Building    From 1219 

Destroyed in the Great Fire, rebuilt by Wren, badly damaged in WW2, restored 1968. Its name is explained by its location which used to be on/near two streets: Paternoster Lane, now College Hill, and The Royal, no longer existing. When Richard Whittington moved into the house adjoining he paid for the church to be rebuilt and enlarged. In his will he founded an almshouse for 13 poor citizens of London, known as Whittington College, to be built next to the church and run by the Mercers' Company. This explains the renaming of the street. Early in the 19th century the almshouses moved to Highgate. Follow the story there. Whittington was buried in this church but his grave is now lost. The picture shows the church in 1943.