St Magnus the Martyr with St Margaret New Fish Street and St Michael Crooked Lane, London Genealogy

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St Magnus the Martyr with St Margaret New Fish Street and St Michael Crooked Lane, the church of, is situated at the northeast corner of old London Bridge, and derives its name from having been dedicated to St. Magnus, who suffered martyrdom, under the Emperor Aurelian, in the city of Caesarea. It is a rectory, the patronage of which was anciently in the confidence of Westminster and Bermondsey, who presented alternately, till the general suppression of monasteries, when it devolved to the Crown. In 1533, Queen Mary granted by letters patent to the Bishop of London and his successors in whom it still remains. The ancient church was destroyed by the fire of 1666, and one rebuilt, was named the United parish church for this parish, and that of St. Margaret, New Fish Street, which is annexed to it by act of Parliament.

The present church was erected by Sir Christopher Wren in 1676, and it is an elegant and substantial church built of stone, and oak timber, covered with land; with a very handsome lofty steeple, consisting of the tower, and a lantern, or belltower, covered with a cupola, and surmounted by a well proportioned spire. The opening under the tower, was made shortly after a great fire in this neighborhood in 1759, through the recesses and growing arches originally formed in the main building, by Sir Christopher, as if he had foreseen its necessity, whenever the street required widening.

The interior is 90 feet in length, 59 in breadth, and 41 in height, divided into a nave and two aisles, by columns, and an entablature of the Ionic order. The steeple and spire were not built till 1705. The advowson of his church is a rectory, in the archdeaconry, city and diocese of London, and in the patronage of the Bishop of that city.

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