A walking tour around Wren’s London churches

Name: City in Spires - A Tour of Wren Churches
Start: 2023-11-28
End: 2024-12-17
Location: City of London Information Centre

Where?: City of London Information Centre, St. Paul’s Churchyard
When?: Every Tuesday; 11 AM
Price?: £15 · See cityoflondonguides.com
Parking:: Nearby car parks
Buses:: 11, 15, 17, 26, 76; Bus fares
Trains:: The closest station is St. Paul’s Central; Other nearby stations: Blackfriars and Mansion House; Train fares

This enjoyable walk will take around some of Sir Christopher Wren's finest City churches.

After the Great Fire of London Wren rebuilt fifty one churches plus St. Paul's Cathedral. Only thirteen of them survive in their original form. Eleven more are still standing but have been substantially altered on the inside (mainly due to The Blitz). Six more exist as towers only, and a couple have been demolished and their stones re-used elsewhere.

This tour will look at the exterior of St. Paul's and a selection of the very best churches. Highlights include the famous cockney church of St Mary-le-Bow (if you want to call yourself a true cockney then you're supposed to have been born within the sound of its bell).

The tour will also stop at St Michael Paternoster Royal. This was Dick Whittington's local church and the famous medieval Mayor is said to have been buried within its grounds.

Other churches include the gothic-style St. Mary Aldermary, St. James Garlickhythe (nicknamed Wren's Lantern), St. Stephen Walbook and St. Nicholas Cole Abbey.

Note: The tour doesn't go inside St. Paul's Cathedral itself.