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London Metropolitan Archives

SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL DEAN AND CHAPTER: CITY CHURCHES REBUILDING


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0074 CLC/313/J

Held at: London Metropolitan Archives

Title: SAINT PAUL'S CATHEDRAL DEAN AND CHAPTER: CITY CHURCHES REBUILDING

Date(s): 1670-1717

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 88 production units.

Name of creator(s): St Paul's Cathedral | London

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Great Fire of 1666 destroyed or damaged not only the cathedral, but also 87 of the City's parish churches. By 1670 agreement had been reached that 51 of those churches would be rebuilt or repaired. A commission, comprising the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of London and the Lord Mayor, was appointed to oversee the rebuilding work, again financed by the Coal Duty (see section CLC/313/I/B). Wren, as the King's Surveyor-General, was appointed to supervise the work. The repair of the damaged churches was very advanced by 1686, but continued until 1717.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Dean and Chapter of Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, relating to the reconstruction of parish churches after the Great Fire of London, 1666, including:

Copy orders of the commissioners for rebuilding churches, 1670-1717 (CLC/313/J/010/MS25540/001-002).

Accounts of expenditure on temporary "tabernacles" for worship, pending rebuilding of churches, 1671-7 (CLC/313/J/014/MS25547).

Abstract of accounts of Coal Duty money spent on temporary "tabernacles" and church rebuilding, 1670-96 (CLC/313/J/001/MS25527).

Audited accounts of expenditure on rebuilding the churches, recording the work of individual craftsmen, 1670-94 (CLC/313/J/006/MS25536/001-014).

Accounts of expenditure on rebuilding the churches, with signatures and details of the work of individual craftsmen, 1670-1717 (CLC/313/J/002/MS25539/001-012).

Balance books, recording sums paid to individual craftsmen, 1673-1717 (CLC/313/J/018/MS25541/001-004).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Records arranged by MS number, assigned during cataloguing at the Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section. For a detailed discussion of the arrangement of the collection, see the fonds level description for Saint Paul's Cathedral, reference CLC/313.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

The bulk of the archives of St Paul's Cathedral were transferred to the Manuscripts Section of Guildhall Library in September 1980. They were catalogued by a member of Guildhall Library staff in around 1989. Other accessions were received from the 1960s onwards. The Guildhall Library Manuscripts Section merged with the London Metropolitan Archives in 2009.

ALLIED MATERIALS

Related material:

For accounts of money advanced by parishes and paid into the Chamber of London towards rebuilding parish churches, 1670-84; warrants for payments to Wren, 1670-88; and accounts of payments to Wren, 1670-84, see reference COL/SJ.

Publication note:

Further reading: "The Parochial Churches of Sir Christopher Wren 1666-1718", in Wren Society, vols.9 and 10 (1932-3). Volume 9 consists mainly of drawings and plans. Volume 10 also includes photographs, details of craftsmen employed, and extracts from Bodleian Library Ms Rawlinson B.387 ("Register of charges and bills of 49 [sic] parochial churches rebuilt by Wren"), as well as extracts from the vestry minutes and churchwardens' accounts of individual City parishes. In most cases these parish records are now also in the custody of LMA (City of London parishes are catalogued with reference codes beginning P69). For a study of Bodleian Library Ms Rawlinson B.387 (and related papers in Rawlinson B.388-89), see L Weaver, "Sir Christopher Wren's Building Accounts of City Churches" in Archaeologia, Vol.66 (1915), pp.1-60. See also Paul Jeffery, The City Churches of Sir Christopher Wren (1996); and J Summerson, "Drawings for the London City Churches" in RIBA Journal, 3rd series, vol.59, no.4 (February 1952), pp.126-9, and "Drawings of London Churches in the Bute Collection: A Catalogue" in Architectural History, vol.13 (1970), pp.30-42. For the temporary "tabernacles", see Victoria County History (1909), p.340.

DESCRIPTION NOTES Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: August to October 2010.


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Building construction | Building operations | Construction engineering
Chapters | Religious communities | Religious institutions
Church architecture | Architecture
Churches | Religious buildings | Buildings | Architecture
Construction industry personnel | Personnel | People by occupation | People
Deans (ecclesiastical) | Clergy | Religious groups
Fire damage | Damage | Disasters
Standards | Serials | Publications | Communications media | Information sciences
Cathedrals x Religious buildings
Specifications x Standards
Religion

Personal names
Wren | Sir | Christopher | 1632-1723 | Knight | architect

Corporate names
St Paul's Cathedral | London

Places
City of London | London | England | UK | Western Europe | Europe