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St Magnus-the-Martyr is an Anglican church in Bridge ward of the City of London, located on Lower Thames Street near the modern London Bridge.

Contents 1 Dedication 2 Early church 3 The Great Fire 4 Second fire 5 Anglo-Catholic influence 6 Stained glass 7 Model of Old London Bridge 8 Relics of the past 9 Poetic reference 10 Notes 11 External links

The church is dedicated to St. Magnus, Earl of Orkney, who died in 1117. It is mis-named as St. Magnus was not martyred for his religious beliefs but was executed after being captured during a power struggle with his cousin, a political rival.

The church of St. Magnus is mentioned in the Westminster Charter, dated 1067. However, this document is now accepted to be a 12th century forgery. The first church on the site was probably built in the early 12th century. In pictures from the mid-16th century the old church looks very similar to the present-day St Giles-without-Cripplegate in the Barbican. After the Reformation, the church was home to a series of distinguished rectors, including Myles Coverdale, John Young (Bishop of Rochester), and Theophilus Aylmer, son of John Aylmer and Archdeacon of London in the early years of the seventeenth century.

St. Magnus' was one of the first buildings to be destroyed in the Great Fire of London, in 1666, as it stood less than 300 yards from Pudding Lane, where the fire started. It was rebuilt by 1676, under the direction of Sir Christopher Wren^[1]. A steeple, copied from the church of St Charles Borromée, in Antwerp, was added thirty years later.

Another fire, in 1760, damaged the western end of the church and destroyed several of the buildings on the neighbouring Old London Bridge. Instead of repairing the buildings on the bridge the opportunity was taken to demolish them all to widen the roadway and ease traffic congestion. At the same time a new pedestrian walkway was built along the eastern side of the bridge.

With the other buildings gone St Magnus' blocked the new walkway so the western end of the church was demolished. Rather than demolish the church tower its base was opened out to allow the walkway to pass through it. The open base of the tower now forms the church porch.

The large clock projecting from the tower was a well-known landmark in the City, and would have hung over the roadway of Old London Bridge.

The interior of the church survived the Blitz of World War II intact and stands in contrast to the interiors of the other London city churches. It was restored by Martin Travers in 1924, in a neo-baroque style, and reflects the Anglo-Catholic character of the congregation.

The high altar is backed by a two-storey high reredos and flanked by two side-chapels. On the north wall there is a Russian icon, painted in 1908, and in the north aisle is a shrine containing a fragment of the True Cross. In the south aisle stands a statue of St Magnus, holding a model of the church.

One of the windows in the north wall dates from 1671 and is from the old Plumber's Hall. The windows in the south wall are all modern and represent lost churches associated with the parish: St Magnus and his ruined church of Egilsay, St Margaret with her lost church in New Fish Street (where the Monument to the Great Fire now stands), St Michael with his lost church of Crooked Lane (demolished to make way for the present King William Street) and St Thomas with his chapel on Old London Bridge.

In the vestibule of the church stands a fine model of Old London Bridge. One of the tiny figures on the bridge appears out of place in the medieval setting, wearing a policeman's uniform. This is rumoured to be a representation of the model-maker who was formerly in the police service.

In 1921 two stones from Old London Bridge were discovered across the road from the church. They now stand in the churchyard. In 1931 a piling from a Roman river wall was discovered during the excavation of the foundations of a nearby building. It now stands in the church porch.

This church is referred to briefly in the poem The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot at line 265.

• List of churches and cathedrals of London
• Parish Website

v • d • e Churches in London, England
Camden	All Saints, Camden Town · St. George's, Bloomsbury · St Giles in the fields · St John's Chapel, Bedford Row · St Pancras New Church · St Pancras Old Church · Whitefield's Tabernacle, Tottenham Court Road · St Michael's Church, Camden Town
City of London	All Hallows Bread Street · All Hallows-by-the-Tower · All Hallows Honey Lane · All Hallows Lombard Street · All Hallows-on-the-Wall · All-Hallows-the-Great · All Hallows, Staining · Christ Church, Greyfriars · College of Minor Canons · Dutch Church, Austin Friars · Holy Trinity Gough Square · Hospital of St Thomas of Acre · Old St Paul's Cathedral · St Alban, Wood Street · St Alphage London Wall · St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe · St Andrew, Holborn · St Andrew Undershaft · St Anne and St Agnes · St Antholin, Budge Row · St Augustine, Watling Street · St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange · St Bartholomew-the-Great · St Bartholomew-the-Less · St Benet Fink · St Benet Gracechurch · St Benet, Paul's Wharf · St Benet Sherehog · St Botolph, Aldersgate · St Botolph, Aldgate · St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate · St Bride, Fleet Street · St Christopher le Stocks  · St Clement, Eastcheap · St Dionis Backchurch · St Dunstan-in-the-East · St Dunstan-in-the-West · St Edmund, King and Martyr · St Ethelburga, Bishopsgate · St Faith under St Paul's · St George Botolph Lane · St Giles, Cripplegate · St Helen, Bishopsgate · St James, Garlickhythe · St John Zachary · St Katherine Cree · St Katherine Coleman · St Lawrence Jewry · St Leonard, Foster Lane · St Magnus the Martyr · St Margaret Lothbury · St Margaret Pattens · St Martin, Ludgate · St Martin Orgar · St Martin Outwich · St Mary Abchurch · St Mary Aldermanbury · St Mary Aldermary · St Mary-at-Hill · St Mary Colechurch · St Mary-le-Bow · St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street · St Mary Moorfields · St Mary Somerset · St Mary Staining · St Mary Woolnoth · St Matthew Friday Street · St Michael Bassishaw · St Michael, Cornhill · St Michael, Crooked Lane · St Michael, Paternoster Royal · St Michael Queenhithe · St Michael Wood Street · St Mildred, Bread Street · St Mildred, Poultry · St Nicholas Acons · St Nicholas, Cole Abbey · St Olave, Hart Street · St Olave, Old Jewry · St Olave, Silver Street · St Paul's Cathedral · St Peter upon Cornhill · St Sepulchre-without-Newgate · St Stephen Coleman Street · St Stephen Walbrook · St Swithin, London Stone · St Vedast alias Foster · Temple Church
The East End	Christ Church, Spitalfields · Church of Good Shepherd · St Anne's, Limehouse · St Dunstan's, Stepney · Abney Park Chapel · St George in the East · Trinity Independent Chapel
Greenwich	St Alfege's Church
Fulham	Our Lady Of Perpetual Help
Islington	St Mary Magdalene Church
Kensington & Chelsea	Brompton Oratory · Chelsea Old Church · St Luke, Chelsea, Sydney Street · Holy Redeemer and St Thomas Moore, Cheyne Row · Holy Trinity Brompton · St Barnabas, Kensington · St Columba's, Pont Street · St Mary Abbots, Kensington
Rotherhithe	St Mary, Rotherhithe · Finnish Church and Seamen's Mission · Norwegian Church
Southwark	St George the Martyr · Metropolitan Tabernacle
Tower Hamlets	St Mary’s, Bow
City of Westminster	All Saints, Margaret Street · All Souls, Langham Place · Crown Court Church · St Clement Danes · St George's, Hanover Square · St James's, Piccadilly · St Margaret's, Westminster · St Martin-in-the-Fields · St Mary-le-Strand · St Paul's, Covent Garden · Swedish Church