____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ February 2014 Published by the FCC in conjunction with the Archdeaconry of London www.cityevents.co.uk A Reredos Riddle solved? The Friends of the City Churches are now based at St Mary Abchurch, one of the finest of them all, and have thus begun to take a particular interest in this fascinating building. Two great glories of this church are its richly painted dome and superb reredos. Aside from St Paul’s Cathedral, its festoons are the only authenticated work in the City churches by the master woodcarver Grinling Gibbons (1648-1721). Such was his greatness that attributions considerably outnumber verifiable examples of his skill, but the discovery in 1946 of receipts and accounts of 1686, including a letter in his hand, confirm that he was commissioned by the affluent parishioners of St Mary Abchurch (and had both to press them for payment and mollify one who was not satisfied that “the olter pecs” was “folle Anof of work””). Further documentary research led to the opposite result in 1958, when the painted dome, long attributed to Sir James Thornhill, was identified to the credit of the lesser-known William Snow. Most curiously, it now appears that, just as these stories were being straightened out, two more were being conflated. The most dramatic episode in the history of St Mary Abchurch recounts how the exquisite reredos was blown into 2000 pieces by wartime bombing, and so carefully restored that the repairs are effectively invisible. As well they might be, for we can now find no evidence for that event: within living memory, an urban legend seems to have accrued to this City church. The story began to unravel when one of the Friends’ volunteer Church Watchers, Chris Dolan, carefully read a short history of St Mary Abchurch written in 1946 by the Revd Reginald Merac LaPorte-Payne, Rector since 1939. This slim volume contributed to post-war fund-raising for the restoration of the building. The church suffered collateral damage from no less than six direct hits to adjacent buildings between 1940 and 1945, the worst of which was the very first. On the second night of the Blitz, 8 September 1940, a bomb fell on the White Hart Hotel with sufficient force to smash the stained glass windows of the church (“though protected with heavy timbers”) and punch a hole in the dome. During the worst raid on the City, 29 December 1940, the rectory room on the north side of the church was “laid waste” by the hit on the City Carlton Club. However, “by then, all the famous carvings and other treasures had been removed to safe places of custody, in Somerset, at Cambridge and in the Crypt of St Paul’s.” Early in 1941, a third bomb took out the temporary windows and doors, and further damaged the dome. Three rounds of V-1 flying bombs in the final year of the war did the same again, which must have been thoroughly exasperating by that point. Thus, the Rector recorded that the carvings survived the first indirect hit, and were removed for safekeeping for the duration of the war. Conversely, research for the recent Friends’ lecture on ‘The Bombed Churches of the City’ drew on a wealth of newspaper reports and evocative photographs and drawings (particularly, sketches by the likes of Dennis Flanders and Hanslip Fletcher) taken soon after the event in the uncertainty of what might yet come. The Ministry of Information appreciated that the destruction of prominent monuments was impossible to deny, and that fury at the loss of these national treasures strengthened public resolve, so the damage to well-known churches was promptly reported. Yet none of the contemporary coverage mentioned the loss of Grinling Gibbons’s reredos in St Mary Abchurch. Understandably, much was made of the raid of 15 October 1940, which pulverised the minstrels’ gallery of Middle Temple Hall; fragments of its richly carved Elizabethan oak screen were collected in some 200 sacks and sent away for reconstruction. (A stark painting of the ruin, by Frank Beresford, hangs in the restored gallery today.) Middle Temple Hall was reopened on 8 July 1949; the dome of St Mary Abchurch was restored by the autumn of 1953. Perhaps the foresight of the rector and his colleagues lacked the drama of destruction elsewhere; it only seems fair to those worthy custodians to commend their prudence now. Signe Hoffos Friends of the City Churches, Church of St Mary Abchurch, Abchurch Lane, London EC4N 7BA tel. 020 7626 1555 (answerphone) e-mail: [email protected] Why not visit our websites www.cityevents.org.uk for all the latest information, or www.london-city-churches.org.uk for downloadable maps and links to all the churches in the city? REGULAR SERVICES IN FEBRUARY 2014 Every Wednesday – continued 1305 Eucharist in the church St Mary le Bow 1305 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields The services below are the normal pattern for City Churches. They are subject to change during and immediately after major festivals and during holidays. 1310 Mass St Alban the Martyr You are advised to telephone churches to check the details. See also our 1310 Sung Eucharist St Botolph Bishopsgate website at www.cityevents.co.uk which includes weekend services. 1310 Pause for Reflection St Ethelburga’s Centre 1310 Holy Communion (1662 said) St Michael Cornhill Every Monday 1315 Holy Communion in the Crypt St Bride Fleet Street 0800 Mass St Alban the Martyr 1745 Evening Prayer in the church St Mary le Bow 0800-0930 Coffee and Prayer Morning St Katharine Cree 1800 Taizé Service All Hallows by the Tower 0805 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields 1830 Mass St Alban the Martyr 0815 Morning Prayer in the Crypt Chapel St Mary le Bow 1900 Sung Mass St Andrew Holborn 0820 Morning Prayer St Andrew by the Wardrobe 0830 Morning Prayer All Hallows by the Tower Every Thursday 0830 Holy Communion in the Crypt St Bride Fleet Street 0800 Mass St Alban the Martyr 0830 Morning Prayer St Giles Cripplegate 0805 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields 0830 Morning Prayer St Lawrence Jewry 0815 Morning Prayer in the Crypt Chapel St Mary le Bow 1215 Mass St Vedast alias Foster 0820 Morning Prayer St Andrew by the Wardrobe 1230 RC Mass St Bartholomew the Less 0830 Holy Communion St Bartholomew the Great 1305 Holy Communion (1662) St Mary Aldermary 0830 Eucharist All Hallows by the Tower 1305 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields 0830 Morning Prayer St Giles Cripplegate 1310 Mass St Alban the Martyr 0830 Morning Prayer St Lawrence Jewry 1745 Evening Prayer in the church St Mary le Bow 1200 to 1500 Listening Service St Andrew Holborn 1210 Holy Communion St Botolph Bishopsgate Every Tuesday 1215 Mass St Vedast alias Foster 0730 Morning Prayer in the Crypt Chapel St Mary le Bow 1230 RC Mass St Bartholomew the Less 0745 Eucharist in Crypt Chapel followed by breakfast St Mary le Bow 1230 Low Mass St Magnus the Martyr 0800 Mass St Alban the Martyr 1230 RC Mass St Andrew by the Wardrobe 0805 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields 1245 Lunchtime Service Wesley’s Chapel 0820 Morning Prayer St Andrew by the Wardrobe 1245 Sung Eucharist St Stephen Walbrook 0830 Morning Prayer All Hallows by the Tower 1250 Informal Worship & Teaching St Mary Woolnoth 0830 Morning Prayer St Giles Cripplegate 1300 Sung Holy Communion St Katharine Cree 0830 Morning Prayer St Lawrence Jewry 1305 Mass St Mary Aldermary 1200 to 1500 Listening Service St Andrew Holborn 1305 Said Eucharist St Botolph Aldgate 1215 Mass St Vedast alias Foster 1305 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields 1230 Holy Communion St Bartholomew the Great 1310 Mass St Alban the Martyr 1230 Eucharist St Dunstan in the West 1310 Bible Talk, preceded by lunch at 1300, followed by 1230 Low Mass St Magnus the Martyr Question Time at 1340 St Helen Bishopsgate 1230 Holy Communion (CW) St Mary Woolnoth 1310 Holy Communion St Margaret Pattens 1230 Said Holy Communion St Olave Hart Street 1315 Holy Communion (BCP) St Martin within Ludgate 1300 Contemplative Prayer St Edmund King and Martyr 1315 Healing Service with Holy Communion on the last Thursday 1300 Bible Talk, with lunch at 1330 St Helen Bishopsgate of the month. Please see the church website: 1300-1400 (any time) Drop in Contemporary Worship www.stmartin-within-ludgate.org.uk St Martin within Ludgate St Sepulchre without Newgate 1315 Holy Communion Temple Church 1305 Eucharist St Botolph Aldgate 1715 Evening Prayer (BCP) St James Garlickhythe 1305 Meditation Group in the Crypt Chapel – All welcome 1745 Evening Prayer in the church St Mary le Bow St Mary le Bow 1800 Eucharist followed by Study Group, with refreshments provided 1305 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields St Dunstan in the West 1310 Mass St Alban the Martyr 1805 Eucharist in the church St Mary le Bow 1310 Mass St Andrew Holborn 1830 Evening Eucharist St Andrew Holborn 1310 to 1340 Bible Talk, following lunch at 1300 St Botolph Aldersgate Every Friday 1310 Holy Communion (BCP) St Margaret Lothbury 0800 Mass St Alban the Martyr 1745 Evening Prayer in the church St Mary le Bow 0805 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields 1830 Choral Evensong (traditional) St Sepulchre without Newgate 0815 Morning Prayer in the Crypt Chapel St Mary le Bow Every Wednesday 0830 Morning Prayer All Hallows by the Tower 0800 Mass St Alban the Martyr 0830 Holy Communion in the Crypt St Bride Fleet Street 0800 Eucharist, followed by breakfast St Dunstan in the West 0830 Morning Prayer St Lawrence Jewry 0805 RC Mass St Mary Moorfields 1215 Mass St Vedast alias Foster 0815 Morning Prayer in the Crypt Chapel St Mary le Bow 1230 Eucharist St Bartholomew the Less 0820