[37636] St Margaret Pattens : Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers

St Margaret Pattens, Rood Lane, London EC3, 1684-87.

By Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723).

Grade l listed.

To the Glory of God. The Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers. AD 2000.

 

When this church was built there were several other churches dedicated to St Margaret therefore a distinctive title was needed. That of “Pattens” was chosen because they were made and sold close to the church.

 

A patten was a type of "undershoe" consisting of a wooden sole fitted with leather straps and mounted on a large metal ring to raise the wearer from the muddy roads. By fastening the shoe on top of this with a leather strap, the wearer could walk through the mud of the City and arrive cleanshod.

 

With the paving of the streets, the trade died out and it is thought that the last working pattenmaker died in the 19th century. However, a pattenmaker was still listed in a trade reference in the 1920s. A notice in the church still “requests women to leave their Pattens before entering”.

 

An alternative theory is that the name commemorates a benefactor, possibly one Ranulf Patin, a canon at St Paul's Cathedral during the medieval period.

 

 

Done