Church · England · Restored

St Mary-le-Bow

St Mary-le-Bow is a Church of England parish church on Cheapside in the City of London, rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of 1666. Its landmark Portland stone tower and multi-stage stone spire rise from a rectangular red-brick church; the site is famous for its ring of bells and its surviving Norman undercroft.

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Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

First raised

1671

Its prime

1680

Today

Restored

As it stood in 1680

What St Mary-le-Bow looked like in its prime.

A tall, square Portland stone tower stands directly on Cheapside beside a rectangular red‑brick church with Portland stone dressings and gabled facades. The tower has four stacked stages with rusticated doorway recesses, round‑headed louvred bell openings framed by pilasters, an open balustraded parapet with corner pinnacles, and a multi‑stage stone spire: a circular colonnaded drum, a ring of flying buttresses, granite corner columns and a tapering square pinnacle topped by a ball and winged‑dragon weather vane. Nave has a painted tunnel vault and clerestory windows.

Step inside

8 places to explore in 1680.

The record describes 8 distinct spots at St Mary-le-Bow, including 5 interiors: vestibule linking tower and nave, nave looking east to chancel, west entrance and gallery and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more photos, more angles and more of the immersive experience.

Approach along CheapsideWest doorway recess at tower baseSpire and drum detailVestibule linking tower and naveNave looking east to chancelWest entrance and galleryBell chamber and bells11th‑century crypt (undercroft)

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