St. Paul's

St. Paul’s cathedral is one of the most prominent features of the London skyline and one of the most visited sites in the entire city. The present building, enormous and dominating, dates from the 17^th century, and is generally said to be the fifth St. Paul’s Cathedral to stand on that spot (Crotchet 16). Realistically, however, the number is higher if every major medieval reconstruction is counted as a new cathedral. Today St. Paul’s still serves as a functioning cathedral for the Anglican Church where daily services are held, which the public is invited to attend. Evensong in the cathedral is truly remarkable as the music from the organ fills the entire dome above the Quire.

Historians speculate that there may have been a church on this site as early as the fourth century, but the first recorded account dates from 604 when St. Augustine created the diocese of London and installed the first bishop. Even at this time it was officially titled St. Paul’s, one of the few churches before the 18^th century to take on an apostles’ name. This church was eventually destroyed by fire in 1087. Efforts were quickly made to rebuild the structure that was the center of English religion but another fire broke out in 1135, this time on the London Bridge, and swept through the city, again damaging the cathedral before it was completed. Building continued for an additional two hundred years until it was again completed (Ewin 3). Over the course of the next four hundred years the cathedral continued to cycle through stages of disarray and rebuilding. In 1665 the plague speared across the city forcing thousands to flee and work on the cathedral ceased (Crotchet 16).

Sir Christopher Wren, today heralded chief architect of the new St. Paul’s Cathedral, returned to London from France early in the year 1666 anxious to once again rebuild St. Paul’s, with plans to add new features to it as well. He drew up his proposals for the Royal Commission and presented them early in ‘66. His plans horrified the conservative colleagues on the Commission. The feature to which they were most opposed was the imposing dome that he proposed to erect over the spot where the great tower stood, essentially making it the first of its kind in England (Ewin 8). Finally, after much deliberation and convincing, the Commission went to the cathedral to consider these proposals on August 27, 1666. After even further debate it was agreed that an estimate could be prepared and movement towards rebuilding would begin. Only five days later, on September 2, 1666 the Great Fire of London put an end to all of these plans. On the second day of the fire the roof of the cathedral, which had before appeared to be relatively safe, caught fire (Burman 34). A woman who watched the cathedral burn recorded the event saying, “the stones of St. Paul’s flew like grenados, the melting lead running down the streets in a stream, and the very pavements glowing with fiery redness” (qtd. in Crotchet 16). The old cathedral was, from that moment effectively lost.

At this point there seemed to be two options concerning the cathedral’s rebuilding. First, to rebuild the old cathedral, including Wren’s dome, or second to propose a completely new cathedral. Both of these tasks were extremely daunting considering the fact that nearly the entire city of London needed rebuilding after the fire. Eventually, in order to compromise between the two, Wren produced another design which included both the traditional long cruciform plan and a dome, lantern and spire. Approved by the King, work on the new St. Paul’s cathedral began in June 1675, after the demolishing and clearing of old ruins had taken place (Ewin 12-13). Work on the cathedral was laborious as the entire city of London was being rebuilt, but, it was to become a greater and even more domineering than the spectacle that the old cathedral had been. Finally, in October of 1708 the last stone was laid and Sir Christopher’s son led a simple ceremony to open the new St. Paul’s Cathedral (Ewin 16). After centuries of destruction and reconstruction, the new St. Paul’s Cathedral, which still stands in central London today, was completed.

Works Cited

Burman, Peter. St. Paul’s Cathedral. London: Bell and Hyman, 1987.

Crotchet, Dotted. "St. Paul's Cathedral." The Musical Times 48.767 (1907): 9-16.

Ewin, T. Floyd. The Splendour of St. Paul’s. Norwich: Jarrold Colour Publications.