View of St Bride's Church from the Thames

St Bride's (or the Church of St Bridget) was considered one of Georgian London's most beautiful churches - it's beauty mainly resting in Sir Christopher Wren's steeple. The medieval church burned down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. Rebuilt of stone in 1680 it was over the next 130 years "many times beautified" and thoroughly repaired in 1796.

On the 18th June 1764 the steeple was struck by a "most dreadful" lightning which forced several large pieces of stone to fall through into the church, as also several others onto nearby houses. No sooner was scaffolding put in place to repair the steeple when a great wind tore the scaffolding down. The Steeple was again struck by lightning in 1805. In 1815 a contemporary commentator remarked that "though the steeple is somewhat lower than it was previous" to all these accidents "it was now more secure than ever".