St Antholin with St John the Baptist upon Wallbrook, London Genealogy

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St Antholin with St John the Baptist upon Wallbrook [sometimes called, St Anthony's Church], Budge Row, is at the southwest corner of Size Lane, Bucklersbury, and Budge Row, Queen Street, Cheapside, which runs in a direct line from Watling Street to Canon Street. It was erected by Sir Christopher Wren in 1682 and although it has no great pretensions to taste, it is a scientific, well-constructed church. The interior is of the Tuscan order, is 66 feet long, 54 four feet broad, and 44 high. The roof is in the form all of an elliptical cupola, enlightened by four lantern windows, and supported by columns of the composite order. The steeple is composed of a plain solid tower, and an octagonal spire, with a Corinthian capital by way of a fintial, is to formal for such an ornament... This church receives its name from St. Anthony, an Egyptian hermit and founder of the order of Eremites of St. Anthony. The time of its foundation is not known; but that it is of great antiquity appears from its being in the gift of the canons of St. Paul, in 1181. It was rebuilt, in 1399, by Thomas Knolles, Lord Mayor of London; again, in 1513, by John Tait, Mercer. In 1616 it was repaired and beautified at the expense of 1000 pounds, raised by the contributions of several minutes but parishioners; but being destroyed by the fire of London in 1666 it was rebuilt in 1682, as before mentioned. To this parish is annexed that of St. John the Baptist, whose church, before the fire of London, stood close by Walbrook. The canons of St. Paul words patrons, and gave it to the convent of St. Helen, and whom they continue till the suppression of their merry, when the default to the crown, in which it still remains, so that the presentation to the United parishes is alternately end, the crown, and Dean in chapter St. Paul's.

[Adapted from:Topographical Dictionary of London by James Elms; published 1831]

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 * Sketch of St. John the Baptist Parish Church (1830), courtesy: London Ancestor