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St
Mary-le-Bow Church, Cheapside
A
church has existed on this spot since Norman times, although
rumour has it that the church was built on the foundations
of a Roman temple. Stow says that the church was first
built on arches of stone and was therefore called St Mary
de Arcubus, or the Bow, although Stow also states
that the names derives from stone arches which once supported
a lantern on top of the tower.
The
church has a colourful history. In 1090 a great wind tore off the roof
of the church, embedding great rafters into the ground to a depth of
almost twenty-five feet. A hundred years later a rebel called William
Fitz Osbert the Long Beard, fleeing the authorities, took refuge in
the church's steeple together with some of his supporters. There they
stayed, well provisioned with food and weapons, until the authorities
set fire to the steeple, forcing them down and to their death on the
gallows in Smithfield. A few years later the damaged steeple fell down,
killing several people. In 1284 another man, a goldsmith called Ducket,
also escaping the authorities after murdering a friend, took refuge
in the steeple, where he was discovered and slain by relatives of the
murdered man.
The
old steeple, much repaired, was finally replaced in 1469, when it was
ordered that the Bow bell be rung every night at nine p.m., and the
steeple further beautified and strengthened in 1512.
The church was severely damaged during the Great Fire (when its steeple
caught fire and crumbled, its famous bells rang out "most melodiously")
and rebuilt by Sir
Christopher Wren in 1673. During excavations it was revealed that
the church's foundations rested on a Roman causeway. The bells in the
new-built steeple were rung for the first time on the king's birthday
on June 4th 1762.
