St Matthew Friday Street with St Peter Cheap, London Genealogy

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St Matthew Friday Street with St Peter Cheap, the church of, is situated on the west side of the street, a short distance from Cheapside. The patronage of this church was anciently in the Abbot and Convent of Westminster, and upon their suppression, when the conventual church w asconverted into a cathedral, Henry VIII conferred it on the Bishop fo Westmisnter; but on the dissolution of that new bishopric, Edward VI granted it to the Bishop of London in whom the advowson still continues. The old church was destroyed by the great fire of 1666, and the presnet plain, sold and useful structure erected in its stead by Sir Christopher Wren, in 1685. At the union of the small parishes of the city with the larger, that of St Peter Cheap, which stood at the corner of the Wood Street, Cheapside, was united to this. The aptronage of St Peter's was granted by the crown after the Reformation, to private hands. The united parishes form one rectory, in the city, diocese and archdeaconry of London, and in the laternate patronage of the Bishop of London and the Duke of Buccleugh.

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