England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
St Ethelburga Bishopsgate

The Parish

The parish of St Ethelburga lay in the northeastern corner of the city of London butted against the ancient walls of the original medieval city. The parish occupied an area largely to the east of today's financial city, a few hundred yards south of the Liverpool Street rail station. St Ethelburga was one of the smaller parishes in the ancient city, a city of small parishes, it covered less than 3 city blocks along Bishopsgate, itself, but extended to both east and west of that small street facing foot-print. At the time of this transcript the area was still moderately inhabited with residents but today it is in the heart of the city's commercial area with few night-time inhabitants, the area being dominated by office blocks and the services that meet their needs. The presence of the rail-head for East Anglia at its northern limit makes it a busy place around morning & evening rush-hours. The parish suffered markedly from the ravages of the Great Fire of London its warren of tiny courtyards and properties a forgotten memory. This area of the city has largely sub-surface drainage and with the Thames only a few hundred metres south most water readily makes its way there. St Ethelburga sat at just 13 metres above the sea with land only gently rising a further 5 metres or so within a mile or two. Despite occupying a relative tiny area compared to rural parishes nevertheless at the time of this transcript almost 700 parishioners would have crammed into its tiny acreage.

The Church

St Ethelburga sits on the eastern side of Bishopsgate crammed between office blocks and surrounded by shops, restaurants and the paraphernalia of services supporting the financial district of London. A church with this dedication is first mentioned in 1250 and a carved base given a tentative date of c1200 is believed to have formed part of this early church, The basic structure of today's church, however, dates from a complete rebuild in the late 14th century. Later windows of the 15th century styling grace the buildings eastern end whilst a major restoration of the early 1860s kept the building in good order into the 20th century. The church was a rare survivor of not only the Great Fire and also of the Blitz only to fall foul of 1990s terrorists when a bomb destroyed the western end and most of the northern wall. At Pevsner visit the rear of the building remained in ruins, a competition of the late 1990s ended without a decision but finally in 1997 it was decided to rebuild the damaged portions and dedicate the revived church as a "Centre for Peace & Reconciliation". The greatest challenge was to reconstruct the "funny little Bishopsgate frontage", as Pevsner puts it, but a marvelous job has been made, replicating its 14th century doorway, the square bell turret of 1775 and re-siting the 1671 weathercock. The final result now peeps outrageously between the towering office blocks to either side. Like all City of London churches it is best approached on foot from nearby tube stations. The cramped location gives only a few aspects to the photographer.