St Michael, Cornhill

St Michael, Cornhill
View of church from St Michael's Alley
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic / High Church
Website	http://www.st-michaels.org.uk/
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed building
Architect(s)	Sir Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor
Style	Neo-Gothic
Administration
Diocese	London
Clergy
Rector	Rt Revd Stephen Platten

St Michael, Cornhill, is a medieval parish church in the City of London with pre-Norman Conquest parochial foundation. The medieval structure was lost in the Great Fire of London, and replaced by the present building, traditionally attributed to Sir Christopher Wren. The upper parts of the tower are by Nicholas Hawksmoor. The church was embellished by Sir George Gilbert Scott and Herbert Williams in the nineteenth century.

The church of St Michael was in existence by 1133. The patronage was in the possession of the Abbot and convent of Evesham until 1503, when it was settled on the Drapers Company. A new tower was built in 1421, possibly after a fire. John Stow described the church as "fair and beautiful, but since the surrender of their lands to Edward VI, greatly blemished by the building of four tenements on the north side thereof, in the place of a green church-yard". On the south side of the church was a churchyard with what Stow calls a "proper cloister", with lodgings for choristers, and a pulpit cross, at which sermons were preached. These were maintained by Sir John Rudstone, after whose death in 1530 the choir was dissolved and the cross fell into decay.

There is a folk tale, dating from the early 16th-century, which tells of a team of bellringers who once saw 'an ugly shapen sight' appear as they were ringing the bells during a storm. They fell unconscious, but later discovered scratch marks in the masonry. For years afterwards these were pointed out as the 'Devil's clawmarks'.

The medieval church, except for the tower, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and the present building was begun in 1672. The design is traditionally attributed to Sir Christopher Wren. However, the authors of the Buildings of England guide to the City churches believe Wren's office had no involvement with the rebuilding of the body of the church, the parish having dealt directly with the builders. The new church was 83 feet long and 67 feet wide, divided into nave and aisles by Doric columns, with a groined ceiling. There was an organ at the west end, and a reredos with paintings of Moses and Aaron at the east. The walls, George Godwin noted, did not form right-angles, indicating the re-use of the medieval foundations.