St Dunstan in the West, London Genealogy

Return to the London Parishes St D-H page.

St Dunstan in the West, the church of, is situated on the north side of the west end of Fleet Street, where it has been long known as a grievous incumbrance to Hackney and state coachmen, drivers of omnibuses... It...narrowly escaped destruction by the great fire of 1666, the flames having stopped within three houses of its walls. It has been repaired several times... It is a church of very ancient foundation, in the gift of the abbot and convent of Westminster, who in 1237 gave it to Henry III towards the maintenance of the foundation of the house called the Rolls, for the reception of converted Jews. It afterwards was conveyed to the abbot and convent of Alnwick, in Northumberland, in whom it continued till the dissolution of the religious houses by Henry VIII. [It became a privately proscripted church, in private hands.]

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