St Andrew

EXTERIOR: the tower retains its C15 angle buttresses and pointed lower windows

The C19 font and pulpit, and the late-C20 organ in a mid-C18 case given by George Frederic Handel, came from the chapel of the Foundling Hospital in Coram’s Fields, demolished in 1926

HISTORY Excavation of the crypt in 2001 revealed Roman remains, dating between AD 150 and 300, suggesting that the site was in use at this time

King Edgar’s renewal of the Charter of Westminster Abbey circa 959 mentions a timber church in this position, which was replaced by a stone church in the mid-C15

By the late C17, the church had become ruinous, and although outside the area burned by the Great Fire of 1666, was re-built by Sir Christopher Wren together with 50 City churches destroyed by the fire

The C15 tower was kept, being refaced and raised in 1703-4. In 1818 John Henry Good was appointed to repair the church and undertake alterations, including the creation of a new gallery at the west end of the church, later removed

Notable figures associated with the church include John Gerard, the herbalist, who was buried here in 1618, and Benjamin Disraeli, the future prime minster, who was baptised here as a twelve-year-old in 1817