Colin Crosby Heritage Tours

St. Martin-in-the-Fields (London)

St. Martin-in-the-Fields is one of the best known churches in London.

It is situated on one side of Trafalgar Square, with the National Gallery and Nelson`s Column for company.

An earlier church on the site had been built so that corpses carrying diseases did not have to be taken past Henry VIII`s Whitehall Palace to St. Margaret`s Church at Westminster.

The present building, which breaks many architectural rules but is found by most to be deeply satisfying, was built by James Gibbs beside Covent Garden, when that was being developed as an upper class district.

Trafalgar Square was created a hundred years later, and St. Martin`s fitted brilliantly into the scene.

St. Martin`s is the parish church covering Buckingham Palace, and indeed George I was a churchwarden.

Neville Marriner has brought musical fame with concerts, and Rev Dick Sheppard began the tradition of help for the homeless.

In the crypt is a cafe and gift shop.

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