Friends of the City Churches

The church spires that once formed the skyline above the rooftops of the City of London are now dwarfed by tower blocks over 150m in height (a broadly accepted definition of a skyscraper). St Paul’s Cathedral, the City’s tallest church, manages just 111m, and St Bride’s, off Fleet Street (the second highest, and famous as the spire that gave rise to the shape of the traditional tiered wedding cake), comes in at a mere 69m.

The City’s churches symbolise constancy and a link with the past in an otherwise futuristic urban environment built on very different values to those that inspired the original patrons of these places of worship. As congregations dwindle (the City’s resident population numbers 8,000, and many

ABOVE LEFT St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate: the sarcophagus of Sir Thomas Gresham (c.1519-1579), founder of the Royal Exchange and Gresham College. The grasshopper on top of the helmet could be a pun (‘grass’ for ‘gresh’), but family legend has it that Sir Thomas’ 13th-century ancestor was abandoned as an infant and rescued by a woman who was alerted by the chirping of a grasshopper. — St Helen’s Church, Bishopsgate: the sarcophagus of Sir Thomas Gresham (c.1519-1579), founder of the Royal Exchange and Gresham College. The grasshopper on top of the helmet could be a pun (‘grass’ for ‘gresh’), but family legend has it that Sir Thomas’ 13th-century ancestor was abandoned as an infant and rescued by a woman who was alerted by the chirping of a grasshopper.

of those people live elsewhere at the weekend), these few remaining historic buildings need champions and advocates – hence the sterling work of energetic charity Friends of the City Churches.

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