Country United Kingdom | ||
Denomination Roman Catholic, Anglican Address 10 Cannon St, London EC4M, UK Similar St Botolph Billingsgate, St Nicholas Olave, St Margaret Moses, St Andrew Hubbard, Holy Trinity Gough Square | ||
St Faith under St Paul’s in Castle Baynard Ward was an unusual parish within the City of London. It had been physically removed in 1256 to allow for the eastern expansion of the Old St Paul's Cathedral.
It appears as "St Faith within the monastery of St Paul's, London" in 1381, with mention of John Phelip, as a former parson.
Until the reign of Edward VI the parishioners worshipped at the end of the west crypt under St Paul’s Quire. The well known diarist of the Long Parliament, Sir Simonds D'Ewes, attended the wedding of his father Paul and his stepmother, Lady Elizabeth Denton, in "St. Faith's under St. Paul's" on March 5, 1623, and Sir Simonds's younger sister Mary also married there on December 4, 1626 The Mortality Bill for the year 1665, published by the Parish Clerk’s Company, shows 97 parishes within the City of London - of which St Faith was one. From the reign of Edward VI until the Great Fire the parishioners, mostly booksellers in Paternoster Row, transferred to the Jesus Chapel, their separateness emphasised by a screen. After this tragedy the parish was united with St Augustine Watling Street, an arrangement that worked amicably well long after anyone who could have remembered the old cathedral had died, the name also being used in official records and plans. Partial records survive at IGI and a drawing by Thomas Kerrich is preserved at The British Library while visitors to the rebuilt cathedral are still reminded of the association during their tour.