Tower and lantern – St Magnus the Martyr

Listen to an extract from Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist (1838)
“The tower of old Saint Saviour’s Chuch, and the spire of Saint Magnus,
so long the giant-warders of the ancient bridge, were visible in the gloom”

Carving above the doorway in the west face of the tower

Sir Christopher Wren modelled the steeple of St Magnus on that of St Charles Borromeo in Antwerp. A stone spire was proposed but not executed in the 1680s. The lantern and cupola, very different in design, were added in 1703-1706. The west face of the tower has pilasters, a pediment and a doorway surmounted with a cherubic head and other carving, probably by Wren’s mason, John Thompson. The bracketed clock, dated 1709, was made by Langley Bradley.

Picture of the St Magnus the Martyr weathervane — **Weather vane**

The square tower comprises multiple stages, with a round-arched belfry opening between paired pilasters on the top stage, a pierced parapet and pairs of urns. Above the tower rises a large octagonal stone lantern, on which stands a lead-covered dome with lucarnes, a small lantern with obelisk spire and a weather vane, the whole 185ft high.

St Magnus before and after the alteration in the early 1760s

Between 1756 and 1762 the Corporation of London demolished the buildings on old London Bridge to widen the roadway, ease traffic congestion and improve safety for pedestrians. As part of the bridge improvements a new pedestrian walkway was built along the eastern side of the bridge. With the other buildings gone St Magnus blocked the new walkway.

Lucy Phillimore’s description (1883) of
Sir Christopher Wren’s rebuilding of St Magnus the Martyr

As a consequence it was necessary in 1762 to 1763 to remove the vestry rooms at the west end of the church and open up the side (north and south) arches of the tower with their concave-arched niches so that people could pass underneath the tower. The tower’s lower storey thus became an external porch and two windows were lost from the north facade. The entrance to the church is now via a square-headed door with moulded architrave on the eastern side of the tower.

St Magnus in 1805 showing alterations made in the late 18th century (i.e. north aisle windows partially blocked up, pediment and ballustrate removed from north facade, and clerestory with oval windows added)

St Magnus viewed from the new London Bridge (under construction) in 1830

Sketch of St Magnus steeple by George Scharf

St Magnus steeple, rising above Adelaide Buildings and Fresh Wharf, in 1901

Steeple of St Magnus viewed from Fish Street Hill in 1906 and 1910, and from King William Street before and after the demolition of Adelaide Buildings

St Magnus in 1926 followng the construction of Adelaide House

View of the lantern and The Monument in the early 1960s looking north up Fish Street Hill

Steeple of St Magnus viewed from Fish Street Hill in 1965, c. 1980 and 2013. The steeple was cleaned and repaired in 2009. The east side of Fish Street Hill was redeveloped in the mid-1980s and the Canterbury Arms at 20 Fish Street Hill was demolished in 1994 to make way for the redevelopment of Regis House (blazon of the arms: Argent three Cornish Choughs proper two and one on a Chief Gules a Lion passant guardant Or).

EC3 CANTERBURY ARMS :20 Fish Street Hill. Whitbread. WHITBREAD WETHERED. Closes w/es save for Sat am. Small busy one bar : wood panelled interior is crammed with pictures. Although the building is modern, there has been a pub on this site for centuries.The name is associated with pilrimages to the shrine of Thomas a Becket: pilgrims used to start from a nearby church and the saint was born in Cheapside. Food am & pm Mon-Fri/Darts.
From the East London & City Beer Guide 1983 (The East London & City Branch of the Campaign for Real Ale)