The present building was constructed in 1532 but a church has existed on the site since the 12th century. Today, St Andrew Undershaft is administered from the nearby St Helen's Bishopsgate church.
History
St Andrew Undershaft in 2001
The first church on the site, which today is bordered by St Mary Axe and Leadenhall Street, was built in medieval times, being recorded in 1147.[2] It was rebuilt in the 14th century and again in 1532;[3] this third incarnation of the building survives today. It is in the Perpendicular style[4] with its entrance located at the base of its off-centre tower. The interior is divided into six bays, with many of the original fittings that survived the Victorian renovation. Formerly, St Andrew Undershaft had one of London's few surviving large stained-glass windows, installed in the 17th century, but this was destroyed in the Baltic Exchange bombing in 1992.
1841 illustration of the Undershaft maypole
The church's curious name derives from the shaft of the maypole[5] that was traditionally set up each year opposite the church.[6] The custom continued each spring until 1517, when student riots put an end to it, but the maypole itself survived until 1547 when it was seized by a mob and destroyed as a "pagan idol".[7] According to John Stow, the chronicler who is buried here, they had it "raised from the hooks whereon it had rested for two-and-thirty years, sawn in pieces and burnt."[8]
St Andrew Undershaft is now administered from the nearby church of St Helen's Bishopsgate. St Andrew Undershaft was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.[9]
The tower holds a peal of six bells in the key of G, with the tenor being cast in 1597 by Robert Mot. These are now hung dead (they can only be rung stationary) inside the tower.[10]
Organ
The organ in St Andrew Undershaft
The organ was installed in 1696 by Renatus Harris. A swell was added in 1750 by John Byfield. There have been other restorations and enhancements by George Pike England in 1810–11 and 1826. Further work was carried out by William Hill, Speechly and J. W. Walker & Sons, and Rushworth and Dreaper. A specification of the organ can be found on the National Pipe Organ Register[11]
The organ is of such historic significance that it has been awarded a Grade I historic organ certificate by the British Institute of Organ Studies.
Sir Thomas Offley, Lord Mayor of London 1563–64, was buried in 1582. The monument to Sir Thomas and his wife Joan (died 1578) survives in St Andrew Undershaft. Joan was a granddaughter of Sir Stephen Jennings, Lord Mayor, who funded the rebuilding of the church.[14]
Hugh Hamersley, Lord Mayor of London in 1627, whose memorial is in St Andrew Undershaft.
Hans Holbein the Younger, a former parishioner of St Andrew Undershaft was possibly buried in the church.
Frederick George Blomfield, rector of St Andrew Undershaft (1853–1879), son of Charles James Blomfield (Bishop of London) and father of Dorothy Gurney (poet and hymn writer).
John Lawrence Toole, a comedian who was born and christened in St Andrew Undershaft.
Fabian Stedman the father of church bellringing was buried in St Andrew Undershaft.
John Stow was an English historian and antiquarian. He wrote a series of chronicles of English history, published from 1565 onwards under such titles as The Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles, The Chronicles of England, and The Annales of England; and also A Survey of London. A. L. Rowse has described him as "one of the best historians of that age; indefatigable in the trouble he took, thorough and conscientious, accurate – above all things devoted to truth".
Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning of Ermine Street, the ancient road running from London to York (Eboracum). The gate was rebuilt twice in the 15th and 18th centuries, but was permanently demolished in 1760.
St Ethelburga-the-Virgin within Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on Bishopsgate near Liverpool Street station.
St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe is a Church of England church located on Queen Victoria Street, London in the City of London, near Blackfriars station.
The Guild Church of St Katharine Cree is an Anglican church in the Aldgate ward of the City of London, on the north side of Leadenhall Street near Leadenhall Market. It was founded in 1280. The present building dates from 1628 to 1630. Formerly a parish church, it is now a guild church.
St Giles-without-Cripplegate is an Anglican church in the City of London, located on Fore Street within the modern Barbican complex. When built it stood without the city wall, near the Cripplegate. The church is dedicated to St Giles, patron saint of handicapped and infirm people of many different kinds. It is one of the few medieval churches left in the City of London, having survived the Great Fire of 1666.
St Mary Aldermary, is an Anglican guild church located on Bow Lane at the junction with Watling St, in the City of London. Of medieval origin, rebuilding began under the Tudor Henry VIII in 1510 and was not finished until the reign of the Stuart monarch Charles I in 1632. Severely damaged just 33 years later during the Great Fire of London in 1666, it was rebuilt once more, this time by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. Unlike most of Wren's City churches, St Mary Aldermary was reconstructed in the Gothic style, an outstanding example of the first — 17th century — Gothic Revival. Nearly a millennium after its foundation SMA continues to offer a place for contemplation with pre-work 8am gatherings three times a week and after work at 6pm on Wednesday.
St Helen's Bishopsgate is an Anglican church in London. It is located in Great St Helen's, off Bishopsgate.
St Margaret Lothbury is a Church of England parish church on Lothbury in the City of London; it spans the boundary between Coleman Street Ward and Broad Street Ward. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. St Margaret Lothbury still serves as a parish church, as well as being the official church of five Livery Companies, two Ward Clubs and two Professional Institutes. It also has connections with many local finance houses, all of which hold special services each year.
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St Michael Paternoster Royal is a church in the City of London. The original building, which was first recorded in the 13th century, was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The church was rebuilt under the aegis of Sir Christopher Wren. However St Michael's was severely damaged during the London Blitz in the Second World War. It was restored between 1966 and 1968.
Sir William Holles rose from apprenticeship to a mercer to become master warden of his company and Lord Mayor of London in 1539.
St Mary-at-Hill is an Anglican parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap.
St Martin Outwich was a parish church in the City of London, on the corner of Threadneedle Street and Bishopsgate. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt at the end of the 18th century and demolished in 1874.
St Mary Axe was a mediaeval church in the City of London. Its full name was St Mary, St Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins, and it was also sometimes referred to as St Mary Pellipar. Its common name derives from the sign of an axe over the east end of the church. The church's patrons were the Skinners' Company.
St Botolph's Aldgate is a Church of England parish church in the City of London and also, as it lies outside the line of the city's former eastern walls, a part of the East End of London. The church served the ancient parish of St Botolph without Aldgate which included the extramural Portsoken Ward of the City of London, as well as East Smithfield which is outside the City.
St Michael, Cornhill, is a medieval parish church in the City of London with pre-Norman Conquest parochial foundation. It lies in the ward of Cornhill. The medieval structure was lost in the Great Fire of London, and replaced by the present building, traditionally attributed to Sir Christopher Wren. The upper parts of the tower are by Nicholas Hawksmoor. The church was embellished by Sir George Gilbert Scott and Herbert Williams in the nineteenth century.
St George Botolph Lane was a church off Eastcheap, in the ward of Billingsgate in the City of London. The rear of the church overlooked Pudding Lane, where the fire of London started. It was first recorded in the twelfth century, and destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. It was one of the 51 churches rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The church was demolished in 1904.
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate is a Church of England church in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, and also, by virtue of lying outside the city's eastern walls, part of London's East End.
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