St Peter Upon Cornhill - Early History

Early History

The church of St Peter upon Cornhill stands on the highest point of the City of London. A tradition grew up that the church was of very ancient origin, and was the seat of an archbishop until the establishment of Canterbury Cathedral at the end of the sixth century,

John Stow, writing at the end of the sixteenth century, reported "there remaineth in this church a table whereon is written, I know not by what authority, but of a late hand, that King Lucius founded the same church to be an archbishop's see metropolitan, and chief church of his kingdom, and that it so endured for four hundred years". The "table" (tablet) seen by Stow was lost, probably when the medieval church was burnt in the Great Fire, but before this a number of writers had recorded what it said. The text of the original tablet as printed by John Weever in 1631 began:

Be hit known to al men, that the yeerys of our Lord God an clxxix . Lucius the fyrst christen kyng of this lond, then callyd Brytayne, fowndyd the fyrst chyrch in London, that is to sey, the Chyrch of Sent Peter apon Cornhyl, and he fowndyd ther an Archbishoppys See, and made that Chirch the Metropolitant, and cheef Chirch of this kingdom...

A replacement, in the form of an inscribed brass plate, was set up after the Great Fire and survives in the church today. An engraving of this plate was included in Robert Wilkinson's Londina Illustrata (1819-25). The text of the brass plate has been printed several times, for example by George Godwin in 1839.

In 1444 a "horsemill" was given to St Peter's. The bells of St Peter are mentioned in 1552, when a bell foundry in Aldgate was asked to cast a new bell.