St Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside

Pause - if you can, in the midst of the ceaseless stream of pedestrians that flows to and fro along Cheapside - and back yourself into a doorway opposite Bow church, upon whose site a sacred edifice is supposed to have stood even in the time of the Roman occupation.

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The campanile, surmounted by the celebrated dragon, is one of Wren's most picturesque designs.

Note the balcony, built for sightseers, over the large Palladian gateway.

Where you are now, once stood an ancient house, rebuilt after the Great Fire, and visited by six Sovereigns of England (commencing with Charles II) to witness the Lord Mayor's Show.

Somewhere here, by the church of St. Mary-le-Bow, came on St. Peter's night, Henry VIII and his queen "royally riding, and with their nobles, beheld the Watch of the City march past, and returned in the morning."

Inside the church is a spacious vestry-room, where the Court of Arches holds its sittings, and where the Bishops elect of the province of Canterbury, previous to their consecration, are confirmed in their Sees.

In the belfry are the descendants of the real old "Bow-Bells" associated with Dick Whittington, in whose story every child believes, and will continue to believe, in spite of Sir Walter Besant's assertion that there is not a word of truth in the legend.

Next: City of London Churches: St Lawrence Jewry