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.
This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
St Michael Paternoster Royal
Commemorated ati
Whittington's church
Richard Whittington, four times Mayor of London, founded and was buried in th...
Other Subjects
First synagogue after resettlement
A house in Creechurch Lane was converted to a synagogue for the Sephardi Jews (Spanish and Portuguese) which opened in 1657. This was enlarged but the increase in numbers quickly made a purpose-bui...
Isaac Watts
Hymn-writer, poet, theologian and logician. Born Southampton. As a non-conformist he could not go to Oxford or Cambridge so went to the Stoke Newington Dissenting Academy and stayed connected to St...
China Inland Mission
The picture source website provides lots of useful information on the CIM.
Bishop Mandell Creighton
Born Carlisle. His first career was as an historian. Bishop of London, 1897–1901.
St Gabriel Fen(church)
Dating back to at least 1331, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire after which the parish united with that of St Margaret Pattens, in 1670 and then in 1954 was included in that of St Edmund t...
Previously viewed
James Boswell
Born Edinburgh, died London. Known for his two-volume biography 'The Life Of Samuel Johnson' (1791).
World War 2
Sorry, we've done no research on WW2, it's just too big a subject. But do visit the picture source web site - it has a fascinating collection of maps. And we enjoyed these photos of current WW2 ev...
World War 1
We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920...
The Beatles
George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr.
Mary Watts
Born as Mary Seton Fraser Tytler in India but brought up in Scotland. 1886 married G. F. Watts. Co-founded the Compton Potters' Arts Guild and the Arts & Crafts Guild in Compton, Surrey. There ...
Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them