St Andrew Undershaft

St Andrew Undershaft
St Andrew Undershaft in 2013
Country	England
Denomination	Church of England
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed building
Style	Perpendicular style
Administration
Diocese	London

St Andrew Undershaft is a Church of England church in the City of London, the historic nucleus and modern financial centre of London. It is located on St. Mary Axe, within the Aldgate ward, and is a rare example of a City church that survived both the Great Fire of London and the Blitz.

The present building was constructed in 1532 but a church has existed on the site since the 12th century. Today, St Andrew Undershaft is administered from the nearby St Helen's Bishopsgate church.

The first church on the site, which today is bordered by St. Mary Axe and Leadenhall Street, was built in medieval times, being recorded in 1147. It was rebuilt in the 14th century and again in 1532; this third incarnation of the building survives today. It is in the Perpendicular style with its entrance located at the base of its off-centre tower. The interior is divided into six bays, with many of the original fittings that survived Victorian renovation. Formerly, St Andrew Undershaft had one of London's few surviving large stained-glass windows, installed in the 17th century, but this was destroyed in the Baltic Exchange bombing in 1992.

The church's curious name derives from the shaft of the maypole that was traditionally set up each year opposite the church. The custom continued each spring until 1517, when student riots put an end to it, but the maypole itself survived until 1547 when it was seized by a mob and destroyed as a "pagan idol".

St Andrew Undershaft is now administered from the nearby church of St Helen's Bishopsgate. St Andrew Undershaft was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.