St Leonard
Shoreditch, Greater London
At the epicentre of east London worship since Roman times, home to Shakespeare's actors and the location for BBC TV comedy series 'Rev'.
It was built 1743-6 following the unrealised ambitions of the 50 Churches Commission of 1711 to build a church in Bethnal Green to designs drawn up by Nicholas Hawksmoor.
The church was eventually built to the design of George Dance the Elder (1695-1768) then Clerk of Works to the City of London and surveyor to the Bridge House estate. St Matthew’s is the last of the three principal churches that he was to design, the others being St Leonard, Shoreditch and St Botolph, Aldgate.
A fire in 1859 destroyed the interior of the church and it was rebuilt in 1861. The roof and interior were destroyed by enemy action in 1940 and a temporary church was created within the shell in 1954. The old church was rebuilt from 1958 to 1961 by Anthony Lewis with a 'bold post war interior'. That post war interior includes works by a roll call of eminent 20th century ecclesiastical artists. St Matthew’s also houses a legacy from many of the other bombed churches in the area which are no longer standing, including stained glass from St Philip’s, a number of carved wooden furnishings, and a crucifix and statue of Our Lady of Peace from the temporary church.
The earliest organ on record was installed in 1772 but was destroyed in the 1859 fire. It was replaced by a Henry Jones organ dating from 1861. This was destroyed in the war-time bombing and during the services held in the ruins an Estey reed organ was played. Noel Mander of Mander Organs installed an 1877 Eustace Ingram organ in the temporary church in 1954. Mander then reinstalled the Ingram organ in the rebuilt church in 1961.
In the 18th century it became necessary to protect the buried corpses in the churchyard from desecration. Local medical schools were not overly fussy where the bodies for their research came from so, in 1754, the Watch House was built and a person paid to be on guard. A reward of two guineas was granted for the apprehension of any body snatchers. The churchwardens today still hold the right to fire a blunderbuss but only after sounding a rattle.
Perhaps the most infamous modern parishioners have been the Kray brothers. The funerals of Ron, Charlie, Reggie Kray and Tony Lambrianou, were all held in St Matthew’s, although these were not universally the solemn events that Christians might expect.