St Stephen Walbrook

St Stephen Walbrook
St Stephen Walbrook at dusk
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	http://www.ststephenwalbrook.net
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed building
Architect(s)	Sir Christopher Wren
Style	Baroque
Administration
Diocese	London

St Stephen Walbrook is a church in the City of London, part of the Church of England's Diocese of London. The present domed building was erected to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren following the destruction of its medieval predecessor in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is located in Walbrook, next to the Mansion House, and near to Bank and Monument Underground stations.

The original church of St Stephen stood on the west side of the Walbrook, a stream running southwards across the City of London from the City Wall near Moorfields to the Thames.

The church was moved to its present site, on the east side of the Walbrook (later concealed in a culvert), in the 15th century. In 1429 Robert Chichely, acting as executor of will of the former Lord Mayor, Sir William Stondon, bought a piece of land on the east side of the Walbrook, and presented it to the parish. Several foundation stones were laid at a ceremony on 11 May 1429, and the church was consecrated ten years later, on 30 April 1439. At 125 feet (38 m) long and 67 feet (20 m) wide, it was considerably larger than the present building.

The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It contained a memorial to the composer John Dunstaple. The wording of the epitaph had been recorded in the early 17th century, and was reinstated in the church in 1904, some 450 years after his death. The nearby church of St Benet Sherehog, also destroyed in the Great Fire, was not rebuilt; instead its parish was united with that of St Stephen.

The present building was constructed in 1672-9 to a design by Sir Christopher Wren, at a cost of £7,692. It is rectangular in plan, with a dome and an attached north west tower. Entry to the church is up a flight of sixteen steps, enclosed in a porch attached to the west front. Wren also designed a porch for the north side of the church. This was never built, but there once was a north door, which was bricked up in 1685, as it let in the offensive smells from the slaughterhouses in the neighbouring Stocks Market. The walls, tower, and internal columns are made of stone, but the dome is of timber and plaster with an external covering of copper