St Mildred Bread Street was a church in Bread Street Ward

Bread Street

Bread Street is a ward of the City of London and is named from its principal street, which was anciently the bread market; for by the records it appears that in 1302, the bakers of London were ordered to sell no bread at their houses but in the open market...

 of the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

 dedicated to the 7th century Saint Mildred the Virgin

Mildrith

Saint Mildthryth , also Mildrith, Mildryth or Mildred, was an Anglo-Saxon abbess.Mildthryth was the daughter of King Merewalh of Magonsaete, a sub-kingdom of Mercia, and Eormenburh , herself the daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent. Her sisters Milburh and Mildgytha were considered to be saints...

, daughter of Merewald

Merewalh

Merewalh Merewalh Merewalh (sometimes given as Merwal or Merewald was a sub-king of the Magonsæte, a western cadet kingdom of Mercia thought to have been located in Herefordshire and Shropshire...

, sub-king of the West Mercians

Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands...

 and one of the few to retain Wren's original fittings into the 20th Century.

The earliest record of the church of St Mildred is of its rebuilding in around 1300. It was an aisled building, with a clerestory. It was repaired throughout in 1628, but destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666. After the fire the parish was united with that of St Margaret Moses

St Margaret Moses

St Margaret Moses was a parish church in Little Friday Street in the Bread Street Ward of the City of London.. It was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and not rebuilt.-History:...

.

The church was rebuilt in 1677-83 to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren

Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...

 at a cost of £3,705 13s 6d. It was 62 feet long and 36 feet wide. The new building was without aisles, the ceiling taking the form of a plastered dome constructed within the roof space, with short barrel vaults at the east and west ends. The dome was decorated with cherubs in high relief, and supported on highly decorated pendentives. There was one window in each of the four walls. The frontage to Bread Street, at the western end, was faced in Portland stone

Portland stone

Portland stone is a limestone from the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset. The quarries consist of beds of white-grey limestone separated by chert beds. It has been used extensively as a building stone throughout the British Isles, notably in major...

 with a curved pediment, but the rest of the church, including the tower, was of brick. There was a wooden spire, covered in lead.

The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley  married Mary Godwin

Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley was a British novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus . She also edited and promoted the works of her husband, the Romantic poet and philosopher Percy Bysshe Shelley...

 in the church on the 30 December 1816.

In 1898 many bodies were disinterred and removed to Brookwood Cemetery

Brookwood Cemetery

Brookwood Cemetery is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in western Europe.-History:...

. In 1932 a bust to the first Governor

Governor

A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...

 of New South Wales

New South Wales

New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

 was unveiled on the west wall of the church.

The church, with its fittings, remained in original condition until its destruction by bombing in 1941 when most of its records lost; The parish became one of the eight to have been reunited with St Mary-le-Bow

St Mary-le-Bow

St Mary-le-Bow is an historic church in the City of London, off Cheapside. According to tradition, a true Cockney must be born within earshot of the sound of the church's bells.-Bells:...

 at different times.

See also

• List of Christopher Wren churches in London
• List of churches rebuilt after the Great Fire but since demolished

External links