Collection GB 0074 O/540 - SAINT CLEMENT DANES, WESTMINSTER

0.16 linear metres

GB 0074 O/540 1955 Collection 0.16 linear metres LCC , London County Council

The origins of the name "Saint Clement Danes" remains unclear; any connection with Danish peoples is uncertain although an account by John Stow suggests that "Harold [Harefoot], a Danish king and other Danes were buried here". Another tradition holds that it became the church of the Danish community in the ninth century who had been expelled from the City of London - the church stands at the entrance to the City at the end of Fleet Street. Between 1170 and 1312 it was in the care of the Knights Templar. The church survived the Great Fire but shortly afterwards it became so decayed that rebuilding became essential. A new church by Sir Christopher Wren was completed by 1682, with a steeple added by James Gibbs in 1719.

In 1941, extensive bomb damage gutted the church. It was restored between 1953 and 1958 by WAS Lloyd, paid for with contributions from the Royal Air Force and Allied Forces. It became the Central Church of the Royal Air Force. Inside the church there are many items relating to the air-force including Remembrance Books, colours and standards, and the names of 19,000 American airmen based here during the war, commemorated in a special shrine.

Saint Clements Danes is one of the churches referred to in the popular nursery-rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons'.

Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).

Presented to the Archive as a gift in November 1956.

Records of Saint Clement Danes church, comprising report from the London County Council containing a list of coffins removed from the vault, 1955.

One document.

Available for general access.

Copyright to these records rests with the City of London.
English

Fit.

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

For further records of Saint Clement Danes church please see reference P96/CLE.
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. March to April 2010. St Clement Danes Church , City of Westminster , Church of England Religions LCC , London County Council x London County Council Ancient religions Christianity Protestantism Anglicanism Church of England Manufactured goods Coffins Building components Vaults Structural components Architecture Buildings Religious buildings Churches Strand Westminster London England UK Western Europe Europe City of Westminster Catholicism

Presented to the Archive as a gift in November 1956.

Records of Saint Clement Danes church, comprising report from the London County Council containing a list of coffins removed from the vault, 1955.

One document.

Available for general access.

Copyright to these records rests with the City of London.

• anglais

• latin

English

For further records of Saint Clement Danes church please see reference P96/CLE.

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• anglais