St Olave's Church, Old Jewry facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Olave's Church, Old Jewry
Tower and west wall of St. Olave Old Jewry
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Anglican
Architecture
Architect(s)	Sir Christopher Wren
Style	Baroque

St Olave's Church, Old Jewry was a historic church in the City of London. It was located between a street called Old Jewry and Ironmonger Lane. The church was destroyed in the terrible Great Fire of London in 1666. After the fire, it was rebuilt by the famous architect Sir Christopher Wren and his team. Most of the church was taken down in 1887, but its tower and part of its west wall are still standing today.

A Look Back in Time

St Olave's Church was named after Saint Olaf, who was a king and saint from Norway in the 11th century. The area known as Old Jewry was a part of medieval London where many Jews lived. They stayed there until they had to leave England in 1290. The church was also sometimes called St Olave, Upwell because there was a well under its eastern side.

The oldest record we have of the church is from around c. 1130. However, during excavations in 1985, archaeologists found the foundations of an even older church. This earlier church was built by the Anglo-Saxons between the 9th and 11th centuries. It was made from Kentish stone and old Roman bricks.

Rebuilding After the Great Fire

After the Great Fire destroyed the church, its parish (the area it served) joined with that of St Martin Pomeroy. This was a tiny church that already shared St Olave's churchyard. The two churches were very close to each other before the fire.

Rebuilding St Olave's started in 1671. The builders used many of the old medieval walls and foundations. The tower was built separately, sticking out from the west side of the church. It needed a special wooden platform 16 feet (4.9 m) underground to support its heavy stone base. The church was finished in 1679. It cost £5,580, which included £10 paid to the still-damaged St Paul's Cathedral for rubble to use in construction.

Famous People and Demolition

Many important people were buried at St Olave's. Robert Large, a Lord Mayor of London and a master of the Mercers' Company, was buried there in 1440. He was also the teacher of William Caxton, who brought printing to England. Later, John Boydell, another Lord Mayor and a publisher, was buried in the church in 1804. Boydell was known for visiting the church pump (which was over the old well) every morning at 5 AM to splash water on his head! His memorial can now be found at St Margaret Lothbury.

Maurice Greene, a famous composer and the Master of the King's Music, was buried in St Olave's in 1755. When the church was torn down, his remains were moved to St Paul's Cathedral.

Even though the church was repaired in 1879, most of it was demolished in 1887. This happened because of a law called the Union of Benefices Act 1860. The land was sold for £22,400. This money was used to build St Olave's Manor House. The people buried there had their remains moved to City of London Cemetery in Manor Park, London. The church's parish joined with St Margaret Lothbury.

Many of the church's items were sent to other churches. The beautiful reredos (a screen behind the altar), the font cover, and other wooden furnishings went to St Margaret Lothbury. The royal arms (a symbol of the king or queen) went to St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe. The clock moved to St Olave Hart Street. The pulpit (where sermons are given) and the baptismal font went to St Olave's Manor House. The organ went to Christchurch in Penge.

The tower, the west wall, and part of the north wall were saved. They were included in a new building that served as a home for the rector of St Margaret Lothbury. This building was replaced in 1986 by a modern office building. The new building was designed to fit in with the old style. The churchyard is now a courtyard for the office building.

Church Design

The church's shape was a bit unusual, like a wine bottle lying on its side. The tower at the west end was like the bottle's neck, and the angled west front was like its shoulders. The church got narrower towards the east. The main front of the church faced Old Jewry. It had a large Venetian window with columns and a full entablature (a fancy decorated band).

The Tower

The tower is 88-foot (27 m) tall. It is the only tower built by Wren's team that is "battered." This means it is slightly wider at the bottom than at the top. The door to the tower has a curved top and is surrounded by Doric columns. On top of the tower is a simple wall with tall, pointed decorations called obelisks at each corner, topped with balls. In the middle of the tower is a weather vane shaped like a sailing ship. This ship vane actually came from another church, St Mildred, Poultry.

A clock from 1824, made by Moore & Son, was removed when the church was demolished. In 1891, it was put in the tower of St Olave's Hart Street. The clock you see there now was installed after 1972. The decorative frame around the clock is original and used to frame a window.

Inside the Church

A description from the early 1700s says the inside of the church was decorated with many paintings. It had more paintings than other churches designed by Wren. These paintings included:

• A painting of Queen Elizabeth I on a couch, with her royal symbols, under a fancy arched canopy.
• A painting of King Charles I.
• A painting of Time, shown with wings, holding a scythe (a tool for cutting grass) in one hand and an hourglass in the other. At his feet was a sleeping Cupid, and under him was a skeleton that was eight feet long.

The remaining parts of the church were given a special protection status on January 4, 1950. They are now a Grade I listed building, meaning they are very important historically.

See also

• List of Christopher Wren churches in London
• List of churches rebuilt after the Great Fire but since demolished