The church was in existence by 1304. It was originally a small church, standing amongst the slaughter-yards of the butchers of
Eastcheap. In 1336, it was rebuilt on a much larger scale by
John Lovekyn, four-times
Lord Mayor of London; later it received further benefactions from Sir
William Walworth, who was Lord Mayor in 1374. It was in the parish that the first cases of
The Plague occurred in 1665. After its destruction in the
Great Fire of London, the church was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren in 1687. The interior of the new church was 78 feet long, 46 feet wide and 32 feet high, with round-headed windows. In 1789, Thomas Townsend left a house and funds to the
Merchant Taylors Company to endow a weekly lecture and a clerical post at the church. His widow Susannah (d. 1810) left further funds to support this work. In 1831, the bequest was transferred to the church of
St Magnus the Martyr. The church was demolished in 1831 to make way for the wider approaches needed for the rebuilt
London Bridge. Its parish was united with that of
St Magnus the Martyr. The final service on Sunday 20 March 1831 had to be abandoned due to the effects of the building work. The Rector of St Michael preached a sermon the following Sunday at St Magnus lamenting the demolition of his church with its monuments and "the disturbance of the worship of his parishioners on the preceding Sabbath". A stained-glass window in the church of St Magnus commemorates the former parish. Some of the monuments in the demolished church are now located in
St Mark's Church, Kennington. Part of the burial ground of St Michael, located between Fish Street Hill and
King William Street, survived as an open space until 1987 when it was compulsorily purchased to facilitate the extension of the
Docklands Light Railway into the
City. The remains were reburied at
Brookwood Cemetery.
Washington Irving gave a long description of the church in
The Sketch Book (published in 1819), in the chapter entitled "The Boar's Head Tavern, Eastcheap". In searching for any remnants of Shakespeare's
Falstaff, Irving hears about a picture of
the original tavern in St Michael's Church, but to no avail. ==See also==