In the City of London there is to be found the greatest concentration of church buildings of outstanding quality of anywhere in the country. There are no fewer than 42 places of worship situated within the Square Mile of which 39 are Anglican churches all listed either Grade I or Grade II*. At one time the number was greater – after the rebuilding programme following the Great Fire of 1666 there were around 75 churches, but as people moved out of the City the churches inevitably suffered a decline in their numbers of regular worshippers with the result that in the 19th Century a number of the churches closed and were pulled down. By 1910 the number of Anglican churches in the City had fallen to 56 and by 1939 that number had reduced to 49. Then came the bombing of the City in the Second World War which further reduced their number. No fewer than 23 churches were badly damaged or destroyed and after the War five were totally written off. Of these five in two cases the towers were retained, and in another two the towers and the remains of the walls were landscaped into gardens. The Dutch Church was rebuilt to a completely new design. The remainder were restored or rebuilt so that by the late 1960s there were altogether 39 Anglican churches all in very good condition.
However, there continued to be a slow decrease in the numbers of regular worshippers in the City churches and in time a number of them effectively became redundant. Thus there arose the question of what should be done with them. In the last hundred years alone there have been at least six specially commissioned reports, each one trying to resolve the question of what should be done with the City churches. The latest of these reports was commissioned from Lord Templeman by the Bishop of London of the time and was published in January 1994. The Commission recommended that the number of active Anglican City churches should be reduced to 12, comprising three categories – ‘parish churches’ (4), ‘active non-parish churches’ (8) with the remainder being ‘reserve churches’ (27). This latter group, essentially redundant churches, would be used for cultural or educational purposes. It was evident that finding specific uses for the redundant churches would take time so that the City would thus have well over two dozen empty unused churches.
The proposals of the Templeman Commission prompted Marcus Binney of the SAVE Britain’s Heritage organisation to express grave concern for the future of the City
Churches. He gained the interest of an organisation called The Friends of Friendless Churches. This organisation still flourishes and at the time of the Templeman Report had taken under its wing a charity called “The Friends of the City Churches” which had been set up after the Second World War when the rebuilding and restoration of certain of the City churches seemed to be in some doubt. As stated above a significant number of the City churches were rebuilt whereupon the Friends of the City Churches effectively became moribund. However, because of the implications of the Templeman Report the organisations referred to came together and out of this liaison the ‘new’ Friends of the City Churches came into being in 1994. This action brought together the many people who cared for and valued the City churches with the aim of ensuring that they would be preserved intact for prosperity, and, most importantly, be kept open to visitors on a regular basis.
Then began a steady campaign to make sure that the drastic proposals of the Commission were never implemented. The new ”‘Friends” were greatly helped in this by the late Revd John Paul, then vicar of the City church of St Andrew by the Wardrobe. It was John who organised a conference in November 1994 at Guildhall with the optimistic title of ‘A More Excellent Way’ which was in essence a detailed and well-argued submission as to the future of the Churches of the City of London. This made it clear that the idea of mothballing churches was simply not acceptable and that there were a number of incumbents who supported the idea of keeping the threatened churches open.
Thus the Friends started their programme of endeavouring to keep those churches open. After a number of meetings it was agreed that regular opening of the threatened churches to visitors might be possible provided that responsible and reliable persons could be found who would sit in a church on at least one day a week, or more if possible. As a result of the meetings a team of volunteer watchers was organised who were able to watch first in one City church (St Sepulchre without Newgate) and then another (St Mary Aldermary).
Then in January 1996 Richard Chartres was installed as Lord Bishop of London, who had the avowed aim of keeping the City churches as functioning places open on a regular basis. His appointment gave new heart to the efforts of those who had laboured so hard to keep the City churches open. Since that time The Friends of the City Churches have gone from strength to strength. The charity now has some 950 members, and, appropriately, Bishop Richard as Patron. The number of churches in which watchers are provided on a regular basis has increased to eleven thus providing the public with daily opportunities to visit these wonderful buildings. Members of the Friends participate in a full programme of events consisting of talks, concerts, visits and outings, and a lively, informative Newsletter is published four times a year. Key events include the Friends Annual City Churches Walks; participation in the annual Open House event in September; a Harvest Festival Service and a Carol Service. These popular services are held in different City churches each year.
The Friends continue to flourish through the interest and enthusiasm of our many members, including some in the USA, Canada and Europe. The Friends are always keen to expand their membership to include more people of like mind who wish to preserve the priceless heritage enshrined in the unique collection of churches in the City of London.