religious
Sir Christopher Wren, 1170
12C church. During the Great Fire of 1666 the church building escaped total destruction, and was restored. Christopher Wren was eventually called in to rebuild St Vedast, completing the work in October 1673.
St. Paul's
City Thameslink, Cannon Street
4, 8, 11, 25, 56, 76, 100
The Parish of St Vedast is known from the 12th century. It is dedicated to a French saint.
During the Great Fire of 1666 the church building escaped total destruction, and was restored. Christopher Wren was eventually called in to rebuild St Vedast, completing the work in October 1673. Additional work, including the steeple, possibly by Hawksmoor, continued until 1712.
During the Blitz, the area around St Paul’s was largely destroyed, and on the night of 29 December 1940, St Vedast was bombed and gutted; only the walls, tower and steeple survived.
In 1962, the noted architect Stephen Dykes Bower completed the restoration of the church under Canon Mortlock and a Parochial Church Council which included the poet John Betjeman, using a range of elements from several now vanished City churches and introducing the collegiate seating plan.