Wren and Anglican churches Before the
Great Fire of London in 1666, the
City of London had around 100 churches in an area of only one square mile (2.6 km2). Of the 86 destroyed by the Fire, 51 were rebuilt along with
St Paul's Cathedral. The majority have traditionally been regarded as the work of Sir
Christopher Wren, but although their rebuilding was entrusted primarily to him, the role of his various associates, including
Robert Hooke and
Nicholas Hawksmoor especially, is currently being reassessed and given greater emphasis. With regard to
Anglican churches, as opposed to Catholic churches,
nonconformist chapels or meeting houses, the designs of the Wren office provided a new standard for British church architecture ever since, as well as giving a distinctive face to the Anglican church in London. Wren also designed a number of Anglican churches outside the City, including
St James's, Piccadilly and
St Clement Danes. After the Wren era, Hawksmoor was responsible for six of the great Anglican churches in the
East End of London (for example
Christ Church, Spitalfields), and other architects such as Hooke,
James Gibbs and
John James contributed significantly to Anglican church architecture in London.
Metropolitan area building on Duke Street, Mayfair (designed by
Alfred Waterhouse and an example of nonconformist church architecture) today serves as the
Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral of the Holy Family in Exile. London's churches and chapels are extraordinarily numerous and diverse. Anglican and nonconformist churches and chapels are most numerous, but there are also many
Catholic churches as well as places of worship for non-
Christian religions. Most of the Anglican churches lie within the Anglican dioceses of
London to the north and
Southwark to the south. For historical reasons, the Anglican churches in London north of the
Thames but east of the
River Lea fall within the
Diocese of Chelmsford, and those in the London Boroughs of Bexley and Bromley fall within the
Diocese of Rochester. A few Anglican churches in the Barnet area fall into the
Diocese of St Albans, reflecting the historical association of Barnet with Hertfordshire. The Catholic dioceses that cover Greater London are, north of the Thames and west of the Lea, the
Diocese of Westminster; south of the Thames the
Archdiocese of Southwark; and north of the Thames and east of the Lea, the
Diocese of Brentwood. There are still some two thousand Anglican churches alone, across the capital and if nonconformist and other denominations are included, they cover every age and style, in the design and evolution of which at least six hundred different architects have made contributions. As London expanded during the early 19th century, many new churches and chapels were built independently by the growing nonconformist urban population; to match the growth in nonconformist churches and chapels, the Anglican "
Waterloo church" building programme saw numerous Anglican churches constructed across south London in the first half of the century.
Significance Although many churches and chapels were entirely or partly lost to 19th-century demolitions and to bombing in the
Second World War, many historic, architecturally significant and religiously significant buildings remain, particularly in the City of London and the neighbouring
City of Westminster. A number of the churches are mentioned in the
nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons. Churches in this list belong to various
denominations, as indicated. ==Map of medieval parish churches==