The Church of St Michael Paternoster, College Hill, London, EC4R 2RL
St Michael Paternoster Royal, standing on College Hill, has been part of London’s ecclesiastical fabric since at least 1219. Its name carries traces of medieval commerce and urban life: Paternoster recalls the rosary sellers of Paternoster Lane, while Royal derives not from monarchy but from the nearby street Le Ryole, once associated with Bordeaux wine merchants trading in the City. The church is most famously linked to Richard Whittington (c. 1354–1423), the legendary four-time Lord Mayor of London, who endowed funds for its rebuilding in the early 15th century and established a collegiate foundation and almshouse in its shadow, binding his name permanently to the site.
After the Great Fire of 1666, St Michael was among the last of Christopher Wren’s City churches to be reconstructed. Work began only in 1689, under the supervision of Edward Strong the Elder (1652–1724), Wren’s master mason, and was completed in 1694. The addition of its striking steeple between 1713 and 1717, probably by Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661–1736), further enhanced the skyline: an elegant Portland stone tower capped with an unusual open octagonal spire, a form Hawksmoor would echo in other London churches, giving it a distinctive silhouette.
Inside, the church preserves much of its late 17th-century Baroque character. The reredos, framed by Corinthian columns, anchors the sanctuary with a sense of theatrical dignity, while carved figures of Moses and Aaron—brought here from the demolished church of All Hallows the Great in 1894—add a sculptural richness. Surviving wartime bombardment with less devastation than many of its neighbours, St Michael Paternoster remains a layered monument: medieval patronage, post-Fire Baroque ingenuity, and fragments of vanished City churches converge here, making it a rare survivor that gathers multiple strands of London’s religious and civic past within its walls.
