St Mildred, Poultry Explained

St. Mildred, Poultry
Denomination:	Church of England
Demolished Date:	1872
Location:	London
Country:	United Kingdom

St Mildred, Poultry, was a parish church in the Cheap ward^[1] of the City of London dedicated to Anglo-Saxon Saint Mildred.^[2] It was rebuilt after the Great Fire of London, and demolished in 1872. St Mildred in the Poultry was the burial place of the writer Thomas Tusser. Some description of the church and its monuments is given in John Stow's Survey of London.^[3]

History

Medieval building

The church stood on the north side of Poultry at its junction with Mansion House Street. The first church can be traced back to 1175, in the reign of Henry II;^[4] by 1456 it had fallen into disrepair, and had to be taken down and rebuilt.

Rebuilding after the Great Fire

The medieval building was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. A new church was completed in 1676 to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren, after which the parish was united with that of St Mary Colechurch, which was not rebuilt. George Godwin described the interior of the new church as "a simple room with a flat ceiling coved at the sides … remarkable for nothing but a strange want of symmetry apparent at the west end". It was 56 feet long, 42 feet wide and 36 feet high. The most ornamented part of the exterior was the south side, towards Poultry, with a central pediment and Ionic pilasters. There was a 75-foot-high tower,^[5] topped by a copper weather vane in the form of a ship.^[6]

An organ was provided in the mid-eighteenth century by George England.

Demolition

The building was sold for £50,200 in 1871 under the Union of Benefices Act 1860,^[6] ^[7] and demolished the following year.^[8] A City of London Corporation plaque now marks the site. The parish was united with that of St Olave Old Jewry, and the church's weather vane sent there. The proceeds of the sale were used to build and endow the new church of St Paul, Goswell Road, which also received the City church's pulpit and woodwork.^[6] When the parish of St Olave also ceased to be viable, the combined parishes were in turn united with St Margaret Lothbury.^[9]

Rectors (incomplete list)

1523–1527 John Smith
1541 John Weale
1590–1617 Thomas Sorocold^[10]
1618–1638 Nathaniel Shute
1638, ejected Richard Maden
1645–1646 Henry Scudder as minister
1661–1673 Richard Perrinchief, Archdeacon of Huntingdon
1673–1696 John Williams
1726–1748 William Wallis
1748–1775 Benjamin (John) Newcombe, Dean of Rochester^[11]
1775–1806 Robert Bromley

External links

Explanation of dedication Victorian Etching of church

Notes and References

The mediaeval meaning of the word is 'market'. Murray, J., ed., Oxford English Dictionary, Vol. 2, p. 634. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1893
Reynolds, H., Churches of the City of London. London: Bodley Head, 1922
Thoms, W. J., ed., A Survey of London written in the year 1598, by John Stow (based on 1798 edition), pp. 98–99. London: Chatto and Windus, 1876
Huelin, G., Vanished churches of the City of London. London: Guildhall Library Publishing, 1996
Book: Godwin . George . John Britton . The Churches of London: A History and Description of the Ecclesiastical Edifices of the Metropolis . C. Tilt . London . 1839 .
Book: Wheatley . Henry Benjamin . Cunningham . Peter . London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions . 1891 . . Cambridge . 640 . 2011 . 24 September 2011 . 978-1108028073.
History of the church of St Mildred the Virgin in Poultry in the City of London: John Russell Smith, London, 1872
Hibbert, C.; Weinreb, D.; Keay, J., The London Encyclopaedia. London: Pan Macmillan, 1983 (rev. 1993, 2008)
Papers relating to the proposed union of the rectory of St Margaret Lothbury MS 08905, cited in Hallows, A., ed., City of London Parish Registers Guide 4. London: Guildhall Library Research, 1974 .
Dictionary of National Biography
Web site: Parishes: Lamberhurst | British History Online.