England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
St Nicholas Olave

The Parish

The parish of St Nicholas Olave, a reference in its name to King Olaf of Norway who helped defend London from attack by the Danes, sits towards the western end of the City of London covering an area either side of today's Queen Victoria Street to the northwest of the Milleneum Bridge. St Nicholas Olave was one of the smallest parishes in the city covering merely yards in width and a few hundred yards from north to south. The area suffered badly during the Great Fire of London with most of its properties, which largely consisted of narrow alleys with packed in garrets with little space between and largely timber-built, consumed including the church which was never rebuilt but merged with neighbouring St Nicholas Cole. Today, like much of the city it is the site of commercial premises with little night-time residents. St Nicholas Cole and would only have supported a population of around 350 parishioners. As the church was never rebuilt there are no usable images of the church available. Similarly as the church no longer existed these few marriages would have physically taken place within St Nicholas Cole.

The Church

The church is first mentioned in documents dated 1285 and appears to have been a conventional church layout with a western tower. The church sat roughly midway between Old Fish Street & Upper Thames Street probably close to today's Fye Foot Lane. As the church was destroyed in the Great Fire and had a small congregation it was not rebuilt rather it was merged with neighbouring St Nicholas Cole.