SAINT CLEMENT DANES, WESTMINSTER

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0074 O/540
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: SAINT CLEMENT DANES, WESTMINSTER
Date(s)	: 1955
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 0.16 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: LCC | London County Council

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The origins of the name "Saint Clement Danes" remains unclear; any connection with Danish peoples is uncertain although an account by John Stow suggests that "Harold [Harefoot], a Danish king and other Danes were buried here". Another tradition holds that it became the church of the Danish community in the ninth century who had been expelled from the City of London - the church stands at the entrance to the City at the end of Fleet Street. Between 1170 and 1312 it was in the care of the Knights Templar. The church survived the Great Fire but shortly afterwards it became so decayed that rebuilding became essential. A new church by Sir Christopher Wren was completed by 1682, with a steeple added by James Gibbs in 1719.

In 1941, extensive bomb damage gutted the church. It was restored between 1953 and 1958 by WAS Lloyd, paid for with contributions from the Royal Air Force and Allied Forces. It became the Central Church of the Royal Air Force. Inside the church there are many items relating to the air-force including Remembrance Books, colours and standards, and the names of 19,000 American airmen based here during the war, commemorated in a special shrine.

Saint Clements Danes is one of the churches referred to in the popular nursery-rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons'.

Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of Saint Clement Danes church, comprising report from the London County Council containing a list of coffins removed from the vault, 1955.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

One document.

Conditions governing access:

Available for general access.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright to these records rests with the City of London.

Finding aids:

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

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented to the Archive as a gift in November 1956.

Allied Materials

Related material:

For further records of Saint Clement Danes church please see reference P96/CLE.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

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:
March to April 2010.