The original church of St Magnus the Martyr was built in the early to mid-11th century on a strip of reclaimed land south of the Roman river wall to serve the growing population of the bridgehead area. The Saxon wooden bridge over the River Thames was built around 1000 AD. According to the Olaf sagas, the bridge was successfully attacked in 1014 by King Aethelred’s Viking allies. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 1016 the bridge was defended against the forces of King Cnut. When St Alphege’s relics were transferred from St Paul’s Cathedral to Christ Church Canterbury in 1023, some of Cnut’s housecarls occupied the bridge in case of public hostility.
Artist’s impression of the mediaeval chapel of St Thomas Becket on London Bridge, rebuilt in 1387-96 by Henry Yevele, master mason to the king
Artist’s impression of the west front of the upper chapel on the bridge
From early times the Church encouraged the building of bridges and this activity was so important that it was perceived to be an act of piety – a commitment to God which should be supported by the giving of alms. London’s citizens made gifts of land and money “to God and the Bridge”. After the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170, the penitent King Henry II commissioned a new stone bridge in place of the old wooden bridge, with a chapel at its centre dedicated to Becket as martyr. The archbishop was born on Cheapside in the City of London and had been a popular figure. The Chapel of St Thomas on the Bridge and about two thirds of the bridge were in the parish of St Magnus. The chapel became the start of pilgrimage to Becket’s shrine in Canterbury. Building work began in 1176 and was completed in 1209; the work being overseen by Peter of Colechurch, a priest and head of the Fraternity of the Brethren of London Bridge. A model of the bridge as it would have looked around 1400 is on display in the church and can be viewed in 3D elsewhere in this virtual tour.
Old London Bridge as depected in the Agas map of 1561. The pre-Fire St Magnus is shown with its mediaeval cloister at the north end of the bridge.
View of old London Bridge and St Magnus in 1647. A fire in 1633 had destroyed the houses on the northern part of the bridge. Richard Bloome recorded that “this North end of the Bridge lay unbuilt for many years, only deal boards were set up on both sides, to prevent people’s falling into the Thames, many of which deals were, by high winds, oft blown down, which made it very dangerous in the nights, although there were lanthorns and candles hung upon all the cross beams that held the pales together.” The gap acted as firebreak in 1666, preventing the Great Fire from spreading to the rest of the bridge and to Southwark.
By agreement my Lord Bruncker called me up, and though it was a very foule, windy, and rainy morning, yet down to the waterside we went, but no boat could go, the storme continued so. So my Lord to stay till fairer weather carried me into the Tower to Mr Hore’s and there we staid talking an houre, but at last we found no boats yet could go, so we to the office… Thence my Lord and I, the weather being a little fairer, by water to Deptford to Sir G Carteret’s house… My Lord and I, the wind being again very furious, so as we durst not go by water, walked to London quite round the bridge, no boat being able to stirre; and, Lord! what a dirty walk we had, and so strong the wind, that in the fields we many times could not carry our bodies against it, but were driven backwards…. It was dangerous to walk the streets, the bricks and tiles falling from the houses that the whole streets were covered with them; and whole chimneys, nay, whole houses in two or three places, blowed down. But, above all, the pales on London-bridge on both sides were blown away, so that we were fain to stoop very low for fear of blowing off of the bridge.
Pepys’s Diary – Wednesday 24 January 1665/66
Ogilby & Morgan’s map of the City in 1676
Until 1831 the bridge was aligned with Fish Street Hill, so the main entrance into the City from the south passed the west door of St Magnus on the north bank of the river. The church was accordingly referred to as St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge.
Old London Bridge in 1710, showing the recently-completed steeple of St Magnus and the southern frontage of the four-storey, timber Nonsuch House (built 1579) in the middle of the bridge
Old London Bridge with St Magnus, the London Bridge Water Works and The Monument in 1746 (drawing by Canaletto)
Much of the bridge was occupied by houses and shops, but between 1756 and 1762 the Corporation of London demolished these to widen the roadway, ease traffic congestion and improve safety for pedestrians.
Steeple of St Magnus and old London Bridge after the demolition of the houses on the bridge and construction of the new ‘Great Arch’ in the centre
St Magnus and the approach to old London Bridge in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The figures on the clock were removed in 1807.
View from the north end of old London Bridge in 1807, showing St Magnus the Martyr in the foreground, The Monument, and St Benet Gracechurch in the distance.
In 1823 royal assent was given to ‘An Act for the Rebuilding of London Bridge’ and in 1825 John Garratt, Lord Mayor and Alderman of the Ward of Bridge Within, laid the first stone of the new London Bridge. In 1831 Sir John Rennie’s new bridge (now in Lake Havasu City, Arizona) was opened upstream and the old bridge demolished.
Rennie’s bridge under construction in 1827
Old and new London Bridge
Map showing site of old London Bridge compared with the new bridge
St Magnus ceased to be the gateway to London as it had been for over 600 years. Peter de Colechurch had been buried in the crypt of the chapel on the bridge and his bones were unceremoniously dumped in the River Thames.
Demolition in 1832 of the Great (Chapel) Pier of old London Bridge, exposing the vaulting in the lower chapel
Before the erection of Adelaide House, to approach the City from Southwark was to enjoy as fine a sight as any in London. In the foreground were the ships in the Pool … while the morning light glinted upon the glorious tower of Wren’s church of St Magnus the Martyr, the Customs House and the golden flames of the Monument.
The Times (8 November 1927)
The Pool of London referred to the stretch of the river downstream of London Bridge, which was the farthest reach that could be navigated by a tall-mastered vessel.
Map of 1857 showing St Magnus in relation to the new bridge, London Bridge Wharf and Fresh Wharf. In 1827 John Knill acquired the lease of Fresh Wharf, serving the fruit trade and bringing six million oranges a year to the London market. There was also a significant passenger trade.
Excursion steamboats leaving Fresh Wharf in front of St Magnus
Sir John Rennie’s bridge, Adelaide Buildings and St Magnus in the 1870s, with a steamship in front of London Bridge Wharf
Tourist map showing London Bridge in 1887
Two views of Rennie’s bridge and the City of London looking north east
Steeple of St Magnus behind Adelaide Buildings
Map showing the northern end of London Bridge in 1893
Adelaide Buildings and the entrance to Fresh Wharf/London Bridge Wharf from Lower Thames Street in 1912. The board above the passageway advertises steamboat services to Clacton, Margate and other destinations. The Steam Packet Tavern stood on the other side of the road at 128 Lower Thames Street/28 Fish Street Hill. The brick pillar on the left of the photograph remains in situ in the church courtyard against the wall of Adelaide House.
Pool of London with steeple St Magnus in 1914. Fresh Wharf and the adjoining Cox’s & Hammond’s Quays were owned by John Knill & Co and redeveloped as New Fresh Wharf after the Second World War. Botolph Wharf was amalgamated with Nicholson’s Wharf in the 1930s but both wharves were destroyed by a V-1 flying bomb and the empty site was used as a lorry park by Billingsgate Fish Market.
This prospect was affected in 1924 by the building of Adelaide House, The Times commenting that “the new ‘architectural Matterhorn’ … conceals all but the tip of the church spire”.
View of Adelaide House in 1935
Adelaide House and the steeple of St Magnus in the late 1930s
Adelaide House and New Fresh Whard from London Bridge in the mid-1960s, almost completely obscuring the view of St Magnus
The current London Bridge, replacing Rennie’s bridge, was constructed from 1967 to 1972 and opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 March 1973. A view of the modern bridge can be seen in the aerial view of the church elsewhere in this tour.
The current London Bridge under construction in foreground. Adelaide House and the warehouse of New Fresh Wharf at bottom right. Beyond London Bridge is Canon Street railway bridge and Cannon Street station, originally known as the City Terminus, with its two Wren-style towers. The station occupies the site of the mediaval Steelyard of the Hanseatic League. It was designed by Sir John Wolfe Barry and Sir John Hawkshaw for the South Eastern Railway and opened in 1866. The station roof was damaged in the Blitz and demolished in 1958.
The City Terminus Hotel, later renamed the Canon Street Hotel, of 1867 fronting the station, designed by Edward Middleton Barry, was demolished in 1963. It is mentioned along with St Magnus in TS Eliot’s The Waste Land.
HM Queen Elizabeth II opening the current London Bridge in 1973
“A crowd flowed over [modern] London Bridge”. In the top right can be seen the Southwark Gateway Needle, designed by the architect Eric Parry in 1999, which points to St Magnus and the northern end of old London Bridge
The congregation of St Magnus joins with that of Southwark Cathedral for an annual blessing of the River Thames in the middle of the bridge on the feast of the Baptism of Christ.
Bishop of Woolwich (now Bishop of Southwark) officiates at the blessing of the River Thames on 14 January 2007
Procession to the bridge
St Magnus the Martyr’s location between Lower Thames Street and the River Thames, with Adelaide House (1924) to the west and St Magnus House (1978) to the east. Photograph taken from the top of the Monument.
