St Martin's-in-the-Fields

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LORD BYRON, THE WORKS, MURRAY LONDON 1832-33 17 VOLUMES
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ANTIQUE LONDON ENGLAND MAP POPULATION DENSITY Rare NR
18 Dec 2006 at 7:44am

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Arthur H. Beavan continued his survey of London churches in Imperial London, 1901, with this look at St Martin's-in-the-Fields:

Leaving St. Margaret's, it is no far cry to St. Martin's, once "quite in the fields," but by 1900 the most conspicuous church in London.

It was designed by Gibbs, one of Wren's pupils, and is a good instance of his work.

The body of the edifice is Italian, and the fine tower and spire rise out of the roof behind the Corinthian portico in a peculiar manner.

(The tower of St. Michael's, at Charlestown, South Carolina, is said to resemble that of St. Martin's; both churches were probably designed by the same architect.)

Its interior, though in the formal Georgian style, with spacious galleries and noble elliptical ceiling, is thoroughly dignified, and after Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Day, when the parish had large surplus funds (the £4000 paid by Harrod's Stores for the right to erect stands in the churchyard whence the memorable procession could be viewed), the church was lavishly brightened and coloured by Sir Arthur H. Blomfield, R.A.

In 1900 St. Martin's was a parish church of royalty, in the sense that Buckingham Palace, St. James' Palace, and Marlborough House are included in its rating district, the Prince of Wales contributing pretty heavily on his assessment, and Queen Victoria paying by "grace and favour " for a portion of St. James' Palace and Buckingham Palace.

Like most of the older metropolitan churches, its dead recall many a famous, and often infamous, character.

In the ancient building, originating in Henry VIII period, was interred Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey, whose assassination formed one of the numerous sensations of Charles II's reign.

Nell Gwynn, whose funeral sermon was preached by Archbishop Tenison, was buried in the church; Jack Sheppard, after keeping a most pressing engagement at Tyburn, was laid in the burial-ground; Roubiliac, whose wonderful sculpture we have seen in the Abbey, was placed in the vaults; also poor John Scott, killed in a duel at Chalk Farm by Lockhart's deputy, Mr. Christie, in 1821; and, eighteen years afterwards, James Smith, one of the authors of Rejected Addresses.

In 1859, these gruesome receptacles were cleared out, and the unclaimed bodies re-buried in a suburban cemetery, that of John Hunter, discovered by Frank Buckland, after a most trying search, being removed to the Abbey.

Of the now sealed-up Golgotha outside the church, a story is told of the famous sculptor, Chantrey, who had attended John Scott's funeral.

Chantrey noticed that the graveyard was strewn with human bones, and that the sexton was adding to the heaps in a very universal manner, so he asked him what became of these relics of mortality, and was told that directly they became too numerous they were carted off in loads and thrown into the Thames!

This was too much for Chantrey, who said with a shudder, "I will take care that they do not cart my bones to the Thames; they shall be undisturbed in my native soil."

He kept his word, selected a spot in the village of Norton, and was interred there.