St Clement Eastcheap - Furnishings

Furnishings

The altar, with cherubs for legs, dates from the 17th century, as does the reredos, which was decorated during the 1930s restoration of the building in a style reminiscent of Simone Martini. The outer panels depict the Annunciation while the central panel shows St. Clement and St. Martin of Tours, (the dedicatee of St. Martin Orgar).

The pulpit also dates from the 17th-century, and is made from Norwegian oak, topped with an hexagonal sounding board, with a dancing cherub on each corner.

Surviving from the 1872 Butterfield renovation are the polychrome floor and three stained-glass clerestory windows on the north wall. The windows were made by W. G. Taylor, and installed c.1887 during the last phase of Butterfield's work. The windows show SS. Andrew, James (major), James (minor), Peter, Mathias, and Thomas.

While the marble font can be seen, its wooden cover is not always on public display. The cover's ornate decoration, a carved dove holding an olive branch surrounded with gilded flames, so delighted William Gladstone, it is said, that he took his grandchildren to see it.