St Vedast-alias-Foster, City of London
This was the second time I had visited St Vedast, the first time I just had my compact camera, this time I was fully tooled up.
St Vedast seems to me, like a quire without a church, the pews decked out like misericords, with the lamps for illuminating hymnsheets, has all the appearances of a quire. Then there is the black and white marble floor, the fantastic ceiling, all overlooked by a large gilded organ. Fnar.
It was twenty past nine, and I had the church to myself, whilst a few yards away outside, the rush hour traffic stacked up. Inside, all was peace and quiet.
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The Parish of St Vedast is known from the 12th century, and the church is traditionally claimed to have been established by 1170.
It has been altered, enlarged and restored many times and probably rebuilt at least twice, the last time by Christopher Wren, after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Having been completely burnt out during the Blitz of World War II, the church was restored under the direction of its Rector, Canon Mortlock, and a very influential Parochial Church Council that included Poet Laureate John Betjeman and master organ builder, Noel Mander.
The church is dedicated to a French saint, little known in Britain, who was Bishop of Arras in northern Gaul around the turn of the 6th century.
Vedast, who was called in Latin, Vedastus; in Norman, Vaast; in Walloon, Waast; and in French, GastSaint Vedast Vaast Vastes Fosteron, helped to restore the Christian Church in the region after decades of destruction by invading tribes during the late Roman empire and to convert Clovis, the Frankish king. Remembered for his charity, meekness and patience, he is buried at Arras cathedral.
His name in England has been corrupted from St Vaast, by way of Vastes, Fastes, Faster, Fauster and Forster to Foster, the name of the lane at the front of the church, and the reason that the official designation of the church is St Vedast-alias-Foster. St Vedast was venerated in particular by the Augustinian priors in the 12th century, and they may be responsible for the foundation of the few churches dedicated to him. Only one other church in England is currently dedicated to St Vedast, in Tathwell, Lincolnshire, a third parish in Norwich now being remembered only in a street name.
Some of the works and legends of St Vedast are celebrated in the stained glass windows of the church.
It has been suggested that the original church of St Vedast may have been founded by the Flemish community in London in the 12th or 13th century, possibly by a Flemish ancestor of Ralph d’Arras, who was the Sheriff of London in 1276.
The first church was probably quite small, but additions were made through the centuries. A chapel dedicated to St Dunstan was added in the 15th century, and other altars were added in the 16th century to Mary and to St Nicholas. By 1603, Stow in his Survey of London described St Vedast as ‘a fair church, lately rebuilt’.
Although no complete or accurate account survives for this early church, evidence of its construction can still be seen in the south wall of the church externally. Evidence of earlier openings for doors and windows, as well as the medieval stonework has been examined by archaeological survey and reported in London Archaeologist.
In 1614, St Vedast was enlarged by 20 feet thanks to a gift from the adjacent Saddlers’ company, and ‘beautified’ according to Stow’s Survey.
In 1635 the then Rector, James Batty, petitioned the Archbishop that a rail might be set up around the communion table as there are many “disorders and undecencies” among the parishioners when receiving the Blessed Sacrament. For his loyalty to King Charles I, Batty was “sequestered, plundered, forced to flee, and died” in 1642.
How the church may have suffered during the Civil Wars of the mid 17th century is unrecorded, but given that the Parliamentarians kept horses stabled in the chancel of nearby St Paul’s Cathedral, it is likely to have been badly affected. The current Rectors’ Board lists the years between 1643 and 1661 as under Foulke Bellers, a ‘Commonwealth Intruder’.
The disastrous Great Fire that swept through the City in September 1666 reached St Vedast on the third day. Afterwards, it was thought that although the roof, pews, pulpit and other fittings had been destroyed, the church could be repaired satisfactorily. It was therefore omitted from the original list of 50 churches to be rebuilt by Christopher Wren. B
y the 1690s, however, structural flaws must have become significant enough that rebuilding was begun. Records of those responsible for the detailed design and construction of the church are somewhat sketchy. Other than Wren, it is possible that Robert Hooke and/or Nicholas Hawksmoor were involved (the steeple is said to be particularly Hawksmoor-like), and master mason Edward Strong had been paid £3106:14:7 by the time the church was completed in 1699. He was responsible for the cherubs that grace the west front and bell tower, and for the dove in glory sculpture now situated at the east end of the south aisle.
Many of the minor changes that affected the church through the 18th century may not have been recorded, but we know that an organ was installed in 1773, and that heating was first introduced in 1790 – open stoves that were to be replaced in 1807 by a more satisfactory double fronted one.
Thomas Pelham Dale, Rector from 1847 to 1882, fell foul of the Public Worship Regulations Act of 1874 and was prosecuted for “ritualistic practices”. Although he gave up the practices in question for a time, he was brought before a court in 1880 and, for contempt, sent to Holloway prison.
The greatest change to the building in the 19th century was perhaps to the fenestration. A square headed window was removed in 1848 from the east end, along with the Dove in Glory sculpture by Strong above it. Twelve new stained glass windows were introduced in 1884, making the church much darker. Internal adjustments to pews, screens, pulpit and altar rails were made shortly afterwards.
On 29th December 1940, London was attacked by German air raids that dropped some 24,000 high explosive bombs and 100,000 incendiaries, mostly in the City. Although the Cathedral itself survived thanks to hundreds of volunteer firefighters, much of the area around St Paul’s was utterly destroyed.
As after the Great Fire of 1666, St Vedast was gutted and left a burnt out shell, with roof, pews, pulpit and fittings all ruined. As the structure of the church and its tower were deemed to be safe, plans to restore the church began in 1947. The work itself only started in 1953, under the auspices of its new Rector, Canon Mortlock, and the architect Stephen Dykes Bower. The post war Parochial Church Council that oversaw the work included Poet Laureate and conservation champion John Betjeman and the great organ builder Noel Mander.
To make the church a more appropriate layout for smaller 20th century congregations, Dykes Bower introduced collegiate style seating, and screened off the south aisle. New false walls were constructed within the east and south walls to make the church more rectangular, enabling a strong black and white patterned terrazzo floor to be laid. The ceiling was constructed to a pattern near that of the Wren original and finished with gold leaf and aluminium, donated by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
An adjacent plot along Foster Lane to the north, formerly the location of the Fountain pub, was purchased for the construction of a new Rectory, and a small secluded courtyard built between this Rectory and the former parish school (now the parish hall of St Vedast).
----------------------------------------------
The original church of St Vedast was founded before 1308 and was extensively repaired in the seventeenth century.[2]
Although the church was not completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666,[3] it was restored by 1662 on parochial initiative. However, the church required substantial reconstruction by the office of Sir Christopher Wren between 1695 and 1701, with only small parts of the older building surviving to be incorporated,[3] most noticeably parts of the medieval fabric in the south wall which were revealed by cleaning in 1992–3. The three-tier spire, considered one of the most baroque of all the City spires, was added in 1709–12[4] at a cost of £2958, possibly to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor, whose correspondence with the churchwardens survives. The organ was built by Renatus Harris in 1731, originally for St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange.
Wren's church was gutted a second time by firebombs during the London blitz([5]) of 1940 and 1941.[6] A proposal by Sir Hugh Casson to leave this and several other ruins as a war memorial was not implemented. The post-war restoration within the old walls was undertaken by Stephen Dykes Bower. He re-ordered the interior in a collegiate chapel style with seating down each side with a side chapel in the former South aisle, and squared the old walls which were not rectangular in plan so that the altar now faces the nave squarely. He made an almost imperceptible taper in the pews and floor pattern, to give a false perspective towards the altar, making the church look longer than it is. The architect also designed the richly decorated 17th-century-style plaster ceiling. He reused fittings from other destroyed City churches, including the richly carved pulpit from All Hallows Bread Street and the font and cover from St Anne and St Agnes. Dykes Bower commissioned the Whitefriars glass windows in the East End, showing scenes from the life of St Vedast. These windows are largely opaque to hide tall buildings behind and to disguise the fact that the East wall is a wedge in plan. The work was completed in 1962. An aumbry by the south chapel altar is by Bernard Merry and the organ is 1955 by Noel Mander, in the re-used 1731 Harris case.
Dykes Bower also built a small Parish Room to the North East of the church in 17th-century style and a Georgian-style rectory, adjacent to the church, on Foster Lane in 1959 – in the first floor room of which is an important mural by Hans Feibusch on the subject of Jacob and the Angel. A niche in the internal courtyard of the building contains a carved stone head[who?] by sculptor Jacob Epstein.[7]
The church is noted for its small but lively baroque steeple, its small secluded courtyard, stained glass, and a richly-decorated ceiling. It also has a set of six bells, cast in 1960, that are widely regarded[by whom?] as being the finest sounding six in London.[8]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.[9] The rectory was listed as a Grade II building on 15 July 1998.
St Vedast-alias-Foster, City of London
This was the second time I had visited St Vedast, the first time I just had my compact camera, this time I was fully tooled up.
St Vedast seems to me, like a quire without a church, the pews decked out like misericords, with the lamps for illuminating hymnsheets, has all the appearances of a quire. Then there is the black and white marble floor, the fantastic ceiling, all overlooked by a large gilded organ. Fnar.
It was twenty past nine, and I had the church to myself, whilst a few yards away outside, the rush hour traffic stacked up. Inside, all was peace and quiet.
----------------------------------------------
The Parish of St Vedast is known from the 12th century, and the church is traditionally claimed to have been established by 1170.
It has been altered, enlarged and restored many times and probably rebuilt at least twice, the last time by Christopher Wren, after the Great Fire of London in 1666. Having been completely burnt out during the Blitz of World War II, the church was restored under the direction of its Rector, Canon Mortlock, and a very influential Parochial Church Council that included Poet Laureate John Betjeman and master organ builder, Noel Mander.
The church is dedicated to a French saint, little known in Britain, who was Bishop of Arras in northern Gaul around the turn of the 6th century.
Vedast, who was called in Latin, Vedastus; in Norman, Vaast; in Walloon, Waast; and in French, GastSaint Vedast Vaast Vastes Fosteron, helped to restore the Christian Church in the region after decades of destruction by invading tribes during the late Roman empire and to convert Clovis, the Frankish king. Remembered for his charity, meekness and patience, he is buried at Arras cathedral.
His name in England has been corrupted from St Vaast, by way of Vastes, Fastes, Faster, Fauster and Forster to Foster, the name of the lane at the front of the church, and the reason that the official designation of the church is St Vedast-alias-Foster. St Vedast was venerated in particular by the Augustinian priors in the 12th century, and they may be responsible for the foundation of the few churches dedicated to him. Only one other church in England is currently dedicated to St Vedast, in Tathwell, Lincolnshire, a third parish in Norwich now being remembered only in a street name.
Some of the works and legends of St Vedast are celebrated in the stained glass windows of the church.
It has been suggested that the original church of St Vedast may have been founded by the Flemish community in London in the 12th or 13th century, possibly by a Flemish ancestor of Ralph d’Arras, who was the Sheriff of London in 1276.
The first church was probably quite small, but additions were made through the centuries. A chapel dedicated to St Dunstan was added in the 15th century, and other altars were added in the 16th century to Mary and to St Nicholas. By 1603, Stow in his Survey of London described St Vedast as ‘a fair church, lately rebuilt’.
Although no complete or accurate account survives for this early church, evidence of its construction can still be seen in the south wall of the church externally. Evidence of earlier openings for doors and windows, as well as the medieval stonework has been examined by archaeological survey and reported in London Archaeologist.
In 1614, St Vedast was enlarged by 20 feet thanks to a gift from the adjacent Saddlers’ company, and ‘beautified’ according to Stow’s Survey.
In 1635 the then Rector, James Batty, petitioned the Archbishop that a rail might be set up around the communion table as there are many “disorders and undecencies” among the parishioners when receiving the Blessed Sacrament. For his loyalty to King Charles I, Batty was “sequestered, plundered, forced to flee, and died” in 1642.
How the church may have suffered during the Civil Wars of the mid 17th century is unrecorded, but given that the Parliamentarians kept horses stabled in the chancel of nearby St Paul’s Cathedral, it is likely to have been badly affected. The current Rectors’ Board lists the years between 1643 and 1661 as under Foulke Bellers, a ‘Commonwealth Intruder’.
The disastrous Great Fire that swept through the City in September 1666 reached St Vedast on the third day. Afterwards, it was thought that although the roof, pews, pulpit and other fittings had been destroyed, the church could be repaired satisfactorily. It was therefore omitted from the original list of 50 churches to be rebuilt by Christopher Wren. B
y the 1690s, however, structural flaws must have become significant enough that rebuilding was begun. Records of those responsible for the detailed design and construction of the church are somewhat sketchy. Other than Wren, it is possible that Robert Hooke and/or Nicholas Hawksmoor were involved (the steeple is said to be particularly Hawksmoor-like), and master mason Edward Strong had been paid £3106:14:7 by the time the church was completed in 1699. He was responsible for the cherubs that grace the west front and bell tower, and for the dove in glory sculpture now situated at the east end of the south aisle.
Many of the minor changes that affected the church through the 18th century may not have been recorded, but we know that an organ was installed in 1773, and that heating was first introduced in 1790 – open stoves that were to be replaced in 1807 by a more satisfactory double fronted one.
Thomas Pelham Dale, Rector from 1847 to 1882, fell foul of the Public Worship Regulations Act of 1874 and was prosecuted for “ritualistic practices”. Although he gave up the practices in question for a time, he was brought before a court in 1880 and, for contempt, sent to Holloway prison.
The greatest change to the building in the 19th century was perhaps to the fenestration. A square headed window was removed in 1848 from the east end, along with the Dove in Glory sculpture by Strong above it. Twelve new stained glass windows were introduced in 1884, making the church much darker. Internal adjustments to pews, screens, pulpit and altar rails were made shortly afterwards.
On 29th December 1940, London was attacked by German air raids that dropped some 24,000 high explosive bombs and 100,000 incendiaries, mostly in the City. Although the Cathedral itself survived thanks to hundreds of volunteer firefighters, much of the area around St Paul’s was utterly destroyed.
As after the Great Fire of 1666, St Vedast was gutted and left a burnt out shell, with roof, pews, pulpit and fittings all ruined. As the structure of the church and its tower were deemed to be safe, plans to restore the church began in 1947. The work itself only started in 1953, under the auspices of its new Rector, Canon Mortlock, and the architect Stephen Dykes Bower. The post war Parochial Church Council that oversaw the work included Poet Laureate and conservation champion John Betjeman and the great organ builder Noel Mander.
To make the church a more appropriate layout for smaller 20th century congregations, Dykes Bower introduced collegiate style seating, and screened off the south aisle. New false walls were constructed within the east and south walls to make the church more rectangular, enabling a strong black and white patterned terrazzo floor to be laid. The ceiling was constructed to a pattern near that of the Wren original and finished with gold leaf and aluminium, donated by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths.
An adjacent plot along Foster Lane to the north, formerly the location of the Fountain pub, was purchased for the construction of a new Rectory, and a small secluded courtyard built between this Rectory and the former parish school (now the parish hall of St Vedast).
----------------------------------------------
The original church of St Vedast was founded before 1308 and was extensively repaired in the seventeenth century.[2]
Although the church was not completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666,[3] it was restored by 1662 on parochial initiative. However, the church required substantial reconstruction by the office of Sir Christopher Wren between 1695 and 1701, with only small parts of the older building surviving to be incorporated,[3] most noticeably parts of the medieval fabric in the south wall which were revealed by cleaning in 1992–3. The three-tier spire, considered one of the most baroque of all the City spires, was added in 1709–12[4] at a cost of £2958, possibly to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor, whose correspondence with the churchwardens survives. The organ was built by Renatus Harris in 1731, originally for St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange.
Wren's church was gutted a second time by firebombs during the London blitz([5]) of 1940 and 1941.[6] A proposal by Sir Hugh Casson to leave this and several other ruins as a war memorial was not implemented. The post-war restoration within the old walls was undertaken by Stephen Dykes Bower. He re-ordered the interior in a collegiate chapel style with seating down each side with a side chapel in the former South aisle, and squared the old walls which were not rectangular in plan so that the altar now faces the nave squarely. He made an almost imperceptible taper in the pews and floor pattern, to give a false perspective towards the altar, making the church look longer than it is. The architect also designed the richly decorated 17th-century-style plaster ceiling. He reused fittings from other destroyed City churches, including the richly carved pulpit from All Hallows Bread Street and the font and cover from St Anne and St Agnes. Dykes Bower commissioned the Whitefriars glass windows in the East End, showing scenes from the life of St Vedast. These windows are largely opaque to hide tall buildings behind and to disguise the fact that the East wall is a wedge in plan. The work was completed in 1962. An aumbry by the south chapel altar is by Bernard Merry and the organ is 1955 by Noel Mander, in the re-used 1731 Harris case.
Dykes Bower also built a small Parish Room to the North East of the church in 17th-century style and a Georgian-style rectory, adjacent to the church, on Foster Lane in 1959 – in the first floor room of which is an important mural by Hans Feibusch on the subject of Jacob and the Angel. A niche in the internal courtyard of the building contains a carved stone head[who?] by sculptor Jacob Epstein.[7]
The church is noted for its small but lively baroque steeple, its small secluded courtyard, stained glass, and a richly-decorated ceiling. It also has a set of six bells, cast in 1960, that are widely regarded[by whom?] as being the finest sounding six in London.[8]
The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.[9] The rectory was listed as a Grade II building on 15 July 1998.