Located behind the Bank of England, St Margaret Lothbury was first recorded in 1185. Rebuilt in 1440, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666 and reconstructed by Christopher Wren between 1683 and 1692. The top stage of the tower, possibly designed by Robert Hooke, was added in 1698–99. Probably the third church on the site, its slightly asymmetrical plan, with a slanted far wall, reflects the constraints imposed by neighbouring buildings during the final rebuilding.
Over the last two centuries, the church has acquired furnishings from several demolished Baroque churches in the area, giving it an exceptional collection of seventeenth-century woodwork. Notable among these are works attributed to the Dutch-English sculptor and carver Grinling Gibbons. The baptismal font, originally in St Olave, Old Jewry, was moved here after that church’s partial demolition in 1887 and is characteristic of Gibbons’ workshop style. The church also houses a rare choir screen — one of only two surviving in Wren churches — along with the tester above the pulpit, both brought from All Hallows the Great, Thames Street, in 1894 following its demolition. The screen is decorated with the Stuart royal arms and surmounted by a seventeenth-century German eagle donated by a member of the congregation. Paintings of Moses and Aaron, dating from around 1700 and formerly in St Christopher-le-Stocks, were added after that church’s demolition in 1781. The organ, made by George England, also came from St Olave, Old Jewry.
St Margaret Lothbury is among the few Wren churches to have sustained only minor damage during the Second World War.
