St Lawrence Jewry with St Mary Magdalene Milk Street, London Genealogy

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St Lawrence Jewry with St Mary Magdalene Milk Street, a church of, it is situated at the southwest corner Guildhall Yard and at Cateaton Street. It derives its name has been dedicated to St. Lawrence, a Spanish saint...[and of it's location] near the Jewry. In the ancient church on the site was a rectory, which being given by Henry de Wickenbroke to Balliol College, in 1294, directory ceased, and Richard Bishop of London, converted it into a vicarage, and the patronage still continues with the master and scholars of that college. It was destroyed by the great fire of 1666, and was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, at the expense of the parishioners, assisted by a very liberal benefaction by Sir John Langham. The parish of St. Mary, Magdalene, Milk Street, was united in to it by an act of parliament, and the church was finished in 1676. The present church is a handsome building of the Corinthian order, and the east end, next Guildhall Yard, is a composition of or Corinthian columns, with niches and festoons of fruit. On the summit of the steeple, is a vane in the form of a gridiron, illustrative of St. Lawrence's martyrdom. The interior is rich, and beautifully decorated with elaborately modeled stucco ornaments, and has several monuments to celebrated persons. It is 81 feet long, 68 broad, and 48 high. This church is occasionally used Bo and Walbrook churches [which see, respectively, St. Mary le Bow and Stephen Walbrook] for corporation sermons. The advowson of this church is a vicarage, and in that of its sister parish of St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street, is a rectory, and to the patronage is alternately with Baliol College and the dean and chapter of St. Paul's. It is in the city in archdeaconry of London...

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