History
St.
Dunstan-in-the-West has a long and illustrious history. Visitors are often
struck by how St. Dunstan’s differs in appearance and style to other Anglican
churches. The church looks traditionally Neo-Gothic on the outside, yet is
octagonal inside.
Saint
Dunstan
Dunstan was
one of the foremost Saints of Anglo-Saxon England: he was also one of the most
venerated before the cult of St. Thomas Becket took hold of the popular
imagination. He was born in 909 A.D. and was taught by Irish monks at Glastonbury
Abbey,
Dunstan
became a companion to King Aethelstan’s stepbrothers, Edmund and Eadred,
although he was banished after the king died in 939. He then lived at
The 
The original St. Dunstan-in-the-West stood on the same site as today, spilling in the past onto what is now the tarmac of Fleet Street. It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 A.D. It is not impossible that Saint Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here.
The Church
narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London in 1666. The quick thinking of the
Dean of Westminster saved the church: he roused forty scholars from
three
doors of St. Dunstan’s.
The
Church is Rebuilt
The wear
and tear of time took its toll, however, and St. Dunstan’s was rebuilt in 1831.
The architect, John Shaw, died in 1832, leaving his son, who bore the same
name, to complete the task.
The tower
was badly damaged by German bombers in 1944, and was rebuilt in 1950 through
the generosity of newspaper magnate Viscount Camrose. In 1952, St.
Dunstan-in-the-West became a
The Church
Today
The
Clock and Giants
St
Dunstan-in-the-West was a well-known landmark in previous centuries because of
its magnificent clock. This dates from 1671, and was the first public clock in
When labour and when dullness, club
in hand,
Like the two figures at St.
Dunstan’s stand,
Beating alternately in measured time
The clockwork tintinnabulum of
rhyme,
Exact and regular the sounds will
be,
But such mere quarter-strokes are not for me.
The
courtyard also contains statues of King Lud, the mythical sovereign, and his
sons and Queen Elizabeth I, all of which originally stood in Ludgate. The
statue of Queen Elizabeth I dates from 1586 and is the only one known to have
been carved during her reign.
Inside
the Church
Much of the internal fabric pre-dates the rebuilding of the Church in the 1830s.
The high altar and reredos are Flemish woodwork dating from the
seventeenth century. There are also a large number of monuments from the original
church. Some of the earliest are two bronze figures thought to date from 1530. Statue of Queen Elizabeth I
The
Organ
The original church has an organ dating from 1674-75 made by Renatus Harris. However, none of the original parts are likely to have remained as over the years it has had to be entirely rebuilt. Much of the present organ dates from 1834, when a Joseph Robson organ was bought at the same time as the Church was being rebuilt. Many distinguished organists have played here, including John Reading, the composer of Adeste Fideles, who died in 1764. Handel was even invited to play here, although whether the great composer ever accepted the invitation remains unknown.
The
Romanian Orthodox Church
As well as
being an Anglican church, the building of St. Dunstan’s is home to the Romanian
Orthodox Church in
St.
Dunstan-in-the-West is home to the Anglican and Eastern
Churches Association, and is a centre of prayer for Christian Unity. It is
therefore appropriate that the side chapels contain altars dedicated to various
traditions, including the Lutheran Church in
Other
Famous Connections
The poet John
Donne held the benefice here from 1624-31, while he was Dean of St. Paul’s. William
Tyndale, who
pioneered the translation of the Bible into English, was a lecturer here. The
famous diarist Samuel Pepys worshipped here a number of times. Lord
Baltimore, who founded the State of
The
Hoare Bank
The church
has long had an association with C. Hoare and Co., whose bank has been situated
opposite the church since 1690. The Hoare
family donated the four stained glass windows behind the high altar and the
carved canopies of the altar-piece. The windows show Archbishop Lanfrance; St
Dunstan beside a roaring furnace into which he has thrust his pincers ready to
pull a devil’s nose; St. Anselm and Archbishop Langton with King John at the
signing of the Magna Carta. Members of
the Hoare family, as well as being generous benefactors, have maintained a
tradition of service as churchwardens over the centuries. Two have been Lord
Mayors of
The staple
of Victorian penny shockers, the story of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of
Fleet Street, stalks the no-man’s land between urban myth and historical fact.
According to some sources, Todd, a barber, tooth-puller and surgeon, did actually exist, and in 1785 set up
shop at
A booklet outlining St. Dunstan’s history in more detail, compiled by Robbie Millen, is available from the back of the Church, priced £2, or on request from the Guild Vicar.
Further
Life and
Times of St. Dunstan in the West, Sylvia I. Bogdanescu, St.Dunstan-in-the-West Guild Church
Cncl, 1986 (Currently out of print)
Saint
Dunstan
Dunstan
- Saint and Statesman, Douglas
Dales, 1999
St
Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult, Nigel Ramsay et al, 1992
Shepherd
and Servant: the Spiritual Legacy of St Dunstan, Douglas Dales, 2001
Literary
References to St. Dunstan-in-the-West
The Diary of Samuel Pepys: 1662 and 1667
Tom Brown's Schooldays, Thomas Hughes
The
The
Vicar of
The Fortunes of Nigel, Sir Walter Scott
Barnaby Rudge and David Copperfield, Charles Dickens
Elia and the Last Essays of Elia, Charles Lamb
The
Compleat Angler,
Izaak Walton (originally published in St. Dunstan’s
churchyard in 1653)