church... has been a rectory from a very ancient date, and the patronage was in the prior and Canon's of Canterbury as early as 1285... Field church was pulled down and rebuilt in 1410, when my license from Henry IV, it was made collegiate of the Holy Spirit and St. Mary... Contiguous to this new College, which gave its name to its site, he also erected and founded an alms house, which he called "God's house" (hence the addition Paternoster), or" hospital" for the accommodation of 13 persons... [see Mercer's Alms Houses and Whittington College] [This church is] one of the 13 peculiars within the city, belonging to the Archbishop of that see. The ancient church, college and alms houses, were all consumed by the great fire of 1666, and the present edifice erected in its stead, by Sir Christopher Wren in 1694. It was made parochial for this parish and for that of St. Martin's Vintry, the church of which was also destroyed by the same fire and the two parishes united by an act of parliament [see St. Martin Vintry].

"The spacious and well proportioned church is a fine piece of construction and well wrought masonry... The interior is a large capacious all...; is 86 feet long, 48 broad, and 40 high, and lighted by a series of lofty semicircular edit windows.  These united parishes form one rectory, in the city of London, in the province of Canterbury, and as one of the 13 peculiars of that see, within the city, is exempt from archidiaconal jurisdiction.  They are under the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury for St. Michael Royal and of the Bishop of Worcester...  For St. Martin Vintry."

1. James Elmes, M.R. I. A., Architect. In “A Topographical Dictionary of London and its Envirions,” (London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot, 1831). Adapted.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, nonconformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Census records

 * Inhabitants of London in 1638 - St Martin's in the Vintrey, courtesy: British History Online
 * Inhabitants of London in 1638 - St Michael Royal, courtesy: British History Online

Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Middlesex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Poor Law Unions
Contributor: Add information about the pertinent poor law unions in the area.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Web sites

 * London Family History Centre Catalogue (St Martin Vintry Parish records)
 * London Family History Centre Catalogue (St Michael Paternoster Royal Parish records)
 * Society of Genealogists Library Catalogue (to narrow results, conduct a subject search for 'London St Michael Paternoster Royal' or 'London St Martin Vintry')