Celebrates the city's church heritage with a guide to its structures, providing a description, history, date of construction, location, and operating hours for each building.

A short history of the 51 Wren-designed churches in the city of London.

Before the Fire of London in 1666 there were 97 parish churches in the City of London. 51 were rebuilt by Christoper Wren and new ones were built in the 18th and 19th centuries.

An introduction to the churches within the City of London, and includes a foreword by Simon Jenkins. This book features churches each of which is given a double page spread with bullet points covering the main features of history, exterior, interior and summary and photos inside and out.

This book provides the first academic survey of churches in London over recent decades, linking them to similar developments in other major cities across the West. The vitality of London's churches in the last four decades shows that secularisation is far from inevitable in the cities of the future.

In this comprehensive survey of London's Catholic churches, Dr Evinson's inventory lists all 140 churches in the cities of London, Westminster and the inner surrounding boroughs. In each case the entries include the foundation of the mission, the building history of the church, the role of the clergy and lay patrons, an architectural description and an account of the church's permanent furnishings. A substantial introduction treats the subject in chronological terms, embracing the period of Catholic emancipation followed by the Gothic, Classical, Byzantine and Romanesque revivals. Post-1945 developments in structure and planning are also explored, followed by a survey of furnishings and artists. This book should appeal to Catholic Londoners and parish priests, as well as art historians and tourists.

The Great Fire of 1666 devastated the centre of London, with a loss of old St Paul's and eighty-six parish churches. Sir Christopher Wren, working with Commissioners appointed by Parliament, was responsible for rebuilding the cathedral and fifty-one of the parish churches, although the immediate need to start rebuilding made his design for an overall replanning of the City impossible. The work was funded by a tax on coals brought into the City of London. Much has been written about Wren's rebuilding of St Paul's, while the other fifty-ne parish chirches he was appointed to reconstruct are generally overlooked. This is the first modern book to examine them as a whole. Paul Jeffery describes how and when the churches were built, exploring the respective contributions of Wren and of his two principal assistants, Robert Hooke and Nicholas Hawksmoor. The result of their work was a unique set of contemporary churches. While not all are of the standard of Wren's masterpieces, such as St Stephen Walbrook and St Bride's, none is without architectural merit and interest. The second part of the book is a gazetteer of all the churches, including those that no longer exist. The book is heavily illustrated and provides a visual strong record of all the churches. Since they were built the Wren churches have suffered steady losses. St Christopher-le-Stocks was demolished in 1782 to make way for the Bank of England. Others, such as St Dionis Backchurch and St Antholin Budge Row, were lost to Victorian parish rationalisation. Many were destroyed or badly damaged in the Second World War. Only twenty-three of the original fifty-one remain. These are now under threat again, with the Templeman Report's proposal that only four of the existing churches (none by Wren) should be retained as parish churches. They provide a test case of conservation, sitting as they do in the middle of the City of London. The City Churches of Sir Christopher Wren presents a clear case both for their importance and for their preservation.

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Which London churches include great restaurants? Which featured in the plays of Shakespeare? This illustrated guide to the capital's beautiful and significant churches contains colour photography and commentary that include historical gossip, special features to look for, famous associations and what goes on in these remarkable buildings.