The parish of St Dunstan-in-the-West is first documented in the 12th century, and by the later Middle Ages it had become one of the most important churches on Fleet Street, serving a population of lawyers, printers, and merchants. Its dedication to St Dunstan (909–988), the reforming Archbishop of Canterbury, reflected the spread of his cult in London after the Norman Conquest. The church became a favoured place of burial for wealthy parishioners and lawyers attached to the Inns of Court nearby.
The medieval church survived the Great Fire of 1666, but by the early 19th century it was considered structurally unsafe. It was demolished in 1829, and a new church was built between 1830 and 1833 to designs by John Shaw the Elder (1776–1832) and completed by his son, John Shaw the Younger (1803–1870). The new building was one of the first London churches to be designed in a revival of 14th-century Gothic. Its octagonal tower with open lantern is distinctive, and its vaulted interior made use of advanced iron construction hidden behind plaster vaulting.
Several important fittings from earlier London churches were incorporated into the new building. The oak reredos, richly carved with the Last Supper and other reliefs, is a work of 17th-century Flemish craftsmen and was brought here in the 1830s. The pulpit dates from the same period. A number of monuments, including effigies of medieval and early modern parishioners, were transferred from the old church.
The exterior carries two of the most remarkable survivals of Tudor and Stuart London. On the Fleet Street façade stands the statue of Elizabeth I, carved around 1586, believed to be the only standing outdoor statue of the queen in London. It originally crowned the west façade of Ludgate, one of the medieval gateways into the City, and was moved here after the gate’s demolition in 1760. Set into the tower is the celebrated clock of 1671, the first public clock in London to show minutes. Its dial is flanked by two carved figures of Gog and Magog, mythical guardians of the City, who strike the hours with clubs while turning their heads — automata that became part of London folklore.
The parish’s links with Fleet Street gave the church an unusual intellectual and political significance. In the 17th century it was associated with Puritan preaching, and later with the printing trade which clustered along Fleet Street. In the 20th century, it became the London base of the Romanian Orthodox Church, making it one of the earliest Anglican churches to be shared with an Orthodox congregation.
